Esade Alumni and Yamaha have signed a collaboration agreement to promote initiatives aimed at encouraging the participation of young people. Through this collaboration agreement, Yamaha becomes a sponsor of the Esade Alumni Young Commission, a community of Esade alumni and students under 30 years of age. Working together, Yamaha and Esade Alumni will be able to develop new projects of interest to the community.
The ultimate goal of the Esade Alumni community is to be a benchmark for the younger segment and motivate them to contribute value so that we can grow together and advance responsibly and sustainably towards a better world. This is a goal with which Yamaha feels very much aligned. “We want to contribute positive values to build a better society, just like Esade Alumni,” explained Víctor González, Director of Yamaha Motor Spain. “Although our product belongs to the field of mobility, it is also a work tool.” He added: “At Yamaha, we have a plan to connect with Barcelona, with people who have the capacity to generate ideas, with the new generations. When Esade Alumni offered us this agreement, our interests converged: this is a group of people with talent, innovation and a fresh way of thinking. We saw it as a great opportunity.”
For Esade Alumni, this sort of collaboration is a great opportunity to provide greater value to young people – a group that is playing an increasingly important role: “Focusing on the young community is essential, as they represent our future,” commented Patricia Valentí (MBA ’02 / Promociona ‘17), Director of Esade Alumni. “Their innovative vision, their desire to improve and grow personally and professionally by learning and being inspired by others, their commitment to acting in a responsible, sustainable and egalitarian way – these are the hallmarks of a particularly active and participatory generation that has so much value to offer the community at large.”
This collaboration agreement between Esade Alumni and Yamaha will breathe fresh life into initiatives that are already underway, such as the Young Evenings (discussion sessions with entrepreneurs from businesses such as NoraRealFood, PropHero, Twitch, Saye, Vicio, Mundimoto, Laagam, PdPaola, etc., in a relaxed environment – usually the entrepreneur’s own offices) and the Awards for Best Final Projects in the BBA, MUA and MSc programmes at Esade. The agreement will also facilitate the launch of new projects focused on younger members of the community who identify with a commitment to sustainable causes and innovative vision. “We want to bring teams together,” commented Víctor. “If we combine the vision of young people with the knowledge of Esade and its alumni, plus our product and mobility solutions, we can create something new and rethink the way we understand mobility. It is an invitation to share knowledge from an open perspective. We don’t want to put limits on talent and creativity, because new solutions are what we are looking for.”
If we combine the vision of young people with the knowledge of Esade and its alumni, plus our product and mobility solutions, we can create something new and rethink the way we understand mobility
To sum up this sense of harmony, he reaches for a Japanese word that is widely used at Yamaha – kando – which refers to when a person wants to exceed the expectations that someone else has placed on him or her. “The impact you have when you try to exceed people’s expectations of you creates an moment of deep satisfaction and intense emotion. When a community like Esade Alumni talks about transforming society, it is pure kando. I think you live and breathe kando.”
