Three entrepreneurs launch fast-track Executive MBA program in Bucharest with weekend courses

Serial entrepreneur Grégoire Vigroux, community builder and entrepreneur Andra Ghibuțiu, and adjunct professor and former managing director Nicolas Boitout PhD, launch Beyond Business School. Over 90% of the course will be delivered by entrepreneurs and corporate CEOs and the EMBA costs 3,000 EUR for early birds.

Their inaugural fast-track EMBA program consists of 120 hours, delivered over 10 weekends. The first cohort will start on January 12 and end on March 31, 2024. Two similar cohorts will follow in 2024, respectively from April to June and September to December 2024.

The program will have 40 speakers, 90% of them entrepreneurs and corporate leaders. CEO Talks – meetings in which entrepreneurs and corporate leaders share their experience with the students –will take place on Friday evenings. Masterclasses and lectures will take place on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Each student will choose between three specializations

All students will follow a common set of modules on general management that accounts for 60 hours, covering topics including building teams, public speaking, corporate finance, as well as Romania and global business.

In addition, each student will choose between three specializations: leadership and business development, leadership and sustainable business, and leadership and digital transformation, representing an additional 30 hours.

There will also be 20 hours of online classes, in partnership with Western European business schools, offering students two international certificates.A final 10 hours dedicated to an entrepreneurial capstone project will let the students showcase the knowledge they have gained throughout their academic program and apply it to real-world business issues.

“I’ve wanted to launch a business school ever since I became an entrepreneur in Romania, in 2007! I believe our country has great tech talents, but not enough business leaders with an entrepreneurial mindset. Our EMBA program has been designed to build the new generation of Romanian business leaders, and create a strong and influential network of alumni, named the ‘beyonders’. To empower our students to become greater leaders, we have selected our teachers from among the best entrepreneurs and corporate CEOs — in Romania and beyond”, said Grégoire Vigroux, co-founder Beyond Business School.

Expansion to Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary and Moldova starting 2026

Those wishing to apply for Beyond Business School’s EMBA program must have a bachelor’s degree, and be entrepreneurs; or work in any business organization, in a middle management or management role.

Beyond Business School’s founders estimate their first EMBA cohort will reach 40 students in January 2024, split evenly between the business development, sustainability and digital transformation modules.

In parallel with the three EMBA cohorts that will run throughout the year, the founders plan to launch a full three-year post-baccalaureate BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration) in September 2025 and expand across the region (primarily Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary and Moldova) the year after.