Meet the Institute of Entrepreneurship and Private Capital

London Business School is well known for its research insights into entrepreneurship and financial markets, its teaching of the key instruments available in the private capital sector, and how to build new ventures, scale startups and promote technical innovation. Now, the School is bringing together its accumulated knowledge in entrepreneurship and finance in private markets to create the Institute of Entrepreneurship and Private Capital (IEPC). The new institute was launched in September 2021.

Forged from the union of the Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Private Equity @LBS, the IEPC aims to further the School’s reputation as a global knowledge centre that will support and promote new ideas that drive sustainable economic growth in private markets. The combination of entrepreneurship and private capital highlights the reality that most entrepreneurs obtain funding for their ventures from a large ecosystem of investors in private markets that covers various types of funds, such as seed, venture, growth, buyout and special situations funds.

LBS alumnus and School donor Michael Schad MiFFT2003, Partner and Head of Investment Management at Coller Capital said: “It’s great to see that the IEPC has been launched at a time when private markets are rapidly developing, both in size and sophistication. The holistic approach LBS is taking has never been so valuable in my view. I vividly remember that it was challenging to get informed about the industry when I was prepping for my interviews at Coller Capital. Having institutes like the IEPC that help to bridge the knowledge gap with industry through their research will give a better understanding of the various career opportunities that are available to students in private markets. As an LBS alumnus, I am proud to support the efforts of the IEPC.”

The support from the LBS alumni community is also evident in the new ‘Tech Disrupt & Transform’ scholarship, which is offered to MBA students through the generosity of Jason Schretter MBA2005.

Connecting two communities

The IEPC will provide a bridge between the LBS community and the entrepreneurial ecosystem by facilitating new real-world learning opportunities, as well as enhancing the research and business-development experience for all stakeholders. Besides events organised by the School, degree students and executive education participants will benefit from the Incubator, as well as highly experiential courses.

The first in a new TELL Series (Talks on Entrepreneurial Leadership at LBS) kicked off the academic year on 22 September with Joe Foster, co-founder of Reebok.

With regard to the experiential courses, the long-standing ‘Entrepreneurship Summer School’ continues to support the development of ideas outside the classroom. Two newer courses, ‘The Entrepreneurship Lab (TEL)’ and ‘Innovation to Market’ (I2M), offer students the opportunity to work with founders and researchers from top institutions and apply what they learn to real, high-impact ventures.

Another initiative is internship projects to work side-by-side with top venture capitalist and private equity fund managers based in London. The internships will be part of the Private Capital Experiential Programme and enable current LBS students to gain real-world experience of private-markets investing and, ultimately, facilitate a career in the sector.

At the same time, the IEPC will maintain an international focus with collaborations that involve practitioners and academics from all over the world. The institute will create a hub for those in the School community interested in participating in private markets and will collaborate externally with London and European startups and private-capital investors and managers.

Businesses in all stages of their life cycle are supported by private-capital investors. Young ventures testing new ideas, companies seeking to scale, entrepreneurs wanting to pivot, leveraged buyouts, family-business transitions and companies refreshing their management all benefit from the support and guidance of the fast-expanding private-capital sector.

Supporting LBS alumni startups

Now in its 12th year, the LBS Incubator continues to grow from strength to strength, allowing alumni to develop their startups through the IEPC’s innovative research, networks and skills development and guidance. The Incubator programme will continue to provide £250K worth of support services per team, a series of skills-development talks and workshops, and continuous support throughout the year.

The ‘Entrepreneur Mentor in Residence Programme’, open to all LBS students, offers guidance from 25 dedicated mentors. Students can also benefit from the newly launched ‘Ask an Expert’ programme, which offers access to world-class specialist knowledge across a range of subject areas, such as AI and machine learning, to help students launch and grow their ventures.

We are all inspired by the stories of successful entrepreneurs, and in particular by businesses that make a difference to the world by increasing employment, diversity and wellbeing, and combating climate change. LBS has been very influential in the creation and financing of successful new businesses that have benefited from the spark of early-stage financing that is unique to the School. More than that, it is about the entrepreneurial mindset that can be applied to any role or organisation. Ventures that have been devised and driven by LBS alumni, such as Ocean Bottle, Treeapp, Junee and Wype, are distinguished by their commitment to integrating social missions into their businesses.

