Tell me who your friends are and I’ll tell you your chances of entrepreneurial success.

Was she was a born a genius?  

Did World War I. kill off the men she competed with?  

Did she kiss the right aristocrat after a cabaret performance?

PARIS:

Entrepreneurship is a perilous endeavor and it’s hard to determine why someone succeeds where someone else fails.  Coco Chanel is a case in point.  

She seemed to have everything against her: she was orphaned into extreme poverty, she grew up far removed from the industry center in Paris, her vision of fashion was diametrically opposed to the haute couture establishment, she was a woman in a man’s world.  But the entrepreneuse did succeed, wildly.  

Chanel’s success is the subject of Management and Entrepreneurship Professors Gino Cattani (New York University) and Simone Ferriani (University of Bologna & City University of London)’s research into the role that friends might play in fostering entrepreneurship.  

Come welcome Gino and Simone to our show and let’s find out how new ideas can make their way from la province to la capitale.