Entrepreneurial Thinking: Week-long Winter Program Held Virtually

The AY2021 Winter Program Entrepreneurial Thinking kicked off on Monday, January 24th, after a rousing orientation session held the weekend prior. The program aims to demystify entrepreneurial thinking by defining a model synergizing dynamic capabilities making better use of resources, in tandem with technology for innovative ways (whether they are disruptive or non-disruptive), and behavioral tools to gain new insights and to leverage them for ultimately capturing new values.

The program kicked off with a presentation from John Kojiro Moriwaka, who is a recognized Japanese multi-entrepreneur, columnist, and public speaker.

Laying the groundwork for program participants to understand the sphere in which the entrepreneur operates, John discussed the wide-range of actors in the startup ecosystem, including government, media, incubators, accelerators, banks, lawyer, investors, events, NPOs, consulting, and educational/research institutes, and explained how these forces and organizations influence the process of starting a business and interact with the entrepreneur.

John also held a Pitch Workshop for the AM session on Day 2, while Days 3 and 4 featured presentations from a DDP alumnus of both NUCB Business School and NEOMA Business School, Jocelyn Bouchet, who spoke as the Sales Director at Meleap, the startup behind HADO TechnoSports, and Noriko Shindo, the Co-Founder of Ekolokal - a startup with a mission to empower individuals to make better choices for themselves, their local community, and the planet.

Each AM presentation session was followed by a corresponding lecture from an NUCB faculty members, providing participants with deeper insights on how to complete their final group projects: an original pitch for the faculty members, who acted as discriminating angel investors.