How This Experiential MBA Fosters Innovation And Kickstarts An Entrepreneurial Career

If you are already an entrepreneur, or looking to move onto this exciting career path, you’ll be keen to be at the forefront of the latest innovations.

You’ll also want to build a deep understanding of emerging markets, and will need to know how to lead in today’s rapidly transforming environment and society.

An MBA could support all these ambitions.

Alongside building your theoretical knowledge of business, an MBA gives student entrepreneurs practical experiences fostering a real-world understanding of launching a business. 

Find out how an MBA could help you launch an entrepreneurial career. 

Where entrepreneurs grow: Leading MBA students on a startup journey 

If you’re looking for a place to take an MBA while developing your entrepreneurial vision, HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management might be a good fit. The German business school prioritizes fostering innovation in students. 

A unique component of the 15-21-month full-time MBA is the HHL Digital Space, a start-up incubator for digital business models. 

In this 12-week program, students and external founders work on their startups identifying problems, testing hypotheses with potential customers, creating an Minimum Viable Product (MVP), and pitching ideas at market days and launch events for feedback and potential funding.

Panajota Angjeli-Reich, a project manager and startup coach at the incubator, explains how this practical experience is beneficial to entrepreneurs. 

“We use templates, theories, and examples from real success stories that help an original business idea become a concrete business model,” she says.

HHL’s incubator focuses on digital startups to give participants a better chance of success in the modern world.  It helps entrepreneurs develop their ideas, create digital prototypes, and learn skills like UX/UI design through input sessions, sprints, and teamwork.

“When your idea involves a digital product or solution, it's easier to make it big and available everywhere because it can grow quickly and reach a wider audience.”

Renxiu Zhao (pictured) joined the HHL Leipzig MBA to understand the entrepreneurial world better and to bring her business idea to life. 

Renxiu had co-founded two media-tech companies in China where she ran the content creation. However, she wanted to explore a more global startup ecosystem. 

This is what led her to HHL, and how she came up with the art production idea that she explored in Digital Space.  

“I saw a gap between the booming youth culture in Asian countries and a global audience. We wanted to form a trend to bring more exposure for Asian artists and Asian creatives,” says Renxiu.

Gain vital skills in entrepreneurship

A vital part of success as an entrepreneur is having the skills to communicate, sell your idea, and adapt to changing times. 

Digital Space prioritizes this through teamwork, pitching sessions, and students continuously adapting their hypothesis in relation to feedback. 

“Every two weeks, we give them the tools and frameworks of the next two weeks. So, they learn to adapt and test their hypothesis fast,” Panajota (pictured) says. 

To help strengthen their ideas the teams talk to target groups and people dealing with the issue they are trying to solve. 

“We expect them to go out and talk to the people in the industry, and to everyone who's facing the problem they started with.”

Receive hands-on coaching

Participants benefit from hands-on coaching while creating their businesses.

“We offer them, coaching sessions on a biweekly basis, where we support them with guidance, and finding the right direction,” says Panajota.

Such active coaching was something Renxiu appreciated about the program. Her mentor, Dr. Maurice Steinhoff , Co-Founder & Managing Director of HHL Digital Space, guided and elevated her vision and skillset. 

“He had a very hands-on approach. He helped us build our financial model, and how to pitch to investors,” she says. 

His straightforward approach and guidance allowed Renxiu’s business to go from an idea to a prototype of a product that distributed the work of Asian art globally. 

“He was straightforward and didn’t sugarcoat advice if he felt something didn’t work,” she explains. 

Networking and career advancements 

A component of the HHL Digital Space is connecting b-school students and grads with investors in the industry.

“We connect investors with the founders, so they understand what investors need from the startups to give investments,” Panajota says. 

Outside of the program, Panajota and her team hold events to continue the networking and connections throughout the year. 

“We have other formats and events that enhance entrepreneurship and bring our network together,” she says. “Recently, we had the founders bootcamp series, which is a compact format of our incubation program.”

For Renxiu, the mentorship and networking benefits of the Digital Space were the key to finding her path in entrepreneurship. 

Through talking to investors and innovators, and the hands-on guidance of her mentor, she and her team realized their idea wouldn’t work long-term.

“This is the first lesson for the entrepreneur to learn: not all ideas can be implemented, not all startups will be successful,” says Renxiu.

However, through the support of her mentor, Renxiu discovered an alternate career path in entrepreneurship where she’s blossomed. 

“I realized it's not the right time for me to become an entrepreneur, but I can be a venture capitalist, and support this ecosystem,” she says.

Now Renxiu is an investment associate at Strategic Business Innovator in Berlin.

While not an entrepreneur, working in the industry alongside entrepreneurs is giving her the network and experience she has been looking for. 

“I feel lucky that I chose to work in this industry,” she says. “Every day I feel like I am learning new knowledge and expanding my network, knowing different people. I used to be part of them, but now I'm making connections with entrepreneurs.”