Global Incubator

Miguel is a Lisbon native with prior experience working in a family-owned real estate development firm, where he's still in an advisory capacity. He also was a banker with the largest private bank in Portugal and with Chase in Madrid. Additionally, he's done some other entrepreneurial things that currently hold most of his focus. While Miguel entered TRIUM with the expectation to develop his finance and marketing skills, he left with an idea for a brand-new business and a ready-made group of colleagues. >>read more

Since graduating from the TRIUM program in 2011, Miguel, and five TRIUM classmates - Kirby Wanner, Stephen Kubicki, Lorne Gavsie, Ivar Borge and Ryan Bogan - have nurtured their professional relationship, born in TRIUM's global incubator, from concept to reality. The business they have created together, Blue Buffalo Enterprises, focuses on early-stage business development and seeks out "project opportunities that present viable growth scenarios," according to Miguel. "We provide a privileged international doorway to new markets, funding opportunities, and personnel, so project owners can gain access to global prospects by partnering with us."

Miguel and his colleagues at Blue Buffalo worked together on the end-of-program term project at TRIUM, which focused on the utilization of waste heat to provide energy. Though the project didn't have legs, the team did. "We learned we have complementary skill sets, different world perspectives, and the ability to bring out the best in each other," Miguel explains. "Collectively we decided to move forward and do something concrete."

With the team spread out from North America to Europe and Australia, it's no surprise Blue Buffalo's projects are equally dispersed. The first venture to get up and running is a Toronto-based, North American software start-up called Waabii, whose business line will build on a core software innovation solution developed in Portugal. Fellow 2011 TRIUM alumni Jesper Bank and Shrav Malkani have been drafted into the initiative, with the BBE team also taking an active role in its development. Not far behind is a Portuguese medical-device maker that is benefiting from the Blue Buffalo team's expertise in strategic direction and operations know-how. The team is also shepherding a project based in Australia and is continuously seeking other opportunities - including, Miguel emphasizes, from other TRIUM graduates.

An active alumnus who wears the TRIUM colors when he plays polo and races sailboats with other alums, Miguel concedes he got much more than he bargained for from the TRIUM program. "I expected TRIUM to open up a few doors, but it really opened up new directions for me," he says. "It led me down a certain path I hadn't thought of and helped me realize my potential."

Company website: www.bbeglobal.com/
 >>close

Living the Dream - Swaady Martin-Leke

TRIUM Alumna Swaady Martin-Leke was recently named one of Forbes Magazine 20 Youngest Power Women in Africa in 2012.

At some point during her many years with General Electric Co., where she was most recently GE Transportation's Regional Director for the US $300 million Sub-Saharan subsidiary, Swaady Martin-Leke, Class of 2012, developed a dream. "I wanted to do something very different, something that promotes our African resources, culture, and identity," she recalls. "It was my dream to capture true African luxury, change the world's perception of Africa, and produce a luxury brand that is truly African in origin, nature, and tradition." Swaady's dream of breaking out and doing something new motivated her to apply to TRIUM. >>read more

A winning team
The capstone project would become Swaady's launching pad. The team began with a goal of creating a new company that would be based in Africa and target the African and global luxury sector. It became the venture now called YSWARA, a high-end curator of gourmet African teas and accessories (www.yswara.com). Based in Johannesburg, the company's mission, according to Swaady, is "to unlock Africa's potential to produce superior quality products that appeal to a local and international audience while achieving societal impact" - in this case, creating jobs in the local economy. "I am passionate about changing Africa," she adds.

For Swaady, TRIUM was the indispensable key to unlocking the future she is now creating. "The program equipped me with the necessary toolkit to move from being a corporate leader in a big company to an entrepreneur. The professors and my fellow classmates have been amazing mentors and knowledge resources. Through the TRIUM alumni network, I was able to make connections and build relationships around the world that have proven to be of true value to YSWARA."

