Challenge the status quo, reimagine the world: An EFG Interview with E-Lab Co-Founder and Director Kamiar Mohaddes
Written by EFG and Kamiar Mohaddes
What was the “spark” that inspired you to co-found the King’s Entrepreneurship Lab back in 2021?
Believing that entrepreneurship takes many forms, we wanted to expand entrepreneurial education beyond the Cambridge Judge Business School and to create an inclusive community of entrepreneurial minds at the heart of the University of Cambridge. Our goal is to welcome anyone with an entrepreneurial spirit and an eagerness to challenge the status quo and reimagine the world.
The E-Lab’s stated aim is to equip students with entrepreneurial skills and to empower aspiring innovators, entrepreneurs and business leaders. How exactly does it achieve this?
From the very beginning, the E-Lab has been about creating a programme, a space and a community where innovative thinkers have the opportunity to develop the skills needed to thrive in today's dynamic business world. It is a place where entrepreneurship should be understood as a mindset rather than a specific activity. This is important because these mindsets shape how we perceive the world and approach challenges.
The E-Lab achieves its purpose through a broad spectrum of activities spanning both commercial and social ventures. Can you give us some specific examples of those activities?
One example is our Speaker Series, which has proven very successful. It consists of talks, presentations, fireside chats, panel discussions and other events at which leading figures from academia, industry, politics and other fields share their insights, lessons learned, best practices and cutting-edge knowledge. Speakers hosted over the last three years include company founders and CEOs, heads of state, Nobel Laureates, Oscar winners, scientists, policymakers and journalists. We also offer scholarships and mentoring, run workshops, hold an annual hackathon and organise exhibitions and conferences that attract visitors from around the globe. And last but not least, we create ample space for networking and social events to enable participants to make friends with E-Lab members and entrepreneurially minded peers across the wider Cambridge community.
Which type of students does the E-Lab seek to support?
The E-Lab welcomes students from all disciplines and backgrounds – undergraduates, masters and PhD students or research associates. For example, we offer a one-year extracurricular residential programme for students from across Collegiate Cambridge to take innovative ideas forward in the context of social, corporate or associative ventures. We also encourage school students to pursue entrepreneurial aspirations and understand how to launch an enterprise with our annual essay competition. At the other end of the scale, we run an E-Lab Research Associate scheme where postdoctoral researchers can devote one day a week to entrepreneurial activities that may be related to their field of research or something else – from the commercialisation of intellectual property and cultural endeavours to charitable and social initiatives.
How important is your collaboration with external partners such as EFG?
Let me give you an example of the benefits: Every year, we hold a week-long residential training programme for students from different disciplines, such as engineering and computer science, economics, industrial systems and even history of art. Thanks to our collaboration with EFG, we have been able to expand the range of activities and number of students we can take on the programme. Our collaboration has also enabled us to roll out our autumn training programme for the wider collegiate University of Cambridge, making a huge impact!
Can you tell us how entrepreneurial approaches can be applied today to help address the global challenges of tomorrow?
Absolutely! Our commitment to sustainability and ethics is at the core of our philosophy, and our programme seeks to prioritise projects that generate positive social and environmental impact. For example: Transitioning to a net zero world can only really be achieved by degrowth, which means scaling down production and economic activity and slowing growth and development globally, or by green growth, which is finding ways of producing goods without net emissions of greenhouse gases. I believe the first approach is not an option, so we are left with the second approach that focuses on green growth, placing green innovation and entrepreneurs at the heart of achieving a sustainable world. We have plenty of examples of how entrepreneurs in Cambridge and beyond are innovating in the green space, making a real-world impact.
Which topics are next-gen entrepreneurs who attend the E-Lab focusing on most?
The best way to answer this is to zoom in on the ventures that some of our E-lab students have been developing. First, Kehinde Abereoje is working on a product called “Menstro Pants” to help reduce period poverty in Nigeria. These high-quality washable, reusable and affordable pants offer a discreet, sustainable alternative to costly disposable sanitary products. Next, Gilbert Nkpeniyeng’s project “Ubuntu Social Enterprise” aims to give farmers in Ghana training in climate-resilient agricultural practices to help them secure fair compensation for their work and mitigate the effects of climate change. The third example is “Kuwiswe” – an online platform being developed by Shufaa Hame to connect African-owned businesses with the global market, allowing them to sell ethical products to customers worldwide.
Do you subscribe to the notion of “entrepreneurial DNA” – i. e. the idea that the most talented entrepreneurs are born with intrinsic characteristics such as creativity, foresight and resilience that make them more likely to succeed in their ventures than their peers?
If you are asking whether talented or successful entrepreneurs are “born” that way, I would say no, I don’t think so − but I believe that most successful entrepreneurs are “made”!
Looking back at the last century – an era marked by ground-breaking inventions and innovations – how are the greatest ideas born?
Wow. That is a massive question! I would say that getting smart people together and creating an interdisciplinary environment where they can address today’s big challenges is a good start. One small example was the E-Lab inaugural LLM X Law Hackathon in 2024, which brought together students, academics and industry experts from diverse backgrounds – law, tech and many fields in-between. A total of 150 participants from 12 countries travelled to Cambridge to participate, including students from 33 universities. At the event on 23 June – which happens to be Alan Turing’s birthday – they developed solutions to address a variety of problem statements.
What advice would you offer to business leaders who want to boost innovation within their companies?
Embrace the entrepreneurial spirit!
The original version of this interview can be found here.
EFG and Kamiar Mohaddes
EFG International is a Swiss private bank offering private banking, asset management, and other financial services from hubs in Switzerland, Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. They bring entrepreneurial thinking into the heart of private banking with a unique client approach that combines financial stability and global reach. At EFG, the team think and act like entrepreneurs. They design and deliver customised solutions that meet their clients’ individual goals and ambitions, and they maintain a mission-driven value system of sustainable and innovative finance.
Kamiar Mohaddes is an Associate Professor in Economics & Policy at the Judge Business School of the University of Cambridge and Deputy Director of the Cambridge Executive MBA programme. He is also a Fellow in Economics at King’s College, Cambridge, and Co-Founder and Director of the King’s Entrepreneurship Lab. His research focuses on climate change, economics of the Middle East, energy economics and applied macroeconomics. In 2025, Kamiar Mohaddes received the Financial Times Award for Academic Research with Impact. His work has been cited by policymakers, including in the US Congress.