As a leading international higher education institution, IE University trains the leaders of tomorrow with a global vision, entrepreneurial mindset and humanistic approach. Since day one, the university has disrupted: compared to more traditional universities, its personalised approach offers a curated experience for learners, and its industry ties make it stand out from competitor programmes.
Without the limitations of bricks and mortar, its virtual library punches above its weight. And when it comes to graduate testimonies, the university’s alumni are quick to sing its praises.
It was this grounding that enabled Laura McDermott to establish herself among the top women in her field.
From student to mentor
Within two years of founding her sustainability consultancy Colectivo, in 2022, Laura McDermott had picked up a number of industry accolades including the Small Firms Association’s Emerging New Business Award and the Project Management Institute’s Under 35 Changemaker award.
‘A gas emergency would quickly turn into an electricity emergency. It is low-risk, but high-consequence’
How LEO Digital for Business is helping to boost small business competitiveness
‘I have to believe that this situation is not forever’: stress mounts in homeless parents and children living in claustrophobic one-room accommodation
Unlocking the potential of your small business
She was also named as a Top 100 Women in Social Enterprise by Euclid, the European Social Enterprise Network.
All were clear indicators that Colectivo was succeeding in its mission to support organisations in their transition towards more sustainable models.
But no recognition provides clearer evidence of that than its commercial success. Today Colectivo, which employs 18 people, works with clients across a variety of sectors, from insurance to technology and education, from UN agencies to investment funds.
It is also an official Green Service Provider for Irish state agencies such as Enterprise Ireland, LEO, IDA and Údarás na Gaeltachta.
With each client Colectivo starts by getting to know its individual needs, before helping them to develop effective solutions that better support people, planet and profit.
Remarkable entrepreneurship supported by remarkable education
McDermott’s success is attributable to a number of factors, not least of which is a strong belief in the importance of education. But she also has the adventurous spirit and openness to risk of the true entrepreneur. Or, as she puts it, FOMO.
“I’ve always had a fear of missing out on anything in life. I’d always be much more fearful of getting to the age of 80 with a feeling that I had missed out on something than I would of actually going and trying something new,” she explains.
It explains why, having graduated with a degree in English studies from Trinity College Dublin before going to work in fintech for Bank of Ireland, she subsequently decided to move to Spain for a year to teach English.
The fact that she didn’t have a word of Spanish didn’t put her off. Just as she expected, she soon learned.
She laughs now at the memory of her arrival in Spain, having secured a job teaching at a secondary school run by nuns in Caceres, a beautiful old city in western Spain.
She arrived at the convent to, as she thought, pick up the keys for the apartment that came with the job, only be shown instead to a nun’s ‘cell’, her accommodation for the year.
The shock of that misunderstanding didn’t prevent her from throwing herself into her new position, or indeed from going on to have the time of her life. “I really enjoyed it,” she says.
When her year was up she moved to the historic city of Valencia, known for its vibrant tech start-up scene. By now fluent in Spanish, she set up her first business, providing translation services to start-ups looking to sell in the English-speaking world, building up her client base by attending networking events.
It was while working with start-ups that she became aware of IE University and the cachet attached to its alumni within the business community. Intrigued, she signed up for one of its weekend workshops in Madrid, its version of an open day, and immediately knew it was for her.
She applied, and was accepted, on to the Masters in Management and Strategy at IE Business School, a unique, immersive business simulation tailored for young professionals in business, finance and STEM fields.
When a new course, a Masters in Customer Experience and Innovation, was announced, she asked to transfer into it instead, and was accepted.
This Masters comprises business, technology and human centred design as well as hands on transversal skills building experience at IE’s Innolabs, which allows students to work in teams in areas such as the creative process, adaptive leadership, prototyping and design thinking.
Like many of the degree and post graduate degree courses at IE, it was offered through English. Laura graduated from the one-year programme in 2018, in the top 10 per cent of her class and having won an EI Award for one of her essays.
Indeed, so successful was she on the course that she was invited to join its academic staff, which she did.
Over the next number of years she designed, and led, mentorship programmes for Master and Bachelor candidates at IE School of Human Science and Technology before becoming IE’s Director of Academic Experience and Innovation, as well as IE Venture Lab Mentor (entrepreneurship), and finally Adjunct Professor of Design Thinking, Innovation and Sustainability.
Why IE?
Her story showcases the transformative impact of an IE University education, which stems from the university’s founding philosophy.
IE was established over 50 years ago by and for entrepreneurs who felt traditional third level business schools weren’t equipping students with the skills they needed.
The original disruptor, it turned business education on its head with an innovative teaching methodology from faculty with real-world experience.
Though now common practice, at the time, IE was a pioneer in recruiting industry practitioners as professors to add a hands-on approach to learning.
Indeed, it was one of the first business schools in the world to launch an online MBA, and that spirit of innovation has allowed it to stay at the cutting edge of higher education.
Today it offers dozens of programs across its six schools, educating future leaders with an entrepreneurial mindset and a sustainable approach that is at the core of all its programs. The results is well-rounded professionals who leave its programs ready to reshape their industries and make their mark on the world.
Making her mark
That’s exactly Laura McDermott has done through the success of Colectivo.
“What I love about IE is the diversity of thought it offers. It’s about developing different ways of thinking. It’s about challenging assumptions, technologies and business models, dissecting them and then finding more effective ways of putting them together again so that they make more sense for the business, society and the planet,” she says.
Her Masters programme was “super stimulating”, she adds, and its effects life changing.
“The biggest thing I took away from it was a growth mindset. It opened my eyes to new ways of thinking. It gave me the confidence to look at things from a lot of different angles and, not pretend you have the answers to everything right now but to actually be thoughtful and considerate and go off and figure it out,” she says.
She also enjoyed it enormously. “It was just the best thing I did in terms of the friendships and relationships that I developed with will stand to me for the rest of my life,” says the 31-year-old who, despite her success to date, is just getting started.
Discover the transformative power of an IE education for yourself
