MBA Entrepreneurial Venture Awards: Zaask is the winner!
The best startup in the world, coming out of an MBA, is Portuguese and was founded by two alumni of The Lisbon MBA, Luis Martins and Kiruba Eswaran. Zaask, a hiring platform for local services, received the MBA Award 2015 in the “MBA Entrepreneurial Venture” category.
The MBA Awards, promoted by the Association of MBAs (AMBA), seek to celebrate MBAs and business schools at the forefront of leadership excellence, recognising the talents and contributions made by accredited schools and their students to the MBA arena and the wider community.
Luis Martins and Kiruba Eswaran were distinguished by Zaask, an online platform designed to facilitate the process of hiring local services. Taking into account the personal needs of each client, Zaask presents them up to four evaluated professionals, so they can review and choose which one best suits their requirements. With a community of over 35,000 registered users, Zaask presented a turnover of around 25 million euros in in 2015. The 30 company employees were able to help over 100,000 people find the ideal professional to collaborate in their personal projects.
The entrepreneurs were distinguished from a set of six global finalists, including a platform for blood donors, “Bloode” (out of the University of Athens); and a ticket auction platform for football games, “Never Empty” (out of the spanish IE Business School).
“We are delighted to have won this award. On the one hand, it recognizes Zaask as a highly successful project on a global basis, where innovation and value creation are hallmarks. On the other hand, it recognizes The Lisbon MBA as an educational tool that allows managers and entrepreneurs to add value to their businesses”, stressed Luís Martins, CEO of Zaask.
Anabela Possidónio, The Lisbon MBA Executive Director, commented: “We couldn’t be more proud of our two alumni for receiving this global distinction by AMBA. It’s not only a proof of the quality of our alumni community, it is also an incentive for us to continue our efforts to give students the necessary tools to be able to innovate and really be world leaders.”