Over the past few years, London has become one of the most well-known, influential and successful startup hubs in the world. And it makes sense. London has always been the largest financial center in Europe, and it has a history of cultural innovation. Plus, 75 percent of the top 500 global companies are based in London.
That said the London startup scene is unique. At its core, it’s all about diversity. In a city of 8.6 million people, there’s an incredible opportunity for cross-fertilization of ideas from all over the world and from a diverse array of networks. And that’s why so many startup incubators and accelerators are popping up all over the city.
The city is ripe for entrepreneurship, but what about for budding entrepreneurs? That’s where schools such as the London Business School, Cass Business School and Judge Business School come into play. They and many others offer exceptional MBA programs focused on developing entrepreneurs.
So, which London entrepreneurship MBAs are the best? We’ve outlined the top five programs.
London Business School
At the London Business School, entrepreneurship and the MBA program go hand-in-hand. In fact, there are four key elements of the MBA that were developed specifically for entrepreneurs:
- Core Courses: LBS doesn’t just focus on entrepreneurial ventures during electives. They offer an entrepreneurial mindset as part of their MBA core curriculum. For example, one core course is called “Discovering Entrepreneurial Opportunities.”
- Electives: At LBS, it’s possible to customize your MBA toward entrepreneurship. Students can take courses such as financial the entrepreneurial business to entrepreneurship in emerging markets.
- Entrepreneurship Summer School (ESS): For MBAs that want an in-depth study of entrepreneurship, they can participate in the ESS summer program. The program gives students the chance to assess and shape their business opportunity in a robust and practical way.
- Global Business Experience (GBE): Finally, the GBE is a program that helps MBAs apply the theory they learned in the classroom to a real-world context. The experience includes lectures, site and company visits, workshops and more.
Imperial College Business School – Imperial College London
The entrepreneurship MBA experience at Imperial College is woven into the core of the program. Not only do core courses touch on the subject with classes such as innovation and entrepreneurship, but there are also three elective courses covering topics such as family business and design management. However, where the program really shines is outside the classroom.
- Imperial Innovation Challenge: The one-week challenge encourages MBAs to apply innovative thinking to complex issues. It’s an immersive experience that includes workshops, eye-opening talks and cutting edge research.
- Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Design Project: This three-month project offers MBAs a unique opportunity to build on their entrepreneurship knowledge, skills and experience in an interactive environment. At the end of the project, students with a realistic investment opportunity can take part in the Business Plan Competition for seed capital up to £10,000.
Judge Business School – University of Cambridge
MBAs who choose to attend Judge Business School can concentrate their learning experience in entrepreneurship. The concentration gives students the skills and knowledge necessary to start and gown their own business successfully. Even better, Simon Stockley, who has advised well over 100 technology startups throughout his career, heads the concentration.
Outside of the classroom, Cambridge Judge entrepreneurship MBAs can gain more experience by using the Entrepreneurship Centre. The goal of the center is to inspire, enable and research entrepreneurship. Students can participate in a variety of events, talks and more. Two other unique venture opportunities at the School include:
- Postgraduate Diploma in Entrepreneurship: This diploma takes place over 12 months, running as a series of four distinct and assessed courses.
- Venture Creation Weekends: These events provide hands-on experiences for entrepreneurs and can help students develop, test and launch their business in 54 hours.
Cass Business School – City University London
The 12-month full-time MBA program at Cass offers a crash course in entrepreneurship. As part of that, students can focus their elective curriculum on innovation and entrepreneurship with four unique classes. The courses include intrapreneurship, new venture creation and leading digital transformations.
In addition, MBAs can participate in the five-day immersive tour of Silicon Valley called “At the Core of Entrepreneurship.” The tour gives students a first-hand look at high-tech industry as well as how entrepreneurs generate new ideas, assemble teams, start ventures, raise funding and scale up.
Other unique opportunities for entrepreneurship MBAs at Cass include:
- Peter Cullum Centre for Entrepreneurship: The Centre is the focal point for budding and established entrepreneurs at the school.
- Cass Entrepreneurship Fund: This £10 million venture capital fund provides equity to early stage companies.
Saïd Business School – University of Oxford
Last, but not least, is the entrepreneurship MBA experience at Saïd Business School. There are a myriad of opportunities for MBAs including the Entrepreneurship Project. The project helps students develop a complete business plan and present it to a panel of invited venture capitalists and other practitioners. And that project is in addition to the entrepreneurial courses covering such topics as entrepreneurial finance, innovation and scaling for impact and strategy & innovation.
Outside of the MBA program, students have other opportunities to enhance their entrepreneurship skills, including:
- The Entrepreneurship Centre: The Centre is dedicated to promoting entrepreneurship research and practice in all its forms. It includes such programs as Building a Business, the Oxford Launchpad, and the Oxford Saïd Entrepreneurship Forum.
- Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship: For those MBAs who want to use their venture to advance social innovation, this Centre offers a unique opportunity.