Bringing people together, finding inspiration, and sharing knowledge perfectly capture Emma France's journey. A graduate of HEC Paris, she served as Community Builder within the Entrepreneurship Center in 2015, went on to become an entrepreneur within the HEC Paris Startup Launchpad, then took on responsibility for CSR initiatives at an investment fund, roles that collectively led her to reflect deeply on the direction of her career.
Following these experiences, she wanted to place impact more squarely at the heart of her work. This is what brought her back to HEC Paris in 2018, this time to launch the Accélérateur ESS program in partnership with the Île-de-France Region, and to reinvigorate the HEC Stand Up programme.
Nurturing impact-driven entrepreneurship programmes at HEC has been her driving force for several years, so much so that it inspired her to travel to India and West Africa during a sabbatical to meet social entrepreneurs firsthand. "I wanted to discover different models and see how entrepreneurs from the Global South approach social innovation."
Today, Emma France leads cross-cutting projects for the HEC Paris Innovation & Entrepreneurship Institute, working to extend the reach and impact of its programmes across the HEC school and ecosystem. She also teaches impact entrepreneurship and social innovation as a doctoral researcher at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (CNAM).
Innovation & Entrepreneurship