When Christian Epo first launched AfriqPnB in 2021, there weren’t many digital platforms for short-term rentals in Central and West Africa. He seized the chance to capitalise on this underdeveloped market. Like any startup, it wasn’t easy but he had the competence and confidence of an NEOMA Business School education backing him.
“Thanks to the comprehensive training I received at NEOMA Business School, I gained essential skills in management, digital marketing, and strategic thinking,” says Global Executive MBA (Global EMBA) graduate Christian Epo.
The programme has two cornerstone projects: a Capstone Project (either entrepreneurial or intrapreneurial) and a Social Impact Project. Epo leveraged these to apply classroom insights directly to his venture, testing and refining strategies under real conditions. What was just an idea to him bloomed into a full-fledged operational venture.
AfriqPnB took off and Epo is now at the helm of a multi-country business. “Today, AfriqPnB is operating in Cameroon and the Ivory Coast, and I’m incredibly proud to be part of the process of redefining local tourism in the region,” he says.
Established in 2013 with the merger of two French institutions – Reims Business School and Rouen Business School – NEOMA Business School is ranked #32 in Europe for its professional education. To Global EMBA students, however, that ranking comes as little surprise. The school is the place where they achieved professional and personal transformation.
Real projects play a big part in this. They are bold, take a solution-driven approach, and encourage evidence-based action. “The Capstone is the goal of the programme; it’s what everything builds towards,” says graduate Ben Gallarda.
“I explored a challenge in my own industry: why it wasn’t working optimally, and how to transform it. The amount of research, thought, and perspective it demanded completely changed the way I think. You synthesise everything, from finance to supply chain, and see your industry in a whole new light.”
Meanwhile, the Social Impact Project takes technology-based ideas to address social problems, promoting sustainability and economic impact.
The Global EMBA stands out for its strategic experimentation through real projects, as Epo’s and Gallarda’s stories show, but that is, by no means, its only advantage.
NEOMA Business School offers a unique dual-project approach that exposes you to real-world work experiences. Source: NEOMA Business School
Cosmopolitan cohorts, international immersions
The many benefits of diverse teams have been widely studied. One often quoted finding is companies committed to diversity show “a 39% increased likelihood of outperformance for those in the top quartile of ethnic representation versus the bottom quartile” according to the most recent McKinsey Diversity Matters report.
The Global EMBA lives up to the business world’s gold standard for diversity. The programme exposes participants to a wide range of professional backgrounds, cultural perspectives, and industry contexts. Whether you’re with a peer or professor, conversations are always be mind-broadening and network-expanding.
What’s more, your NEOMA experience does not only take place in or around campus. The Global EMBA includes the opportunity to travel to one country in Africa and another in Asia or America to meet their top entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, and ecosystem builders.
Hearing their stories and strategies can be powerful. They spark new ideas, ignite discussions, and offer a different perspective that you can take home and apply to your own organisations.
Gallarda’s favourite part of the International Learning Experience from NEOMA took place in Accra, Ghana. His team visited a branch of a global company called Zipline, an innovative centre taking key medicines and vaccines and launching them up to 80 to 100 times a day.
“Seeing it firsthand, visiting the intelligent, brilliant, and engaging entrepreneurs has really broadened my view and of the need to have a more global view of really any industry to consider how the work you do impacts not only the market you’re in but other markets particularly, in the developing world” Gallarda says.
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