FGV-EAESP Professor Mario Aquino Alves with his ESSEC Global BBA students during the awarding of the Council on Business & Society Responsible Leadership Certificate
A crowning success for the two-way ESSEC-FGV-EAESP CoBS faculty exchange project in 2018, with Prof. Mario Aquino Alves of Brazilian member school FGV-EAESP delivering his last class in the Social Innovation and Alternative Organisations course before 52 final-year ESSEC Global BBA students.
The final morning’s class culminated with presentations by student pairs formed among a truly global imprint of 15 different nationalities making up the class. After 4 weeks of classes on social innovation and alternative and ephemeral organisations, students were assigned to research and present innovative companies working for the common good and characterised by alternative business models and organisational structure. Such exemplary organisations included Solar Sister, promoting clean energy through women entrepreneurs, Kiva the well-known micro-finance organisation, and Totohealth that provides healthcare in Africa through mobile phone and use of sms.
The 4-week visit by Prof. Mario Aquino Alves from FGV-EAESP, one of Latin America’s leading educational institutions, to the ESSEC campus in France not only benefited the School’s students. Prof. Alves presented new research during a brown bag seminar held by the ESSEC Center of Excellence Management and Society directed by Prof. Adrian Zicari, met with like-minded faculty to explore joint research projects, and developed a series of videos on social innovation that will give a unique international dimension to the Responsible Leadership SPOC at ESSEC, currently in testing phase among Grande Ecole students. Finally, Prof. Christian Koenig, Executive Director of the Council and Tom Gamble, Associate Director, spoke to the students in Prof. Alves’ course before wrapping up the 4-weeks with the awarding of the Council on Business & Society Responsible Leadership Certificate.
The next step? Further faculty exchanges to provide students throughout the Council’s member schools with a unique, local expertise on issues relating to the crossroads of business and society and foster knowledge exchange between faculty and staff.
Useful links:
- Read the exclusive interview of Prof. Mario Aquino Alves during his stay at ESSEC
- Read a selection of Prof. Alves’s articles on the Council Community
- Discover FGV-EAESP and ESSEC Business School
- Link up with Prof. Alves via LinkedIn
Learn more about the Council on Business & Society
- Website: www.council-business-society.org
- Twitter: @The_CoBS
- LinkedIn: the-council-on-business-&-society
The Council on Business & Society (The CoBS), visionary in its conception and purpose, was created in 2011, and is dedicated to promoting responsible leadership and tackling issues at the crossroads of business and society including sustainability, diversity, ethical leadership and the place responsible business has to play in contributing to the common good.
In 2020, member schools now number 7, all “Triple Crown” accredited AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA and leaders in their respective countries.
- ESSEC Business School, France-Singapore-Morocco
- FGV-EAESP, Brazil
- School of Management Fudan University, China
- IE Business School, Spain
- Keio Business School, Japan
- Trinity Business School, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
- Warwick Business School, United Kingdom.
