Raus’ Post

From University Plans to Entrepreneurship: My Unexpected Journey 👀 If you'd asked me about my plans at the start of this year, I would've enthusiastically told you about studying World Philosophies at SOAS University of London. Today, I should be gearing up for my first 'Freshers' night out. But life had other plans... The Pivot In March, while working at Constance Prince Maurice in Mauritius, I made one of the biggest decisions of my life: to decline my SOAS offer and dive headfirst into the world of work. Within days, I transformed an idea into reality by launching The Table, a private members community for ambitious young professionals and students. 🍾 The Table: From Concept to Success In just six months, The Table has: - Hosted 6 successful events, with 2 upcoming, from exclusive club nights to private mansion balls - Generated 5-figure revenue from ticket sales alone - Built a thriving community of exceptional, driven individuals 💼 Beyond Entrepreneurship: NXGN Lead at Luxury Branding But I didn't stop there. Recognising that luxury brands aren't fully prepared for my generation, I joined Luxury Branding as NXGN Lead. In this innovative role, I'm bridging the gap between luxury brands and the next generation of 'Luxurians'. My achievements include: - Developing the "GenZ - Early Check-in?" keynote presentation - Publishing a white paper: "The Rise of The Next Gen Luxurians" - Offering fresh perspectives on brand positioning, marketing strategy, and experience design for luxury hospitality brands - Securing an event collaboration with an ultra-luxury brand (more details coming soon!) Reflecting on the Journey so far As ambitious young professionals, we often get caught up in future goals, neglecting to appreciate our achievements. Looking back, I'm grateful I followed my instincts. The thought of cutting this journey short for university now is certainly not very appealing! I'm excited to see where this path leads and can't wait to share more of this journey with you all. What unexpected turns has your career taken? How have you balanced education with real-world experience? I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences in the comments below! #CareerJourney #Entrepreneurship #LuxuryBranding #GenZ #PersonalGrowth

🌍🎉 GreenBridge Collective Kick-Off: Linking Knowledge & Action! Excited to share the launch of the Audencia x Climate House #GreenBridgeCollective, a partnership bridging academic insights with real-world impact to foster sustainability and innovation. The event took place at Climate House, an inspiring hub co-founded by 80 entrepreneurs across six verticals: Culture, Energy, Finance, Agri-Agro, Mobility/Habitat, and Biodiversity. Climate House is driving ambitious climate action through partnerships, innovation, and ecosystem building. 🎯 Highlights: -Insights from Arnaud Chaigneau and 🏡 Maïka 🌍 Nuti 💚 on Climate House’s reason to be & transformative mission. -A warm hello from co-founder Lucie Basch (Too Good To Go). -Engaging talks by Claire Pétreault (Les Pépites Vertes) and Aïna Queiroz 🎤🌿 (Bioinspi) on storytelling & entrepreneurship. -Violaine Tardieu, Climate House’s Head of Communications, challenged students to brainstorm bold 2025 communication strategies. 💡 Workshops: Students from Audencia’s MSc Sustainable Luxury Management program—designed and launched by visionary Michaela Merk—collaborated in teams to brainstorm breakthrough ideas for Climate House’s 2025 communication strategy.  Their innovative ideas—focused on startups, VCs, media, corporates, and governments—were presented to both Violaine and me, showcasing their creativity and strategic thinking. ✨ Why This Matters: This collaboration perfectly reflects my passion ❤️ for building meaningful partnerships, uncovering “white spaces,” and crafting impactful stories that drive systemic change. Thank you to Climate House for hosting us and to everyone who contributed to making this launch a success. Here’s to more #Innovation, #Collaboration, and #Impact! Special thanks to all & Julie GOSALVEZ Henri-François Martin #GreenBridgeCollective #Sustainability #Partnerships #Audencia #ClimateHouse #2bee #impact #education

🌍🚀 Exciting New Project! 🚀🌍 I'm thrilled to share that I've started a new project as part of the KU Lighthouse‎, Copenhagen University's Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. This opportunity allows me to dive deeper into a challenge I've been passionate about—helping local governments in South America access the financial and technical resources they need to drive sustainable development. 🌱 Having worked closely with local governments in Argentina, I've seen firsthand the challenges they face in pushing their cities toward sustainability, despite having great ideas and plans. The gap between these ideas and the necessary funding is one of the biggest hurdles 🌉 My project aims to bridge that gap by: 1. Identifying the real needs of local governments. 2. Gathering lessons from successful and failed attempts to secure funding. 3. Developing a solution prototype to connect these local projects with funding opportunities. Today, we worked on developing our project's sustainable business model—a challenging but highly motivating process that is pushing us forward every step of the way. If you're passionate about sustainability, urban development, or innovation, let’s connect! 🌎💡

