Babson College Hosts Fourth Annual Babson Connect: Worldwide Entrepreneurship Summit in Spain

WELLESLEY, Mass., April 24, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Babson College, the preeminent global leader in entrepr­eneurship education, hosted its fourth annual Babson Connect: Worldwide in Madrid, Spain April 20-22, 2018.

This year's premier global business summit brought together renowned figures in the international business community, as well as Babson alumni, faculty, parents, administrators, and friends, to celebrate the ways in which Entrepreneurial Thought & Action^® positively transforms businesses, societies, and lives worldwide.

"Babson Connect: Worldwide is an unmatched opportunity to gather, celebrate, learn and inspire one another in a different global entrepreneurial hub each year," said Babson College President Kerry Healey. "We invited the Babson community to join us this year in Madrid—a leading European financial and technological center rich in culture and history, and a natural next step in Babson's trip around the world."

Among this year's impressive list of speakers were fashion industry icons, Tommy Hilfiger, Elle Macpherson P'20, and Lawrence Stroll P'17, executives from some of the world's largest corporations, including Carlos Torres Vila, CEO of BBVA, and Ferit Sahenk P'20, Chairman of Dogus Holdings, and leading humanitarians, including Paul Farmer, Co-Founder and Chief Strategist of Partners In Health.

Highlights also included the presentation of Babson's newest Lewis Institute Community Changemaker honorees—Leila Janah, "Give Work" Founder and CEO of Samasource and LXMI, and María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, Permanent Member of the Spanish Council of State and President of the Women for Africa Foundation. This award is designed to recognize persons who have set something in motion in order to create positive change.

Babson also named its 2018 Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs^® Inductee—Juan Roig, President of Mercadona, who was honored at a private event in Valencia on April 19. Established in 1978, the Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs is the world's first entrepreneurship hall of fame.

According to the latest report from the Babson-sponsored Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), more than 50 percent of adults in Spain see entrepreneurship as a good career choice, and 60 percent are undeterred by fear of failure when deciding whether or not to start a business. Regionally, Europe demonstrates the second highest rate of entrepreneurs driven by opportunity rather than necessity (75 percent), just below North America.

Launched in 2015 in historic Cartagena, Colombia, Babson Connect: Worldwide has since traveled to Dubai, UAE the international hub of entrepreneurial activity, and then Bangkok, Thailand, one of the great economic success stories of Asia.

Featured events included keynote speeches from Raj Sisodia, Babson's F.W. Olin Distinguished Professor of Global Business and Co-Founder and Chairman Emeritus of Conscious Capitalism Inc., and Arthur C. Brooks, President of American Enterprise Institute. This year's panels were focused on Family Entrepreneurship and Business, Global Finance, The Business of Fashion, Global Healthcare Entrepreneurship, A Glimpse into the World of Luxury Brands, and more.

BCW 2018 Advisory Committee:

• Paloma Botin P'12
• Cyril Camus '91, Babson Global Advisory Board
• Marla Capozzi MBA'96, Chair of the Babson Board of Trustees
• Said and Mariana Darwazah P'15 '20, Trustee
• Angel De La Fuente P'21
• Harish Fabiani P'17, Trustee
• Susana Gallardo P'13, Babson Global Advisory Board
• Jean-Paul Gut P'19
• Muhammad Habib '81, P'09, Babson Global Advisory Board
• Markus Krautli '81, P'12, Babson Global Advisory Board
• Pierre Lacharlotte P'21, Babson Global Advisory Board
• Suchitra Lohia P'06 '15, Trustee
• Narender Madnani '91, Trustee
• Ignacio Mora-Figueroa MBA'00
• Francisco Riberas P'13 '15
• Dianne and Ferit Sahenk P'20, Trustee
• Adam Said '04

BCW 2018 Host Committee:

• The Carabias Family '14 '14 '17
• Simran H. Fabiani '17
• Ricardo Gomez-Acebo Botin '12
• Vasana Jantarach MBA'07
• Pablo Kuszelewski MBA'15
• Francois Nuyts MBA'96
• Maria Pereda Ehrlich '15
• The Perez Olivera Family '16
• Martin Restrepo '17, Trustee
• Monica Riberas '15
• Patricia Riberas '13
• Samuel Soria Santos MBA'11
• Alexander Thomson-Payan '06

Dean's Student Ambassadors:

• Elia M. Innamorati '20
• Defne Sahenk '20
• Rayhaan Surve '20
• Alvaro De La Fuente '21

About Babson College

Babson College is the educator, convener, and thought leader for Entrepreneurship of All Kinds^®. The top-ranked college for entrepreneurship education, Babson is a dynamic living and learning laboratory where students, faculty, and staff work together to address the real-world problems of business and society. We prepare the entrepreneurial leaders our world needs most: those with strong functional knowledge and the skills and vision to navigate change, accommodate ambiguity, surmount complexity, and motivate teams in a common purpose to make a difference in the world, and have an impact on organizations of all sizes and types. As we have for nearly a half-century, Babson continues to advance Entrepreneurial Thought & Action^® as the most positive force on the planet for generating sustainable economic and social value.

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SOURCE Babson College