ESA Business School
ESA Business School (ESA) is a leading business school that aims to educate responsible business leaders capable of developing innovative and sustainable business models that create value for business as well as society at large.
ESA is the only academic institution in Lebanon and among the very few in the MENA region to offer AMBA accredited programs. We also offer a wide range of academic and executive degree programs in collaboration with prestigious European business schools and universities such as HEC-Paris, ESCP-Europe, and Bocconi University, among many others.
The school also incorporates one of the most successful business accelerators in Lebanon. SMART ESA has won several awards recognizing its achievements in developing and supporting over 40 startups and 50 projects in various fields. Anchored in practical entrepreneurship expertise, SMART ESA works on transforming creators into entrepreneurs by providing startups with a customized management toolbox for sustainable success.
Accreditations: AMBA
Dean: Mr. Maxence Duault
GBSN Ambassadors: Dr. Abdel Maoula Chaar, Dr. Sally Shamieh
CRED Research Center
Launched in 2018, CRED is a knowledge hub grouping a research center, a doctoral platform and a pedagogical center that endeavors to make a difference through research that impacts daily lives and future possibilities.
The CRED Research Center is a young think lab focused on impact research on issues related to resilience, sustainability and socio-economic development in disruptive contexts. The Doctoral Platform of CRED hosts the DBA program as well as the Masters in Research program, in addition to offering open access training and support to doctoral and post-doctoral researchers from Lebanon, regardless of their university affiliation. The Pedagogical Center strives to improve the learning experience of students by promoting and disseminating cutting edge educational methods and techniques to private, as well as public educational institutions in Lebanon.
CRED strives to be a knowledge hub that promotes resilience and sustainable socio-economic inclusive growth in disruptive contexts. Therefore, we aim to develop and conduct impactful research that produces practical results and managerial tools that can effect positive change.
Network Engagement
Ways the institution will support the GBSN mission:
ESA Business School is committed to support the GBSN mission by opening its doors and sharing its knowledge and expertise in Lebanon and the region. Our CRED Research Center is strategically positioned to access local data that could further research in developmental and business areas to the betterment of business education. We highly focus on inclusive growth ed-tech solutions that are accessible to all, collaborating with strategic partners in Europe and in Lebanon. Promoting quality education and development is of high priority to us and sharing lessons learned contributes to improving entrepreneurship and business education for the developing world.
Institutional Contributions to the Network Platform in the First Year:
ESA Business School is eager to engage its community, faculty as well as students, with the GBSN platform and network. We look forward to taking part in the Cross-Border Collabs, attending the GBSN Annual Conference, and sharing research outcomes and lessons learned from the local context. Sharing knowledge from this part of the world contributes to a better understanding of business and management in developing countries and emerging economies in disruptive contexts.
“ESA Business School is eager to join forces with GBSN members to further advance sustainable development through business education and research. By sharing our local expertise and opening our doors to collaborative partnerships, we aim to contribute to improving access to quality business education, while at the same time offer the ESA community access to international experiences and exposure.“
- -Mr. Maxence Duault, Dean
Institutional Engagement with Fellow GBSN Member Institutions:
As a Think Lab, our research questions are driven by very practical interests, not only academic theoretical gaps in the literature, as providing impactful research is at the core of our mission. We believe that business can be a force of good, and we strive to garner its potential towards the public good. Within our work, we believe the priority should go to People out of the three Ps of sustainability. And this is exactly where all our research emanates from and goes back to. Our focus on inclusive development highly aligns our work with the Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) calling to ensure peace and prosperity to all people.
We look forward to collaborating with GBSN member institutions on research avenues of common interest including Institutional Hybridity, Business and Human Rights, Governance and Finance, Inclusive Development, and Urban Resilience. Within these broad themes, we address topics like ed-tech and e-learning, entrepreneurship and empowerment, gender and women issues, and ethical leadership.
The biggest challenge facing management in your community and how the institution addresses this challenge:
Lebanon is currently facing a series of multi-fold economic and financial crises that have gravely impacted the social dimension of its environment. The research we conduct at CRED is based on community engagement and aims to understand and explain the realities of Lebanese and regional organizations in order to facilitate their adaptation to turbulent environments.
Resilience in disruptive contexts is of critical importance to MSMEs survival and sustainability.
As a business school, we feel compelled to investigate avenues of transformative resilience and business model innovation that could produce dynamic resources and generate hybrid organizations that could ease the pressure within the corporate and business environment in Lebanon.
GBSN promotes the expertise and interests of our members by providing a platform to communicate news and open opportunities to global audiences and share how they are innovating in management education to the benefit of their colleagues around the world. The New Member Spotlight series serves as a way for new member schools to introduce themselves to the network.