Embracing Sustainability at sTARTUp Day 2025 Organizing events has always been my cup of tea (or should I say, a fine aged puerh?). I'm thrilled to announce that I've been invited to join the sTARTUp Day 2025 team, focusing on Sustainability. This exciting niche allows me to channel my passion and expertise into a focused goal. Even my cat Rufus seems to approve—though he's more interested in playing with the (unfortunately) injured rats he catches than discussing sustainability. But hey, we all have our roles to play in this ecosystem! My core belief in a sustainable planet aligns perfectly with this role. It's a testament to the power of working on tasks that resonate with your values. Have you ever found yourself in a position that perfectly matches your calling? I've experienced sTARTUp Day from multiple perspectives: - In 2020, as a startup leader seeking investment for my traveltech company (just two months before COVID-19 changed everything) - In January 2024, as an inspired volunteer Each time, I've been struck by the strong values this community embodies, particularly its commitment to sustainability. The actions taken towards this goal never fail to impress me. I'm proud of our team and former leaders for building such an impactful event. Now, we're taking another leap forward! Here are some ways we're "hacking" sustainability into our next event: 1. Enhancing the sustainability of all side events (food, venue, materials) 2. Curating Demo area partners and their offerings to be more planet-wise 3. Exploring alternatives to single-use carpets in production (a challenge for all event organisers I guess) 4. Improving food waste management and order planning With this team, sustainability isn't just a buzzword—it's a mindset that informs every decision. We're conscious and present in these details, breathing life into our commitment to the planet. A big round of applause to Acento - sustainable events & Raimo Matvere for leading this collaboration for already 5 years and helping the business festival grow with a focus on sustainability. Who's joining us in Tartu in January 2025? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below! #sTARTUpDay2025 #Sustainability #EventPlanning #BusinessFestival

🪙 If the Trevi Fountain Were a Business 🪙Imagine if Rome's Trevi Fountain was on the stock market. With tourists tossing in over 1 million euros annually, it might just outperform some startups in terms of pure profit margin! Picture the quarterly reports: "Earnings are up, thanks to increased wish-making activity." 😂 In all seriousness, the fountain's tradition offers a magical blend of culture and economics. It's a reminder of how experiences can hold more value than the sum of their parts—or coins, in this case. P.S. For more fascinating intersections where hospitality meets innovation, make sure to subscribe to 🔔 https://lnkd.in/dt9fvtuh It's your go-to newsletter for all things at the crossroads of Hospitality, Finance, and Technology. Perfect for industry enthusiasts, leaders, and innovators alike.

Today my team pitched the business plan of Sustainable cultural center to the jury consisting of our professors and experts from the field. Bad news are "we are not getting the investment" 😪 Good news are that we have learned a lot ! during the Q&A session we received valuable advises for further development of our idea and the explanations where did we go wrong. Key points learned while developing the business plan and during the pitch: - for the startup is important not to go too wide. Trying to meet everybody's needs is a road to nowhere. In the beginning you need to focus. - finding a good and simple idea for the startup is a valuable skill to be still developed by me - presentation is the key - it was interesting to be a part of an event where several different groups presented in their own ways their various ideas. And what was more interesting is to see how the mood, energy and the attention span was changing in the auditorium and especially among the professional jury based on the presentation skills of the presenting team. I would like to thank my team (Lisa Ponomarenko, Azarias Teferi, Saron Teferi Mulugeta, Diana Kotoko, Zino Asamaige, Marcos Carvalho) for their dedicated work. Also I would like to say thank you to my fellows in the class from whom I learned today: Lannon Killea, Thomas Roulin, Endre Hudy, Diego Hernández Guerra, Elizabeth Olivares. Not only the energy and performance, but also how naturally was the presentation structured and how attractive it was to follow. That was a great experience!

