Leading with Impact: Founding a Social Enterprise

Whether it is helping to build a learning center in Mongolia or a studio in Cambodia that upcycles plastic, social enterprise Bookbridge is improving the living conditions and job opportunities for countless people through its diverse, sustainable, and internationally oriented projects. The Full-Time MBA Program at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management will now work with Bookbridge to give enrolled students a chance to participate in a four-month program, where they will start their own social enterprises. The goal is to found a company that is stable, profitable, and above all, that improves the lives of the local communities they serve. Students will learn how to develop a functioning business model, act with an entrepreneurial mindset, and use their vision and values to lead a team of people.

“The corporate world is going through a rapid change,” says Sabine Noe, Program Director of WHU’s MBA Program. “We have to equip our students with the comprehensive knowledge and set of skills they will need to take the reins in the future. And that is why we are so excited to be introducing this social entrepreneurial project, which we are calling ‘Leading with Impact.’”

Alongside their full-time course work, WHU’s MBA students will, for those four months, become true social entrepreneurs. First, they will spend a week in another European country, form self-organized groups, and develop ideas for a social enterprise that could be of use to the local community. They will then present their idea to investors to get the project up on its feet. “Professional business and leadership coaches will help them on their way, and students will learn through their efforts what it means to pursue a greater purpose, to work in agile teams, and to found a lean start-up,” says Noe. Upon their return to Düsseldorf, the students will continue to work remotely on their social enterprises. And ultimately, once they graduate from the MBA program entirely, they will turn the business over to a local team, who will continue the project, thereby giving their own community new chances and bringing about sustained change. 

This is not WHU’s first collaboration with Bookbridge. The pair already jointly offers the General Management Plus Program (GMP+), an executive education course that combines the school’s Management Essentials Program and Bookbridge’s Capability Program. Together, the two have helped a number of graduates establish their own social projects in underprivileged regions around the world.

Further information on the Leading with Impact program

WHU and Brookbridge are looking for social entrepreneurs! Applications for Leading with Impact are open until September 15, 2024. The four-month project will run between February and June 2025.

Social enterprise Bookbridge

Bookbridge was started by WHU alumnus Dr. Carsten Rübsaamen (Doctoral Program, 2008) that combines leadership training with social entrepreneurship. The organization’s goal is to give participants an entrepreneurial mindset and approach to business and to teach them about values-based leadership—a goal that mirrors WHU’s own core values.

Click here to read an interview with Dr. Rübsaamen.