The IEPC is unique among business schools. We are determined to be open and collaborative to ensure that the impact of our activities reaches those who will benefit the most. An example of this commitment is Newton Venture Program, a forerunner to and committed partner of the IEPC. The initiative was launched in October 2020 as a joint venture between LBS and top London-based venture capital fund LocalGlobe. Silicon Valley Bank also joined in June 2021 as a founding partner. The programme will deliver diversity and training to the next generation of VC investors and entrepreneurs. Next spring, a six-month programme will welcome the first cohort to train those who want to become the future leaders in backing startups and scale-ups.

By bridging the gap between those at the frontier of discovery and those who know how to ignite, run and obtain financing for new ventures, the IEPC will be in the vanguard of generating the knowledge that will enable founders and investors to tackle global challenges.

Luisa Alemany is Associate Professor of Management Practice in Strategy and Entrepreneurship; Academic Director, Institute of Entrepreneurship and Private Capital.

Florin Vasvari is Professor of Accounting; Chair, Accounting Faculty; Academic Director, Institute of Entrepreneurship and Private Capital.

Who’s who at the new institute

Meet the team behind the School’s aim to create value for both entrepreneurs and their funding partners in private capital

Luisa Alemany

Associate Professor of Management Practice in Strategy and Entrepreneurship; Academic Director, Institute of Entrepreneurship and Private Capital

I consider myself an entrepreneur. I am in academia, but looking for the resources and starting new initiatives that hopefully will have an impact. The opportunity of bringing the knowledge and energy of LBS to the entrepreneurial and private equity community are just enormous. Exciting to see our students and alumni applying an entrepreneurial mindset to all their future endeavours, both in their career and to their lives.

 

Rubina Kalra

Senior Programme and Communications Manager, Institute of Entrepreneurship and Private Capital

As a result of this merger, we’re able to further expand our range of opportunities and resources for LBS students and alumni to get involved with. I’m excited for what’s to come and I look forward to building relationships with key players in the entrepreneurship and private capital ecosystem.

 

Jane Khedair

Director, Institute of Entrepreneurship and Private Capital

I’m passionate about entrepreneurship. There you have it – short and sweet – although only those who know me well would describe me in the same way! I’m so excited for our new and enlarged institute. It’s a great opportunity to extend our reach beyond the startup world to tomorrow’s unicorns.

 

Eva Negrutzi

Senior Programme and Communications Manager, Institute of Entrepreneurship and Private Capital

Investors and entrepreneurs are often seen as sitting at the opposite sides of the table. Our aim with this institute is to create a bridge between them and help them both in creating value for each other through knowledge-sharing, research, inspiration and networking events. I enjoy sharing the inspirational stories of our students and alumni. It’s important to motivate people and light the flame in others. I always think of my mum, who started out by importing goods from Turkey and Hungary to Romania, slowly building up a market stall where we helped as kids and then a small shop. She has retired, but her passion never stopped, and she is 72. This is the same passion I see in our entrepreneurship community. We not only celebrate successes, but help the founders learn from each other and promote an entrepreneurial mindset. Now we’ll do the same for the investors, who are increasingly keen to engage with the LBS community. People have different journeys, ups and downs, but there’s a willingness to share both good and bad experiences so that new entrepreneurs can learn from experienced ones. By integrating private equity and venture capital and broadening our offerings, we will be able to contribute to the full lifecycle of an entrepreneur’s journey.

 

Julian Franks

Professor of Finance; Alexander M. Knaster Chair; Fellow of the British Academy; Academic Director, Institute of Entrepreneurship and Private Capital

I’m delighted to be part of the new centre, which brings together two research and teaching initiatives that have already played such a vital part in the School’s programmes.

 

Jeff Skinner

Executive Director, Institute of Entrepreneurship and Private Capital

I love anything that prompts people to create new ventures. In a previous life, I co-founded dozens of them myself; nowadays I live vicariously through the successes of our students, doing anything I can to encourage and equip them to build their first business from scratch. It’s all about creating programmes that I wish had been around when I was a student here. Nowadays, entrepreneurs are as much in the market for capital as customers – maybe because the best ideas are imitated far faster than before. The IEPC expands our remit, allowing us to engage with investor communities and thus give our students even more of a head start.

 

Florin Vasvari

Professor of Accounting; Chair, Accounting Faculty; Academic Director, Institute of Entrepreneurship and Private Capital

I’m passionate about investing and enjoy interacting with our stakeholders. And I’m excited about helping to build a platform that brings together students, academics and the investment community in the private market, which has gone under the radar screen for too long. Although private-capital funds are the proverbial “special sauce” that provides critical support for the formation, development and expansion of entrepreneurial businesses, most people know very little about them. Our main aim is to lift the veil over these funds and their ecosystem.