(Learning) Expedition: Learning by Travelling 🤓 Empowering students and elevating schools have always been an incredible source of inspiration to me. From innovation learnings to entrepreneurship coaching, it was also now the time to make Lisbon and who is making it also discovered for that. Last week, I had the privilege to collaborate with ESSCA to design and shape their learning expedition in Lisbon for the students of their Master in Digital Management. Among their great discoveries, the unique Portuguese joint-venture and product development culture behind BMW Group products and operating system; the best techniques of personal branding and content creation with The Kreators studio; the reinvention of an historic Portuguese beauty brand with BENAMÔR 1925, a deep overview of the Portuguese startup scene with top local VC Semapa Next, some unique local entrepreneurs stories with founders of Budibase, Hoopers Club and Avila Spaces; and of course, a personally-branded journey into 3d immersive experiences and the future of e-commerce ✨ Thanks Anne Evanno, Paul Nathan and Guy Champagne, Ph.D., the brilliant students and, of course, all the wonderful local pioneers involved! Beyond web summit, Lisbon is becoming a new global tech hub, with a unique mix of cultures and past trajectories; and a strong pool of tech and product talents, giving birth to new growth and scaling approaches for global organisations. It is also a unique example of reinvention while preserving a strong heritage, and a perfect size playground to test and learn product/ market fit with a multi-cultural audience. Whether you are a school or a company willing to know more about it, get in touch 🤳 #learningexpedition #crossculture #crosslearning #school #corporate #lisbon #lisbonne #portugal #tech #culture #innovation #startups

In the Spring of 2012, my collaborator, Anna Love, and I were in Sao Paulo, Brazil, leading a design thinking workshop for a newly established innovation team at the Grand Hyatt. We had the privilege of working with other Hyatt innovation teams that year, but we made a big leap in Brazil. Before that trip, we’d been asked to deliver a scaled-back version of what we delivered at the d.school, which was great because we were new to delivering this content and new to teaching/coaching. But at a certain point, we realized we weren’t giving these teams what they needed to succeed. We could do more for these new innovation teams if we had the courage to color outside the lines a little bit. So we reached out to Hyatt's (then) Chief Innovation Officer and asked for more time during these innovation kick-offs and permission to do something very different. Permission granted, Anna and I sat outside the hotel the night before we were kicking off and designed our very first workshop together. Something pretty different from what we delivered at Stanford boot camps. It was a BIG success for the hotel team, for the larger corporate innovation team, and most notably, for Anna and me. That week of traveling and working together was the catalyst for co-founding our company, Stoked. It was the moment when we knew that we had the ability to create something new and impactful. Anna and I went on to work together for the next decade. Copying someone else’s format or style can help you get started, but it’s not sustainable. In my experience, I didn’t feel like my true self when I was using someone else’s format. But when we designed our workshop using the same principles, our true selves got to shine, making us so much more effective. If we’d continued to replicate what we do at the d.school, Stoked would never have been started. Imitating other people's work can act as training wheels, but don’t forget to take them off and learn how to ride on your own.

🚀 No Old Roads to New Destinations: Make 2025 Your Year of Innovation As we step into 2025, let’s reflect on the truth in this inspirational quote: “There are no old roads to new destinations.” Old methods won’t solve new problems. Familiar paths won’t take us where we need to go. Innovation demands courage. It means letting go of what feels safe. It’s about asking: • What’s a better way? • What haven’t we tried? • How can we see the challenge differently? This year, commit to thinking differently. Challenge the status quo. Be bold enough to create new paths. Innovation isn’t just a buzzword. It’s the key to growth, success, and staying ahead in 2025. Let’s pave the way to new destinations—together and WEnovate. Ready to take the first step? Share your big idea below! 💡 #inovação #innovación #innovation #quote #inspirationalquotes

🚀 No Old Roads to New Destinations: Make 2025 Your Year of Innovation As we step into 2025, let’s reflect on the truth in this inspirational quote: “There are no old roads to new destinations.” Old methods won’t solve new problems. Familiar paths won’t take us where we need to go. Innovation demands courage. It means letting go of what feels safe. It’s about asking: • What’s a better way? • What haven’t we tried? • How can we see the challenge differently? This year, commit to thinking differently. Challenge the status quo. Be bold enough to create new paths. Innovation isn’t just a buzzword. It’s the key to growth, success, and staying ahead in 2025. Let’s pave the way to new destinations—together and WEnovate. Ready to take the first step? Share your big idea below! 💡 #inovação #innovación #innovation #quote #inspirationalquotes