At INSEAD, we learn how business can be used as a “Force for Good”. With a strong interest in entrepreneurship and a dream to have a start-up ourselves someday, my classmate, Gijs Wilbers, and I, Manasvi Srivastava, wanted to discover how entrepreneurs are using technology, particularly in the financial world, to disrupt the industry and positively impact society.

• Read more about Tour of the Baltics: INSEAD MBA Start-up Journey

I never saw myself as an entrepreneur before INSEAD. In my mind, entrepreneurs with the likes of Steve Jobs or Elon Mask have a certain level of coolness; they are free spirits with a tremendously high risk-seeking appetite. I imagine them to be working day and night in T-shirts and jeans in their tech-enabled cozy offices, drinking coffee and ordering late night takeaways, pushing the team towards new breakthroughs with excitement!

• Read more about Startup Bootcamp: A Glimpse of the World of an Entrepreneur

Coming from a background in science and start-ups, many of my MBA programme options felt like a strong departure from the unfamiliar mind-expanding experiences, on-the-job learning, and team-building challenges of start-ups into a world of conservatism, risk management, and generally-accepted best practices—except for INSEAD.

• Read more about How INSEAD Compares to Life in Start-ups

Before I talk about my experience, I want to tell you about Ahmed (name changed). Ahmed graduated with a degree in hydraulic engineering from the UAE, before completing a traineeship with the Ministry of Agriculture in Gaza. Unsure about his career goals, he decided to open a supermarket with his brother, where he was the general manager in charge of inventory management, customer service and financial record keeping.

• Read more about How Business Can Truly Be a Force for Good

Having regarded my past few months at INSEAD as experimental grounds, the MBA’s 2-month break felt like an exciting new experimentation window. And with a “single” professional 4-year experience in management consulting, an internship seemed like the perfect opportunity to test new professional variables around sector and work setup.

• Read more about An Exciting Experimentation Window

Before the business trek during the school's P3/P4 break, there has always been a certain expectation on what Israel should look like. Probably due to the images often portrayed in news of conflicts, tensions, grief… it's no surprise that these are the words often associated with this land. So when I first touched down in Tel Aviv, I was shocked by it's liberal culture and lively atmosphere.

• Read more about Discovering Israel, the Start-up Nation