Becoming the great generation
As a leading business school specialising in action learning across borders ESCP-EAP takes the responsibility of grooming future world and industrial leaders very seriously. Our role is to prepare these future leaders for the challenges of an ever changing and increasingly multicultural world. We aim to achieve this by providing students with knowledge, skills and more importantly with a correct mindset.ESCP-EAP is aware its philosophy and teaching of business practices have a far reaching affect. Two of our main objectives are to impart leadership skills and accountability. It is the schools societal responsibility to ensure its students, staff and alumni not only understand the importance of ethical business practices, but ensure these practices are implemented. At ESCP-EAP it is our job to demonstrate by example, how each and every one of us can positively affect society.
We believe exposure to different people and different cultures as well as first-hand experience of different environments are critical to business success. Cross-cultural exposure and experience shape the attitudes and skills internationally operating businesses require from their managers.
The London campus had been looking for a charity partner that shared the school’s vision of action over donation. It was with great pleasure that in May 2007 we decided to partner The Great Generation.
This partnership benefits The Great Generation and ESCP-EAP equally. The Great Generation has access to ESCP-EAP’s talented students, staff and alumni for fundraising activities and volunteer programmes and through The Great Generation volunteer programmes, ESCP-EAP will be able to see first hand the challenges facing communities in the developing world. It is our joint aim to run the first ESCP-EAP volunteer programme to Africa in July.
By taking students to local communities in need and enabling them to put into practice the management skills learnt in the class room students are able to enhance learning and personal development. Most importantly, they are given the opportunity to connect with the community and work side by side to alleviate poverty through entrepreneurial enterprise, so giving greater economic control to the local community and supporting sustainable development. Working with these communities during the volunteer programme, the ESCP-EAP team will utilise its skills base using entrepreneurship and business practices to actively alleviate poverty.
Students want their work to have meaning, and they want to find meaning in their work. At ESCP-EAP we believe one of the key roles of a professional business school is to make clear to students not only the privileges they obtain, but also the responsibilities they have. The Great Generation is a practical vehicle enabling students to become more ethically aware, to make them think before they act, to question “their role” within the wider world. Students will attain these learning outcomes through:
• fundraising – using business skills and entrepreneurial spirit to raise the money necessary to run the project.
• in the short term ESCP-EAP will contribute to a 2 week volunteer project and better understand the societal benefit of microfinance.
• in the long term ESCP-EAP will be role models to get the message across.
ESCP-EAP London campus graduates 400 students a year. While this may seem a drop in the ocean when compared to the six billion total world population and while we acknowledge our contribution is modest – we would like to be actively involved in leading the next generation to become the great generation.
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