14.10.2025
At ESSEC, entrepreneurship is not confined to classrooms or incubators, it is woven into the fabric of student life. Through associations, events, and collaborative workspaces, it thrives as part of the daily experience. Clara Marte, second-year student in the Master in Management program and President of ESSEC Initiatives 2024-2025, reflects on the association’s role in spreading this entrepreneurial culture across campus.
To experience entrepreneurship at ESSEC is to step into a permanent laboratory of ideas. From the first concepts sketched on a notebook to investor pitch sessions, from conferences and exchanges with founders to consulting missions for established companies, students are immersed in an environment where boldness is both encouraged and structured. At the heart of this dynamic, ESSEC Initiatives plays a pivotal role.
“Our goal is not to support project leaders the way ESSEC Ventures or Antropia incubators do, but rather to inform, inspire, and spark new ambitions,” explains Clara Marte. “We organise events for students – conferences, recruitment forums, round tables, pitch sessions – as well as consulting projects for companies, from marketing strategy to business development.”
What sets ESSEC Initiatives apart is its commitment to making entrepreneurship accessible to all. “We believe in a culture of open innovation. That is why our events are designed for a wide audience, not only ESSEC students, but also peers from other institutions in the Val-d’Oise, and even high school students,” Clara emphasises. The association expands its reach through local partnerships, affirming its mission to democratise entrepreneurship.
This openness is matched by a strong spirit of collective engagement. “What students gain from ESSEC Initiatives goes far beyond entrepreneurial skills. They learn to persuade, collaborate, support each other, and carry projects through from start to finish,” says Clara. This learning-by-doing approach, firmly anchored in reality, cultivates essential qualities: rigor, empathy, boldness, and resilience.
More than 80 entrepreneurship-focused events are hosted for students each year. Some take place within ESSEC campuses: “Speaker Series” brings entrepreneurs and investors to share their journeys, while “Pop-Up Startups” transform campus spaces into showcases for student-led ventures. Others extend beyond the school walls: “Mix & Match Startup” connects aspiring founders from ESSEC and CentraleSupélec to form interdisciplinary teams, while students also engage at flagship gatherings such as France Digitale Day, Vivatech, Bpifrance Inno Generation, and Change Now.
The ESSEC ecosystem also provides concrete resources: collaborative hubs such as the K-Lab, a unique space for the 600 students who launch a venture each year; research chairs dedicated to innovation; and, above all, a multicultural and interdisciplinary environment that fuels collaboration and creativity.
“Living the entrepreneurial experience within ESSEC Initiatives is above all a collective journey, rich in learning and encounters,” Clara concludes. For those still hesitating, she shares a simple piece of advice: “Don’t wait for the perfect moment or the ultimate idea. Dare to begin. The most extraordinary opportunities emerge from action.”
At a school where every student is encouraged to be a driver of change, entrepreneurship is not an elective, it is an essential dimension of the ESSEC experience. And through its contagious energy and daily commitment, ESSEC Initiatives stands as one of its most vibrant expressions.
