Six Japanese MBA students took on a challenge earlier this year by organizing the first IESE Japan Search Fund Forum in Tokyo. It was a big success and very well received, with participants coming together to gain insights and exchange ideas on search funds. Congratulations and well done to our students, Kentaro Tanaka (MBA 25) and Yasushi Kobayashi (MBA 24) tell us more about their experience in this blog post.
On April 2, 2024, the inaugural “IESE Japan Search Fund Forum” was held in Tokyo, primarily led by Japanese MBA students. IESE has been actively involved in search funds, as the host of the International Search Fund Conference every two years. However, this event was a unique student-led effort and here is a recap of its highlights.
Our Motivation for Hosting this Event
In Japan, there are approximately 4.2 million businesses, with 99% being small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). These SMEs employ about 70% of the workforce and contribute to 60% of the GDP, highlighting their essential role in the economy. However, Japan is facing a demographic decline and a growing succession issue within these SMEs, creating a critical situation. The Japanese government projects that by 2025, around 2.45 million SME owners will be over 70 years old, with about half lacking a designated successor. This crisis could result in the loss of 6.5 million jobs and a reduction of 22 trillion yen in GDP by 2025.
We believe that the search fund model can address this crisis by creating an ecosystem that encourages Japan’s top talent to transition from large corporations to leading these smaller enterprises. This would solve the succession issue and promote regional revitalization.
However, this model is not yet well-known in Japan, which poses a significant challenge for searchers trying to raise funds. Therefore, spreading awareness of this business model in Japan is crucial. IESE is at the forefront of the search fund space, and we decided to hold an event about the model leveraging IESE’s network to promote this initiative.
Behind the Scenes
The event was organized by six Japanese MBA students with a keen interest in search funds: Yasushi KOBAYASHI, Hiroki YOKOYAMA, Keita NAKAHATA, Yuki OGAWA, Tomoya OKABE and Kentaro TANAKA.
During the preparation stage, we focused on two key points. First, to engage participants and offer valuable content, we needed to carefully select and secure guest speakers for the event. Ultimately, we succeeded in getting prominent figures like Mr. Kazuhiko TOYAMA, CEO of IGPI, a leading consulting firm in supporting corporate growth in Japan, and Ms. Noriko SHIMAZU, Founder & CEO of Japan Search Fund Accelerator, one of the top search fund investors in Japan. Their participation showed that they recognized our enthusiasm and dedication to search funds.
Another major challenge was the event costs, including venue expenses. Since it was an in-person event, we couldn’t cover all costs through participants’ ticket fees alone, so we sought sponsorship. It was not easy, but fortunately, several sponsors aligned with our vision and supported us.
Highlights from the Event Day
The event was a tremendous success, with over 120 participants. The program featured two main parts: presentations and panel discussions. Speakers like Mr. Toyama and Ms. Shimazu, leaders in Japan’s search fund industry, delivered highly informative talks that offered valuable insights to the attendees. Additionally, the presentation by Jose Martin Cabiedes, a senior lecturer at IESE, who joined us virtually was highly acclaimed. He shared concrete examples from his search fund investment experience in Spain, which greatly enriched the participants’ understanding.
The panel discussions were insightful and engaging, and the audience left with much more knowledge about IESE and search funds.
Many attendees were not only interested in search fund but also in pursuing an MBA, considering IESE as one of their target schools. They commented that they gained a deeper understanding of search fund as a post-MBA career path and expressed increased interest in IESE’s focus on entrepreneurship.
We managed to achieve our goal of managing a large scale event, despite the difficulties of balancing our academics and working with different time-zones.
Reflections on the Event
We are relieved that the event concluded successfully without any major issues. Balancing the demanding academic schedule of MBA program with event planning was challenging. Given that the event was held in Japan, we had to deal with time difference issues, such as meetings with stakeholders starting at 7 AM Barcelona time.
Looking back, we are glad that we succeeded in hosting this event. Not only did we achieve our goal of promoting understanding of search funds in Japan, but organizing and managing such a large-scale event with over 100 participants provided numerous learning experiences for me.
We also believe that this event could have been achieved precisely because we are students, and it allowed us to gain a unique MBA experience. The speakers and event sponsors supported us because they believed in our future as MBA students and wanted to encourage us, which might have been more difficult to achieve from a corporate standpoint. To meet their expectations, we are determined to continue striving hard in the future.
We look forward to the next Search Fund Conference taking place on campus in Barcelona in October!
Lastly, we would like to take this opportunity to deeply thank the guests, sponsors, and especially Mr. Kagaya and Mr. Nishida from the IESE Japan Tokyo Office, who provided tremendous support throughout the entire process.
Written by Kentaro Tanaka (MBA 25) and Yasushi Kobayashi (MBA 24)
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Fantastic insights from the IESE Japan Search Fund Forum! The discussions on search funds and their impact on entrepreneurship are particularly enlightening. Thanks for sharing these valuable perspectives on how search funds are shaping the future of business and investment in Japan.