Company website: www.yswara.com
>>close

Empowering Women One Job at a Time

Dr. Kalpana Sankar, TRIUM Alumna 2012, has a lot to smile about. Her Indian based NGO Hand in Hand is celebrating its 10th year of empowering women and serving the community, creating over 1.3 million jobs for women in the process. In its short lifespan, the achievements and impact of Hand in Hand have been impressive - this is no doubt due to the leadership, passion and determination of its tireless CEO.

Dr. Sankar undertook her TRIUM studies during a crucial time for Hand in Hand India. With ambitious targets to expand to over 15 countries, Hand in Hand needed to reevaluate its business model, branding, and redefine its mission. TRIUM's unique coursework, focusing on an incubator project, became the perfect testing ground to explore the NGO's new expansion plan. This case study became the basis of her capstone project, Academy for Social Entrepreneurs.>>read more

From Theory to Practice
Coming from the NGO sector and having already received two PhD degrees, Dr. Sankar may not seem to be your 'typical' EMBA applicant. But TRIUM is not your 'typical' EMBA program. We view promoting diversity and sustainable minded projects necessary to complimenting a business education. That is why during her application process, TRIUM saw value in her proposed term project idea, and accepted her, providing her with a student scholarship to ease the financial burden.

"TRIUM believed and invested in me" she reaffirms. "I drew on the expertise of my TRIUM classmates and launched a professional project close to my heart."

The TRIUM Curricula, through the capstone project, led by Dr. Sankar and her team of fellow TRIUM students, Panagiotis Skordas, Rakesh Kumar, Amol Khisty, Anurag Gupta, and Herve Koffi, provided a real live business model to test her NGO's growth plans. In particular, fellow team member Panagiotis Skordas, an expert in business planning, process design and improvement, and change management, was instrumental in providing the necessary guidance and expertise necessary from the project's inception to eventual launch.

The purpose of setting up the Academy for Social Entrepreneurs was to provide "comprehensive post training support to implementers and funders in the microfinance and social enterprise sectors." In order to further the mission of the organization and create three million new jobs by 2020, Hand in Hand needed to create a platform to address the needs of how to provide quality leadership and management training to professionals.

The Road to Empowerment
Dr. Sankar's journey to grassroots activism is not the most conventional career path for most trained physicists. (Her first PhD is in Physical Sciences). As a trailing spouse 20 years ago (her husband relocated the family to Chennai to work for Indian local government), she initially had limited professional prospects to pursue her first career. She, therefore, devoted her early years in Chennai to raising her family and volunteering for the women's self-help group movement in Tamil Nadu region.

The poverty and gender imbalance she witnessed fueled her desire to pursue a second PhD in women's studies, on Gender Perspectives of Women in Self Help Groups.

This was the beginning of her professional metamorphosis. And thus began her plight to correct economic gender imbalances, by empowering women. This initially led to several international missions and consultant work with the UNOPS, UNDP, Christina Aid, Wetlands International, in addition to work with the Government of South Africa and collaboration on microfinance and poverty reduction programs in Afghanistan and Brazil. Reducing poverty through job creation is a fundamental principle that has propelled her drive to help others.

This guiding principle and her professional experiences in government, civil society and the private sector proved pivotal for her current role as Chairperson, Managing Trustee and CEO of Hand in Hand India.

Celebrating Ten Years of Creating Jobs
Hand in Hand was created in 2002 in the south-east Indian state of Tamil Nadu and has since expanded thanks to the efforts of the global business leader Percy Barnevik. Since 2004, Hand in Hand India has empowered women particularly through micro-finance and enterprise creation, using a 'credit plus' model that weaves "social mobilization, microfinance, and enterprise development." It currently operates in over 28 districts in five States of the country (Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Karnataka in the South, Madhya Pradesh in the north, Orissa in the east).

Today, the fully launched Academy for Social Entrepreneurs will be located within a unit of Hand in Hand in Tamil Nadu and will provide on-site training programs "through world renown faculty" in addition to post training programs.

This impressive achievement gives Dr. Sankar yet another reason to smile.

