ESCP Extension School Launches New Entrepreneurship Programme with Qui Veut Être Mon Associé ? Amplify
ESCP Extension School has announced the launch of its new Entrepreneurship programme, designed to support professionals who wish to structure and bring an entrepreneurial project to life.
This launch is part of a broader effort to make entrepreneurship more accessible, spearheaded by ESCP Extension School and Qui Veut Être Mon Associé ? Amplify, the leading platform dedicated to business creation, developed in association with broadcaster M6, production company Satisfy (Arthur Essebag) and Amplify's co-founder Michèle Benzeno (formerly of Webedia), as an extension of the popular French TV show on M6.
ESCP Extension School is an innovative and inclusive continuing education initiative designed to provide accessible certified training for professionals looking to upskill and accelerate their career transitions. The new programme represents the institution’s latest effort to bridge the gap between academic theory and real-world business practice to help working professionals and career changers develop entrepreneurial skills without leaving their day jobs.
Supporting entrepreneurial ambitions from idea to launch
The new Entrepreneurship programme, launched in France, guides participants through the complete entrepreneurial journey from idea to launch. Structured over six months and 150 hours, it combines:
- In-depth work on entrepreneurial mindset and vision
- A rigorous methodology to transform an idea into a viable project
- Practical tools to create, structure and manage a business
Participants work with ESCP faculty, coaches and industry professionals through a practical teaching approach combining academic input, case studies and collective support. Delivered mainly online, ensuring wide accessibility and compatibility with other activities, the programme is accessible without selection based on academic background and awards an ESCP Extension School certificate (recognised RNCP 7 in France).
“Many people want to start a business but do not always know where to begin,” explained Guidiche Makanda, Director of ESCP Extension School. “This programme transforms that desire into a structured project, and that project into reality through practical exercises that test entrepreneurial ideas against real-world challenges.”
Participants receive individual and group coaching, mentoring and access to ESCP’s entrepreneurial community. The programme is also eligible for France’s CPF professional training accounts and can be funded through various employment and training agencies.
“It follows the logic of ESCP Extension School: going beyond theory to provide project leaders with concrete tools, enabling them to test their entrepreneurial project directly through the applied exercises of the certificate and confront it with real-world conditions,” adds Guidiche Makanda.
A partnership to democratise entrepreneurship
The launch of the Entrepreneurship programme is a part of a broader ecosystem and is supported by the School’s new partnership with Qui Veut Être Mon Associé ?, Amplify. Often described as the French equivalent of Shark Tank, Qui Veut Être Mon Associé ? features entrepreneurs pitching their ventures to a panel of investors. The show’s producers have created Amplify, a multi-channel platform designed to extend the programme’s educational mission beyond television.
As part of this partnership, members of the Qui Veut Être Mon Associé ? jury will intervene at key stages of the programme to share their experience, both successes and failures, and provide practical insights to participants. They will notably be present at the start of the programme to meet, engage with and encourage participants.
The collaboration aims to leverage the show’s popularity to reach audiences who might not traditionally consider formal business education. ESCP will promote the programme across Amplify’s platform and communication channels.
For ESCP, the partnership represents a bold experiment in making elite business education more accessible while maintaining academic rigour — a balance that could define the future of entrepreneurship training in an era in which starting a business is both more accessible and more complex than ever before.
ESCP Extension School: a new approach to continuing education
Since its launch in March 2025, ESCP Extension School has already trained several hundred professionals across key areas, including entrepreneurship, artificial intelligence and ecological transition. Inspired by the extension school models of Harvard and UCLA, the approach emphasises flexibility and practical application over rigid academic structures.
“With ESCP Extension School, we chose to offer continuing education that is deeply rooted in real-world challenges and designed to support professional and societal transformation,” said Prof Léon Laulusa, Dean of ESCP Business School. “ The launch of the Entrepreneurship programme fully embodies this ambition: to provide those who wish to start a business with practical tools that can be immediately applied.”
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