Students from ESCP Business School learn in the field with Manutan

To strengthen its employer brand and support young talent, the Manutan group has formed a solid partnership with ESCP Business School. Within this framework, the European leader in BtoB distribution, is sponsoring the Design Thinking course, offered to MiM (Master in Management) 'Grande Ecole' programme students for the second year in a row. The class of around thirty international students worked on a strategic project, proposed by Manutan Management at the beginning of this year.

The students were given a shared problem: to find growth drivers to meet the challenges of corporate social responsibility (CSR) for Manutan clients in a post-Covid context.

After being briefed by the project leaders and their respective sponsors, each group of students focused on one type of client (tradespeople, medium-sized companies, local authorities, etc.). For four months, they analysed the field, came up with solutions, made and tested prototypes to eventually pitch their final project to a jury. There were three awards: the 'Design Thinking Excellence', 'Business Solution Excellence' and 'Pitch Excellence' prizes.

Julian Rakotoarivelo was part of the group dedicated to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises which won the 'Design Thinking Excellence' prize. He tells us about it: "Quentin Bures, Manutan group e-procurement manager, was wonderful as a sponsor. He was very available and we regularly emailed about our project's progress. We were able to tell him about our fears and apprehensions throughout the session. On a personal level, this group project was really beneficial to me. It forced me to leave my comfort zone, and find information myself in different ways. I felt much more like a contributor, especially as we were doing this work for an actual client, as if we were already on the labour market."

After two years in partnership, Manutan is building a strong relationship with this benchmark school, which trains the directors and talents of tomorrow. Both students and sponsors describe a rewarding experience, full of great meetings and strategic discussions.