MBS and Groupe TRIAL Join Forces to Support Social Innovation and Impactful Projects
MBS is strengthening its commitment to social innovation and sustainable development through the launch of a strategic partnership with Groupe TRIAL. Signed on the Montpellier campus, this collaboration aims to support student-led projects and research initiatives with high social impact, particularly those driven by the MBS Yunus Centre and the BEST Chair.
A Strategic Partnership to Empower Student Engagement
Formalized in the presence of Bruno Ducasse, Dean of MBS, Walid Nakara, Professor of Strategy and Director of the BEST Chair and the Yunus Centre, Clément Caylar, President of Groupe TRIAL and MBS alumnus (class of 2010), and Marie-Charlotte de Ricard, President of Trial’Impact, this partnership is built around three key commitments:
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Funding for the Yunus Centre Social Business Prize, which will reward a student or young entrepreneur leading a high-impact social project, starting in 2025.
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Dedicated support for the BEST Chair (Business and Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Transformation), which explores the levers of sustainable business transformation.
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Skills-based sponsorship provided by Trial’Impact, offering mentoring to the winners of the Social Business Prize.
Inspiring New Ideas and Turning Vision into Action
This partnership is part of the ongoing mission of the Yunus Centre for Social Business and Financial Inclusion, established at MBS in 2019, and builds on the momentum of the SDG Challenge, launched in 2021. Each year, the challenge engages students around the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, encouraging them to design solutions that address real-world issues.
By combining financial backing and strategic guidance, Groupe TRIAL is actively contributing to the emergence of innovative, concrete, and sustainable solutions imagined by MBS students.
A Broader Vision Starting in 2026
Beginning in March 2026, Trial’Impact will also support the participants of the BEST IMPACT program, co-led by the BEST Chair, the MBS Entrepreneurship Center, and France Travail. This new dimension of the partnership will offer targeted mentoring from the ideation stage to project launch, further strengthening MBS’s ecosystem for socially driven innovation.
