Sylff News

On Aprill 22, the Sylff Association secretariat had the honor of welcoming two distinguished visitors from INSEAD, a globally renowned business school, during their visit to Tokyo as part of their relationship building efforts in Japan.

Ben M. Bensaou, professor in technology management and Asian business and comparative management, and John Wei Zheng, associate director of INSEAD’s Asia Campus, were in Tokyo to engage with the institute’s many influential alumni in the Japanese business community and to meet with partner institutions and foundations.

INSEAD’s Ben Bensaou, left, and John Wei Zheng at the Tokyo Foundation’s office.

Bensaou emphasized the significant role fellowship programs can play in career development, drawing from his own experience as a Rotary International fellowship recipient in 1981. He visited Japan under the scholarship—an opportunity, he says, that “completely changed my life.” Now fluent in Japanese, he went on to earn an MA in management science from Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo and has also taught at Aoyama Gakuin University and Keio Business School.

He also highlighted the value of having alumni with diverse expertise in different regions around the world. “This broad network helps people to support each other in becoming even better leaders in their fields,” he explained.  

Zheng, meanwhile, noted that INSEAD has close to a thousand alumni in Japan, including prominent figures like Tsunehiro Nakayama, former chairman of Merrill Lynch Japan and current chairman of the highly esteemed Tokyo Club, and Satoshi Koyama, senior vice-president and chief operating officer for mineral resources at Mitsubishi Corp., who serves as president of the alumni association.

“We hope to leverage the strong networks these alumni have in the Japanese business community to boost INSEAD’s profile here,” Zheng added. “Like Sylff, we prioritize staying connected with our alumni, meeting with them, and inviting faculty to speak at alumni association meetings.”

Bensaou served as the keynote speaker at this year’s INSEAD alumni event, which followed the meeting at the Tokyo Foundation. He shared valuable insights on how to build continuous innovation into the fabric of an organization—be it in the private sector or civil society. His lecture drew on material from his critically acclaimed 2021 book Built to Innovate, whose Japanese translation was just published in February.

The Sylff Association secretariat shares INSEAD’s enthusiasm for actively engaging with alumni, recognizing that the leadership demonstrated by fellows in addressing social issues best demonstrates and enhances the value of a Sylff fellowship.

Bensaou presents a signed, Japanese-translation copy of "Built to Innovate" to the Sylff secretariat staff.