Company website: www.hihinternational.org
>>close

Long-term Care for Babushkas

It's hard enough to start a company, but it's doubly ambitious to create a business that upends a longstanding cultural tradition. When Nicolai Kobliakov (T, '07)was a student at TRIUM, he envisioned a network of long-term care (LTC) facilities for senior citizens, not in the established US market, but in Eastern Europe, where families have cared for their elders since time immemorial. That business vision survived the TRIUM term project process with flying colors. Today, Kobliakov's company, Senior Group, comprises five LTC facilities in Russia, Latvia, and Poland, with plans to expand to the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia. Nobody believed that the Eastern European mentality would accept this type of service. People's relationship with old ones, babushkas, is one of the most sacred domains of Eastern families." >>read more

A restless mind
When he entered TRIUM, Nicolai had been looking for a new idea, a venture that would broaden his business horizons. He found it in the TRIUM term project. "The groundwork of our project was laid at the second TRIUM module at NYU," where, recalls Nicolai, "the combination of intense corporate finance and risk analysis and an amazing roster of invited speakers got everyone excited about the possibility of starting up successful businesses." Sparked by a query from classmate about elder care in Russia, Nicolai's project group came up with a business plan for what they dubbed ParentStroika, a long-term investment project for the creation of high-quality aged care in Russia.

More ventures to come
The TRIUM experience altered the course of his career, Nicolai says: "TRIUM focused my aspirations and gave me the inspiration to follow through, and I'll always be inspired by the people I met there."

Company website: senior-group.fr
>>close

Lost in Moscow? Call MediaCab to the Rescue

In September 2012, Term Project MediaCab went live on the streets of Moscow. Launched by TRIUM alumni, including Konstantin Sidorov, 20 taxis recreated the comfort, lifestyle, safety and efficiency that Konstantin had experienced the year before in New York when he got into a taxi to make his way to a TRIUM class. This was no easy feat given the market, or perilous race course for better words, of the current taxi regime in the Russian capital. The combination of a lot of hard work, lobbying, detailed research, a diverse team of professionals, innovative creativity, and good timing all ensured the momentum needed to keep the project's wheels rolling.    >>read more

Professionally, Konstantin is the founder and a member of the boards of two leading Moscow-based IT companies. In RRC, his responsibilities cover management of the Board of Directors. He is also responsible for relationships with senior management of the largest customers and key executives of major vendors. He is in charge of the development of corporate governance and coordinates relationships with potential investors.

When asked how his experience at TRIUM prepared him, Russian born Konstantin was quick to point out that the "entrepreneurial spirit of TRIUM" along with "the valuable network and business connections" among his classmates helped launch the project. Graduating in 2012 from a class of 66 executives from 32 different countries living around the globe, there is no limit to a student or alumni's ambitions.

Timing is also key. As Konstantin explains, after the fall of Communism, Russia's taxi market became unregulated. In 2011, a law "requiring that fleet companies and drivers posses newly issued licenses, taximeters and specially marked cars" was passed. Launching MediaCab "at the right time" was ideal to changing a "wild market" to become "a civilized market", according to Konstantin.

As part of the new taxi regime, MediaCab brings an unprecedented level of customer service compared to its peer fleet taxi regimes in Moscow. As Konstantin highlights, their product's technology aims to improve their customer's experience by accepting payment by credit/debit cards. Additionally, their taxi's core services provide media and news information for customers and improved navigation capabilities. Finding these less congested routes offers a safer ride, conforming to the new strict regulation rules.

Although in pilot phase with 100 taxies with fleet company MediaCab and set to expand to 150 taxis in Moscow, the team has plans for eventually further expansion to St. Petersburg and Sochi in Russia and neighbouring countries - Kazakhstan (Alma-Ata) and Ukraine (Kiev). In addition, with the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi and the 2018 World Football Cup in Moscow, it would seem that MediaCab is well positioned in the market.

Company website: www.mediacab.ru/
 >>close