Amélie Leuchtenberger

IE Business School

“An energetic cocktail of entrepreneurial spirit, emotional intelligence, and natural excitement for competition and innovation.”

Hometown: Stade, Niedersachsen / Hamburg, Germany

Fun Fact About Yourself: I am ambidextrous.

Undergraduate School and Major: Brighton University / Event Management

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Co-Founder & Head of Marketing & PR, Foursource

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: My biggest professional achievement was taking a risk, by co-founding a tech start-up that aims to digitalize and empower the entire textile industry. I left my comfort zone to do something new: develop a global marketing strategy for a B2B product. I am extremely proud to have established the world’s largest digital apparel sourcing network in the fashion industry. As part of the founders’ team, I have positioned Foursource in 95 countries, scaled business to 30.000 verified & qualified company profiles as well as +$50 billion dollar buyer volume in 2,5 years.

I personally won a key account for the company: Mango is among the world’s leading fashion groups. When we brought the company on board, I leveraged my relationship with senior leaders at the firm to ensure they were the first to integrate our software across all buying channels. Additionally, I have worked hard to gain the trust of my co-founders and investors – an intangible yet invaluable feat, and have also made significant contributions towards the establishment of a sound corporate culture. I have introduced regular communication channels and promoted open and honest 360-degree feedback between employees and founders.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? The quality that best describes my MBA classmates is diversity, in every aspect. Not only in geographical terms but also in professional backgrounds, personal and professional interests, lifetime experiences, and ways of thinking.

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of the MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? I chose IE’s MBA program for its entrepreneurial mindset and its non-traditional and future-oriented approach. I was certain that IE Business School would be the ideal place to build the necessary skill set, expand my network globally, and emerge as a responsible leader at my own venture. I chose to attend IE Business School because I knew it would help me hone my competitiveness and bring together my marketing experience, entrepreneurial nature, and my international commercial track record.

IE Business School calls itself “An “MBA out of the ordinary.” How has IE’s curriculum and activities been out of the ordinary from what you expected or what you experienced in other educational institutions? This is the first and only MBA that I am experiencing myself, so it’s difficult to say exactly. However, the opportunity to tailor my MBA to my own personal (and unusual) background has been very important to me and I am very happy with the unique opportunity the program provides to develop my entrepreneurial mindset and technological expertise.

What was the most challenging question you were asked during the admissions process? What do you (personally) think are the greatest positive and negative effects of the Brexit for the UK?

What do you see yourself doing in ten years? Entrepreneurship is my passion. I am ambitious and driven; this part of my personality has thus far defined my professional career and has been a constant undercurrent in my life. I aspire to build a business that brings together sustainable consumer products and technology. My goal is to be a responsible leader, at the head of my own venture, with a focus on both profitability and genuine sustainability.