Dear students,
You are invited to join us for the hybrid roundtable titled Inspire Students: Sustainable Future Through Entrepreneurship on Tuesday, March 19th from 12:30 - 13:30 CET, either on webex or in room S8. This event takes place in collaboration with the Agrifood Collective and is part of the programme of this year's Alumnae-i Month.
Following the Roundtable, a networking coffee break will be offered until 14:00.
Here are the panelists:
- Tara Bate (MDEV’15) is an anthropologist, filmmaker and farmer, exploring pastoralism and human-animal-environment relationships. Her research spans France, Switzerland, and Nepal, where she studied yak herders near the Tibetan border. Challenging romanticized views, she highlights pastoralism’s evolution within modern dynamics. Having lived in remote regions and worked as a shepherd herself, she has combined research and practice for the past 12 years. Since 2023, she has been working as a farmer and has founded a farmers shop in southwestern France, and is currently setting up a company to support farming collectives.
- Andrés Torrico (MDEV’17) is a development specialist and entrepreneur dedicated to coffee production for the past six years. In Bolivia, together with his partner Marita, he founded 4 Llamas Coffee, a company built on three main pillars: People, through the 4 Llamas Family initiative, which empowers smallholder farmers by providing guidance in fermentation and processing while facilitating market access; Sustainability, by implementing agroforestry models and techniques that reduce pollution—particularly in water use—ensuring long-term environmental benefits; and Innovation, by researching and developing fermentation and processing techniques that enhance the quality of their coffee as well as that of the producers they work with. Through these pillars, 4 Llamas Coffee aims to contribute to Bolivia’s coffee industry by combining quality excellence with a positive social and environmental impact.
We hope that you will be able to join us for this exciting event!
Best wishes,
From Alumnae-i Relations, Carine, Seif, Charlotte & Alexis
About the Inspire Students series: The Alumnae-i Office, in collaboration with Career Services and the GISA Professional Development Committee, is organizing a series of thematic roundtables aimed at connecting current students and alumni of the Institute around shared interests and experiences.