History

Professor Pedro Nueno, Bertrán Foundation Chair of Entrepreneurship at IESE Business School, is at the helm of Finaves. For over 30 years, he has been a pioneer in entrepreneurship and innovation education. In 1973, Professor Nueno developed the first MBA course fully dedicated to entrepreneurship in Europe, thus fostering the creation of new companies across a large array of industries. One of the obstacles encountered by IESE entrepreneurs starting their business ventures was the access to financing. In the year 2000 Professor Nueno founded Finaves with the aim of addressing this need.

Finaves is a natural result of the entrepreneurial spirit that symbolizes IESE, where nearly one-third of MBA students launch their own businesses within 10 years of graduation. Funding for the Finaves projects, is derived from private and institutional investors, alumni and professors that seek to support IESE entrepreneurship through the financing, mentoring and development of the companies participated by the fund.

Since its inception, Finaves has served as a business laboratory where faculty and students can analyze real business, from the initial conception of the business idea through to its implementation, development and growth.

Finaves’s mission places its activities within the framework of IESE’s entrepreneurial programs. Finaves is one of the many initiatives of IESE’s Center for Family-Owned Business and Entrepreneurship (CEFIE), which strives to promote and support entrepreneurial and family business ventures through research efforts and the exchange of knowledge and experience between the academic, institutional and business communities. Under the auspices of the CEFIE, Finaves receives technical support and closely collaborates with IESE’s  entrepreneurship departments and centers.

Finaves has also benefited enormously from IESE’s collaboration with CIDEM-Copca ACC1Ó. As a result of this collaboration, the IESE Technological Springboard, has provided impetus for new innovative technological projects within IESE and Finaves, as well as support for local entrepreneurs.