Micro entrepreneurship – The Beating Heart of Emerging Economies

Education, Wheeler Institute

Microentrepreneurship—the practice of individuals operating small, often informal businesses with limited capital—plays a critical role in economies worldwide. It provides livelihoods, fosters innovation, and builds community resilience.​ At London Business School, learning happens far beyond the classroom. Two flagship experiential programs—the Johannesburg Global Business Experience (GBE) and Digital for Impact (DFI)—offer MBA students hands-on consulting…

Read More

Immersive Consulting at LBS: Comparing two learning experiences in Africa

Education, Wheeler Institute

At London Business School, learning happens far beyond the classroom. Two flagship experiential programs—the Johannesburg Global Business Experience (GBE) and Digital for Impact (DFI)—offer MBA students hands-on consulting opportunities in emerging markets. Both courses allow students to work directly with African entrepreneurs, but their design and delivery highlight different aspects of experiential learning. In a…

Read More

Radha Basu: AI, iMerit, and the Power of Youth

Education, Past Events, Student-led initiatives, Wheeler Institute, ,

The 2024 LBS Social Impact Club Conference concluded with a keynote on leveraging technology for social impact. Radha Basu (Founder and CEO of iMerit and co-founder of Anudip Foundation) shared her journey as a pioneer in the Indian software industry and a tech entrepreneur dedicated to addressing youth unemployment. Through iMerit and Anudip, Radha has…

Read More

Business and Gender Empowerment

Education, Events, India, Past Events, Wheeler Institute

On 17th May 2024 the Private Sector Development Research Network (PSDRN), in collaboration with The Wheeler Institute for Business and Development, hosted a thought-provoking seminar titled “Business and Gender Empowerment: Can Selling Make You More Resilient? Experimental Evidence from India.” Led by Iris Steenkamp (Assistant Professor of Marketing at Bocconi University and LBS PhD 2022)…

Read More

Shared Appointments Research Project Recognised in the Financial Times

Education, News, Research Portal, Wheeler Institute

Congratulations to Nazlı Sönmez (Assistant Professor of Management Science at ESMT Berlin, and London Business School PhD alumna), whose Wheeler Institute-funded research on shared medical appointments has been highly commended in The Financial Times’ research awards. The awards acknowledge research that addresses vital and sometimes overlooked societal and environmental issues. ‘Evidence from the First Shared Medical Appointments (SMAs) Randomised Controlled…

Read More

What does the Wheeler Institute’s DL Labs internship look like?

Applied research, Collaborations, Communities, Education, India, LBS Students, Student voice, Wheeler Institute, ,

Former intern Chris Wright (LBS MBA 2023) reports on his five months travelling across the Indian subcontinent as a DL Labs intern. From conducting research on-the-ground to liaising with high profile entrepreneurs, here’s how the experience informed his understanding of social enterprises. Dharma Life is an NGO driving progress through a network of 17,000 rural…

Read More

Religion and educational mobility in Africa: A landmark study published in ‘Nature’

Education, News, Research Portal, Research we support, Wheeler Institute

Education has long been recognized as a key driver of development and empowerment in Africa. However, the impact of religion on educational mobility has remained a topic of concern and debate. In a landmark study published in Nature, called Religion and educational mobility in Africa, Elias Papaioannou, Alberto Alesina, Sebastian Hohmann, and Stelios Michalopoulos, supported…

Read More

Creating impact for rural communities in India, gaining valuable skills, and fostering the LBS community

Education, Student-led initiatives

During this spring I had the opportunity to work as a team leader for Project Aasha, an impact consulting project in collaboration with Head Held High, an incubator for social changemakers that develops transformational programmes to help households in rural India move out of poverty. Our challenge: how do we measure and assess poverty in…

Read More

OnPeri: Supporting female empowerment by designing a go-to-market strategy for a FemTech venture

Education, Student-led initiatives

We are Aman Desai, Madeline Goodman (MAM2021), Lorenzo Bacheca (MiM2021), and Marion Denis (MiM2021). With an interest in social impact and the knowledge obtained through our Early Careers programs, we stepped into Project Aasha to support OnPeri – an Indian social enterprise that redesigns and promotes the use of menstrual cups. During our first call,…

Read More