Professionally speaking, I am the reasonable type. I have always restrained myself from doing crazy things. So, if five years ago you would have told me that I would be starting my own company in the wine business, I would have thought that *you* were mad.  Let me tell you the story of how I decided to dive into my passion. 

• Read more about Diving Into Passion: My Wine Adventure

Team Start-up Mates: Lien Nguyen, Shwetali Sinkar, Hillary Yee Backstory Team Start-up Mates was very intrigued when they first heard about this ‘special’ summer start-up tour in Australia this year.

• Read more about Catalysing Early-stage Ventures in Western Australia

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