Gaetano Lapenta, a graduate from the POLIMI Graduate School of Management, has won the coveted Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2024 for his company Fybra.
The AMBA & BGA Excellence Awards 2024 were held on January 19, 2024 at the exceptional Park Plaza London Riverbank. The Awards brought together leading lights from the global business education community to celebrate excellence and commend achievement among business schools, MBA students and graduates, suppliers and employers.
The ceremony was attended by more than 200 business school leaders, as well as category finalists, judges and members of the media.
The Entrepreneur of the Year Award celebrates the achievements of successful alumni in entrepreneurial business innovation and strategy. It is designed to recognise the impact made by growing organisations in terms of its development, results and achievements.
It also highlights business schools that are promoting entrepreneurship in their cohorts effectively and promotes its importance in the global market.
A change to change: this is the story of Gaetano and his creation, the startup Fybra. During his EMBA, Gaetano felt that he now had sufficient self-awareness to change his life from manager to entrepreneur and decided to direct that momentum towards a highly impactful venture, in both social and environmental terms. The idea came to Gaetano after a personal issue (his daughterʼs school): during the EMBA, this gave him the focus to gather together all the tools he was acquiring to develop the MVP, get a team together, raise funds and launch his own successful startup.
Gaetano Lapenta, said of his win, “This is an award that means a lot for me. The executive MBA at Polimi Gsom was lifechanging in my career path. It gave me the tools and even the language to start a company from nothing. We went through fundraising, market-technology fitting, tech development, intellectual property issues for our patents, finance and taxes and much more. And we did it with the right knowledge. For sure we will do our best to deserve this incredible honour and keep working on our purpose to create a healthier and more sustainable future”
Federico Frattini, Dean, POLIMI Graduate School of Management, said, “We are extremely proud of the two awards we have received within the AMBA & BGA Excellence Awards in fact, both initiatives have a common denominator, they are guided by the purpose of contributing, through training, to building a better future. Gaetano Lapenta is a visionary entrepreneur, capable of finding simple solutions to complex problems. Whereas the Innova Europe challenge is a catalyst and an accelerator of entrepreneurial ideas that I am sure will have a significant impact on society, through technology”.
Andrew Main Wilson, Chief Executive of the Association of MBAs and Business Graduates Association (AMBA & BGA) said: “On behalf of the AMBA and BGA team, I would like to congratulate the finalists and winners of this year’s Excellence Awards.
“This year, the competition was stronger than ever. The entries who have made the final shortlist in each category should feel proud of their achievements.
“Additionally, the students and graduates who have been shortlisted as finalists today have all used their qualifications to achieve a spectrum of impressive results, in terms of the positive impact they have made to business, education and society as a whole.
“It was thrilling to be able to celebrate the AMBA network’s achievements at this glamorous Gala Dinner – in particular its been amazing to celebrate exceptional innovations and successes in the higher management education industry.
“I also want to take the opportunity to thank our partners, Kortext, Canvas by Instructure, Cesim Business Simulations, Perlego and BlueSky Education. Their support for our awards – and the business education sector – is greatly appreciated.”
ENDS
For more information or interviews, please contact:
- Ellen Buchan, Insight, Content & PR Manager, AMBA & BGA – buchan@associationofmbas.com
Awards selection process:
The finalists were shortlisted by AMBA & BGA’s senior management team. A panel of judges then reviewed the shortlisted entries, selecting a winner and a highly commended entry for each award. Our judging panel is made up of AMBA board members, business experts, deans and management leaders.
All of our judges were selected based on their experience and qualifications.
The winners and highly commended entries can be seen here.
Best Culture, Diversity and Inclusion Initiative 2024, in association with BlueSky Education
Winner
- ESADE Business School (Spain) for MBA elective: racial (in)justice
Highly commended
- Centrum Católica, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (Peru) for Mujer, que tu negocio crezca más (Woman, may your business grow more)
- SDA Bocconi School of Management (Italy) for People with disabilities and employment: beyond the barriers
Best Business School Partnership Award 2024, in association with Perlego
Winner
- Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham (UK) with Deloitte
Highly commended
- Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow (UK) with Common Mission Project
- Monash Business School, Monash University (Australia) with Business Council of Cooperatives and Mutuals
Best CSR and Sustainability Initiative 2024, in association with Cesim Business Simulations
Winner
- EGADE Business School, Tecnológico de Monterrey (Mexico) for Social impact strategy and EGADE action week
Highly commended
- Mannheim Business School (Germany) and ESSEC Business School (France) for LESPRIT – Lebanon solar power and light project
- POLIMI Graduate School of Management (Italy) for Innova Europe 2023
- Shantou University Business School (China) for Rural revitalisation programme
Best Lifelong Learning Initiative 2024, in association with Canvas by Instructure
Winner
- UCL School of Management, University College London (UK) for UCL MBA labs
Best Innovation Strategy Award 2024, in association with Kortext
Winner
- Manchester Metropolitan University Business School (UK) for Innovation in employability – a strengths approach to personal and professional development
Highly commended
- Woxsen University (India) for Financial literacy workshop for underprivileged youth
BGA Business School Impact Award 2024
Winner
- ESLSCA University (Egypt) for ESLSCA’s MBA governmental programme: transforming government public officials into change catalysts
Highly commended
- Indian Institute of Management Indore (India) for IIM Indoreʼs horticulture cell
- School of Economics and Management, Dongguan University of Technology (China) for Smart against fraud and the old friends academy
Start-Up of the Year Award 2024
Winner
- Puneet Saini, University of Canterbury Business School (New Zealand) for Script Sense
Highly commended
- Georges Acar, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick (UK) for Inquizyt
- Marita Sanchez de la Cerda, UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, University College Dublin (Ireland) for SAIZ
Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2024
Winner
- Gaetano Lapenta, POLIMI Graduate School of Management (Italy) for Fybra
Highly commended
- Alexandra Mendoza, Universidad del Norte (Colombia) for Liquitech
- Matt Stevenson-Dodd, Nottingham University Business School (UK) for Trust Impact
- Trai Sasatavadhana, Chulalongkorn Business School, Chulalongkorn University (Thailand) for Tasted Better
Postgraduate Leadership Award 2024
Winner
- Lorna Conn, UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, University College Dublin (Ireland)
Highly commended
- Alex Athanassoulas, Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow (UK)
- Ayodeji Balogun, Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University (Nigeria)
AMBA Student of the Year Award 2024
Winner
- Sonya Bachra-Byrne, University of Bradford School of Management (UK)
Highly commended
- Aditi Singh Bais, Indian Institute of Management Indore (India)
- Elizabeth Woods, Cranfield School of Management (UK)
- James Boyce, The Open University Business School (UK)
BGA Student of the Year Award 2024
Winner
- May Al-Amir, ESLSCA University (Egypt)
