AMBA & BGA EXCELLENCE AWARD WINNERS
As Fybra scales up, you have identified the challenge of maintaining its impactful mindset. How will you overcome this? “Impact is still the number one item in our KPI dashboard, sitting at the helm of other vital aspects, such as cashflow and runway (the amount of time a start-up has before it runs out of cash). To meet the challenge of maintaining impact, we keep in mind that this is our identity when setting new strategies. We will define our eventual success by the number of people we impact daily and this is formalised in our company statement.” We often hear about the benefits of learning by failing in entrepreneurship. Do you agree that there is value in this approach? “Yes, I could not agree more with this. I failed silently four times before Fybra and our culture is not supportive of failures. If you fail once, you are deemed ‘risky’ for new investors the next time you seek fundraising. The world is full of ‘two-exits founders’, ‘exited start-up CEOs’ and I don’t see many ‘four-times failed’ entrepreneurs in the industry. Yet, while doing my EMBA I felt as if my past failures were providing me with insights that I needed to build on in a new venture. My business school was also very helpful on this point and I felt supported to try again.” How can business schools improve the way in which they support student and graduate entrepreneurs, in your opinion? “Networking is, of course, key and gives people the chance to talk to each other. It’s also important to create sessions in which experiences can be shared and the failures and lessons learned by others can be explained. “Personally, I’d love to know how other entrepreneurs found an EMBA or MBA to be an empowering tool on an international scale. Why don’t we set up a club of MBA alumni entrepreneurs that spans countries and business schools? If AMBA & BGA could support that, I would definitely join and be ready to actively contribute.” What advice would you give to an aspiring entrepreneur who is thinking about whether studying for an MBA or EMBA will help them get their business ideas off the ground? “I was in this position some years ago. From my experience, it’s like the time leading up to running a marathon. You can prepare for it alone by reading manuals and watching tutorials, but what if you could have a professional trainer and personalised programme? And what if you could share that with other runners who then become lifelong friends? It won’t take away all the hard work and effort you’ll need to put in, but it will be an easier and better experience. Plus, your chances of success will be higher.”
“While doing my EMBA, my past failures provided me with insights to build on in a new venture”
local impact when it reaches a single territory. We were also aware that many companies want to find meaningful actions that align with their purpose and give something back to their cities and their employees’ families. “These insights fuelled the launch of an environmental, social and governance programme (ESG) in collaboration with corporates seeking to generate this sort of impact. The programme involves companies implementing the Fybra system in schools in their city, together with an educational course on sustainability held in partnership with us. This initiative has grown in scale with several partners and it’s a focus for the coming years.” How has Fybra grown since its launch and what are your plans for its further expansion? “Fybra has had different waves of growth that were influenced strongly by the Covid-19 pandemic and then the energy crisis, but we are now making more consistent growth thanks largely to the creation of complementary products in our ecosystem and the decision to switch Fybra’s business model to a subscription one. Sustaining this will be our main challenge over the next three years.”
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Business Impact • ISSUE 4 • 2024
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