Entrepreneurship is learning to make mistakes

Find out more about our Alumni Anne Recasens, in charge ofentrepreneurship and responsible for TBStart!

1- Why did you choose to train at TBS Education a few years ago?

When I arrived at TBS Education, I had recently closed the company I had run for 8 years, and I felt the need to take some time out to better understand what had happened and to take a breather. I also wanted to expand my network, which was mainly concentrated in the cultural sector. Retraining seemed a good solution. Having had as a client a remarkable theater company president and teacher/researcher at TBS Education, Isabelle Assassi, my choice was naturally directed towards this school. I chose the MS in Corporate Strategy and Business Intelligence to update my knowledge and build on my entrepreneurial experience. This year of study also enabled me to meet inspiring professors and alumni.

2- What was thegenesis of the TBStart pre-incubator and the TBSeeds incubator, funded in part by the TBS Education Foundation?

TBSeeds was born in 2012 at the request of teachers in TBS Education's Strategy and Entrepreneurship department, who wanted an incubator in response to requests from students. Having an incubator was a natural complement to our entrepreneurship training courses. Finally, for entrepreneurship researchers, a home-based incubator is an interesting and immediately available field of research.

TBStart, the pre-incubation program, was created to support students who come with simple ideas and are unable to join the incubator, which supports more advanced projects. This 5-hour program enables students to check the appropriateness of their idea or takeover project, to gain a better understanding of the market in which they want to invest, to meet potential stakeholders to understand their needs and, finally, to test their idea. At the end of this pre-incubation period, students decide whether or not to apply to the incubator.

Students from TBS Education and partner schools, as well as alumni selected on the basis of their applications, join TBSeeds for an initial period of 6 months, renewable. During this period, they follow a program designed by entrepreneurship teachers, comprising group workshops and individual coaching.

TBSeeds is therefore an opportunity to test projects that may eventually become businesses. Above all, it is an educational program, which is why it is supported by the Fondation de l'Ecole through its donors.

3- What benefits do incubated students and young graduates derive from this support for business creation?

Although not all TBStart students are admitted to the incubator, this first experience is very enriching, as it forces them to test themselves, to confront their idea to the outside world, to accept constructive criticism, to draft a business model and to pitch in front of a jury.

At TBSeeds, incubatees are surrounded by their peers, who act as their teammates, as well as by external speakers and coaches, all experts in their field and mostly entrepreneurs themselves. They also benefit from the sympathetic advice of the TBSseeds managers (Olivier Igon, Marine Parmentier and Joëlle Lainé).

They follow very practical workshops and learn by "doing", testing an idea on its market and regularly confronting their project with their stakeholders. They also learn that entrepreneurship means learning to make mistakes, and that failure is not an ugly word, but a source of inspiration for the entrepreneur.

Students can also carry out their entrepreneurial internships at TBSeeds, key moments in the process of launching their own businesses. They are also asked to take part in competitions and presentations to students from other schools, company managers and business angels. These events enable them to improve their pitch and gain the visibility they need to land their first contracts.

As for our ex-incubates, they often set up new companies, form partnerships or join structures that encourage the development of start-ups... Their career path is rarely linear and they remain invested in this rather unique ecosystem.

4- What makes it worthwhile for a company to become a partner in such a scheme?

The TBSeeds educational incubator has no shares in the companies it creates, even though TBS Education is often their first customer. It is therefore financed by the School's own funds and by donations from individuals and corporate partners channeled through our Foundation. The accounting firm Sygnatures, for example, has been supporting us since 2012. Other partners have joined us, including Groupama, ATR and the Caisse d'Epargne...

Their interests are manifold. Thanks to their regular meetings with the incubatees, our partners discover social and technological innovations and their possible uses; they identify the expectations and operating methods of a sample of the new generation and, in fine, they participate in the creation of noteworthy businesses. Last but not least, they also build goodwill with the incubatees, which helps to enhance their brand image.

5- What role do you think a foundation should play for its school and alumni network?

The Foundation is a fantastic tool for supporting deserving students via excellence scholarships, and/or those with limited means via social scholarships. It also opens up new margins of maneuver, new possibilities for the School: thanks to the donations collected, we can imagine social and educational innovations, support research projects... Companies can innovate with us by co-creating new teaching paths or by participating in educational innovations proposed by our teachers and often noted at national and international level; this contributes to enhancing the value of the School and the quality of our diploma.

Finally, the Foundation can involve its alumni in exciting and useful projects, and maintain a strong link between the school, students and graduates.

As an alumni, I give every year and I know what I'm contributing to and for whom when I come to the Scholarship Ceremony. I feel immediately useful, I support the future projects of young people I know, and I feel part of a community of values I can count on.

For me, the Foundation is an oxygen bubble that can benefit all its stakeholders.