Annual report

The 'HEC for All' preparatory scholarship program, open to all high schools in France since 2019, has enabled 584 students to approach the competitive exam period with greater peace of mind.

Making the ambitious choice to join a business school after preparatory classes offers many opportunities, but when you come from a modest background, you cannot completely ignore the financial aspect. Thanks to the HEC Foundation scholarship, the costs associated with the oral exams at the schools were greatly reduced. A few months before the exams, I approached the final stretch much more calmly and was able to be accompanied by someone close to me, which, after two intense years of boarding school prep, was very much appreciated. Today, I realize how crucial this support was in my admission to HEC.

I would like to thank the HEC Foundation for its involvement in the success of our students and its constant concern for reaching out to preparatory students from the provinces. Beyond the material assistance these scholarships provide, this good news, arriving just before the exams, undoubtly gives them an extra boost of motivation!

Elisabeth Lecat Quentric, Professor at Lycée Chateaubriand, Rennes
 

The PREP Étoile program supports second-year preparatory class students who have the academic potential to aim for HEC but do not dare to believe in their ability to join a Grande École. They are supported throughout the year by a tutor who is an HEC student and have access to online events, exchange sessions, and inspiring meetings. Each cohort is sponsored by a donor from the HEC Foundation committed to Equal Opportunity.

The aim of PACT Afrique is to help young African talents from the most renowned institutions in the Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Gabon to prepare for the written and oral entrance exams to the 2nd year of the Grande Ecole program. This equal opportunity scheme is run by the HEC Office in the Ivory Coast.

Thanks to the commitment of donors and corporate partners such as Schneider Electric, as well as Alumni mentors, the scheme enabled to some 1,800 young people locally in 4 years.

 

The support from the Foundation has been invaluable: it allowed us to prepare for the HEC entrance exams in the best conditions and with peace of mind. This experience has been extraordinary! In fact, without this support, getting into HEC Paris would have been much more difficult, and I feel immense gratitude towards the donors and those involved in the PACT Afrique program. In turn, I want to follow this example and reach out to other young people who dream of joining an excellent school like HEC Paris.

Each year, ten candidates with exceptional paths but facing financial hurdles will be selected to receive a scholarship covering all their tuition fees. They will then benefit from mentorship and dedicated networking opportunities to build their contacts and excel as business leaders. To apply:  Liesbet Corriveau : corriveau@hec.fr  
ou www.hec.edu/en/laidlawscholarsprogram

Pragya (MBA.26)

I grew up in India where my parents worked hard to support me. Today, it is thanks to the Laidlaw Foundation scholarship that I can pursue an MBA at HEC and achieve my dream. I grew up in an environment where female leadership was not encouraged, so receiving this scholarship as truly transformed my life and ambitions. It has allowed me to discover new perspectives, build relationships far beyond the professional sphere, and be accompanied by mentors who inspire and challenge me. It reminds me how essential inclusion is!

The crisis in Lebanon has affected us all, and honestly, getting into HEC Paris was my dream. The CMA CGM scholarship was truly the catalyst that allowed me to come study in France. I am very grateful for this support. The trust that CMA CGM has placed in me and their commitment to Lebanese youth are very inspiring. I feel the need and desire to give back to my country what it has given me, either by supporting it financially or by helping other talents pursue their studies, because education is a right for everyone.

Founded 13 years ago at the University of Toronto, the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) is present in a dozen partner business schools around the world. Each school operates programs to support tech start-ups, in which their MBA students are integrated. HEC Paris joined this network 5 years ago and now manages 5 thematic accelerators.  
HEC has made CDL-Paris a true asset for students and researchers, who benefit from a powerful, high-level, and international ecosystem. By bringing together students, experts, investors, and mentors to work on concrete cases addressing current issues, this program creates bridges between the business world and the scientific world, benefiting society as a whole.

Neurobus was born from the ambition to reinvent embedded AI and autonomous systems by drawing inspiration from the principles of human biology. The HEC incubator and the CDL program immersed us in a demanding ecosystem where ambition goes hand in hand with rigor. This support has allowed us to structure our vision, refine our deeptech strategy, and engage in concrete discussions with investors, industry leaders, and key institutional players.

Florian Corgnou (EMBA.24), Co-founder of Neurobus

The HEC MBA is about more than classroom experiences, and nothing exemplifies this better than CDL. Students work directly with entrepreneurs and innovators who are defining and solving the world’s most important problems—including artificial intelligence, climate, space, next-generation computing, —and then scaling solutions to make a real impact. With CDL, our students start leaving their mark on the world well before they graduate.

Brad Harris, Associate Dean of MBA & EMBA programs, HEC Paris

In April, more than 300 people gathered for HEC Paris’s first immersive experience, aimed at exploring the role of business decisions in driving a socially just transition. The objectives are multiple: guiding corporate decision-making and action, redefining impact leadership, building a global community, facilitating a just transition for all... 
This experiment began in Kinshasa, one of the eight selected megacities. Students, researchers, and business leaders were immersed in scenarios highlighting the challenges and opportunities of megacities that could materialize 26 years later.
The 2050NOW initiative is one of the five winners of the Financial Times Responsible Business Education Award.

Thinking about the future means shifting perspectives and opening up new promises of progress and understanding. Engaging with academics and students leads to immersing in new paradigms and allowing oneself to be questioned. For over 15 years, Schneider Electric has chosen to closely collaborate with the work of the S&O Institute to challenge the design of its Impact programs.Since Schneider has been named ‘the most sustainable company’ by Corporate Knight for the second time, this partnership is indeed bold.

Gilles Vermot-Desroches, Chief corporate Citizenship Officer, Schneider Electric

These major transformational donations are used to fund large-scale projects, infrastructure or endowments that create a considerable impact on the development and influence of HEC Paris.

The worlds of teaching, research and business come together in our Corporate Initiatives and Research Chairs. For the School, these programs are a means to promote research and student training in previously identified fields. They are designed to provide companies with resources to respond to their strategic challenges and boost their innovation capacity.

Creating a Corporate Initiative or Research Chair in your name is a unique opportunity to stand out from your competitors on major strategic issues and to be a pioneer with a vision!
 

Each of our Centers and Institutes is based on a three-pronged approach: research, teaching and action, and focuses on a major cross-disciplinary theme through extensive interaction with students and leading academic and business players.