EAE News
Two EAE students form part of the winning team at the INESE Bootcamp
12 de April de 2019
MarÃa Luisa Caro and Daniela Pareja are going to London after their triumph in Madrid with the team Lagun US, which designed an Instagrammer project for the insurance sector.
Daniela Pareja (DP), a freelance digital marketing consultant and student on EAE's Master in Marketing and Sales Management, and MarÃa Luisa Caro (ML), from the Master in Design Thinking at EAE's Madrid Campus, will head to the British capital to gain an insight into the cutting edge of the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
How did you get in contact with the insurance sector Bootcamp organized by INESE?
DP: I heard about it in an email from EAE and on posters. I signed up for the Bootcamp because I am really interested in the field of design thinking and its application in different sectors, in this case, the insurance sector.
ML: I got an email from EAE recommending the activity and I signed up.
What kinds of challenges did you have to tackle at the event? Which was the hardest?
DP: The challenge set for our team at the Up! Bootcamp was how to make insurance products more attractive to young people. In my opinion, that was the hardest challenge, trying to find something different for a market that is not at all attracted to buying insurance.
ML: We had to tackle a challenge using the Design Thinking methodology. The hardest aspect was meeting the deadlines. We had very little time to achieve everything we had to do. Planning the presentation in such a short time was the most challenging thing for us.
Tell us about the jury, your colleagues and the other participants.
DP: The event was very well organized from start to finish. Juan Prego guided us all through the challenge, explaining each step and training us in the Design Thinking technique, which was new for many of the participants. Juan is an admirable man with a great deal of knowledge. There were several mentors from the company that we were working with (Lagun Aro) and they made lots of effort to guide us with respect to how the company currently approaches all its sales of insurance to young people, in order to achieve a really innovative result. The jury fell in love with our proposal, as well as how we communicated and sold the idea. In terms of our team, we worked with lots of passion, which was reflected in the results we achieved.
ML: I was lucky enough to be in a really dynamic team and work with some very committed, passionate mentors. I was extremely satisfied in that respect.
Were you nervous or did you feel prepared for everything?
DP: Nerves are always a factor, but when you have acquired knowledge and you work with passion towards something you want to achieve, things just fall into place. Getting individual recognition from Lagun Aro and being awarded an internship at EVERIS Consulting Group is a great source of pride for me at a personal level. Winning the trip to London with the team is just the best. I didn't expect it, but we gave it our all.
ML: I was really nervous. The adrenalin level was pretty high. Moreover, we knew we had made a lot of effort, so we had high expectations. Particularly when the jury was picking the winner, I felt extremely nervous.
How did it feel to win the prize? Was it a surprise or did you have high hopes in the project?
DP: It was a surprise for me. We had worked on it a great deal throughout the day, but the level of competition was high. We were one of the best teams but there were others that had some really innovative ideas. Hope is the last thing you, and we achieved success thanks to the excellent work we did as a group.
ML: Although we knew our idea was really good, there were a couple of other teams that stood out, so we thought not winning was a real possibility. In fact, a few minutes before they announced us as the winner, we sat down as a team and we all concluded that we had come a really long way, which was a great triumph in itself, all thinking that our chances of winning weren't the highest. When we found out that we had won, we jumped for joy.
You have made it through to the final in London because your idea was the most innovative from the 39 teams selected. What was the winning project? Why do you think your projected was chosen in the end project?
ML: The winning project is called Lagun Us, which is designed to be a new business line for Lagun Aro. Based on the creation of communities  of people that want to insurance the same thing, they can ask Lagun Aro to create an insurance policy that covers the needs of each community. By using the community concept, we invite young people to share insurable interests and make insurance "Instagrammable". The jury loved terms like that, making our idea innovative and aligned with the challenge we had been set: Making insurance more attractive to young people.
Who was in the winning team at the Bootcamp?
DP: The team comprised five people: MarÃa Luisa Caro from the Master in Design Thinking at EAE, Daniela Pareja Peláez (me) from the Master in Marketing and Sales Management at EAE, Adolfo Váscones a GESCO student at ESIC, Marina Aguinaco and Jorge Casan.
What are your expectations of the trip to London?
DP: Having the chance to discover one of the most innovative insurance ecosystems in the world so exciting. Life has given us a huge opportunity which may lead to other great opportunities.
ML: I hope to expand my network of contacts and learn more about the insurance sector.
What professional projects do you have in the short and long term?
DP: Right now, I am focused on completing the Master. On 30th April, I am going to take part in the Google AdCamp in Madrid, which I was selected for. I will take full advantage of all the opportunities that come up along my path, which has taken a lot of effort, but which is really rewarding. Living in Madrid has been a great experience.
ML: For the moment, I want to find an internship in an area related to Customer Experience in a multinational in which I can build a career.