Audencia Alumnus, Victoria Mandefield, honoured as 2023 AACSB’s influential leader 

The eighth annual initiative by AACSB International, the world’s largest business school alliance, honours leaders with social impact. Victoria Mandefield, an Audencia graduate (2018 Engineer-Manager), is among the 25 business school graduates elected as Influential Leaders in 2023. This annual ceremony recognises outstanding alumni of AACSB accredited business schools whose inspirational work serves as a role model for the next generation of business leaders.

Victoria Mandefield is the founder and CEO of Solinum, and creator of Soliguide, an online platform providing vital information such as foodbank, shelter locations to support the homeless and people in difficulty in France. It meets a real need, and in 2022, Soliguide recorded almost 2 million searches. Victoria has been working to support the homeless since she was a teenager and, now just 27 years old, has already helped nearly 100,000 people in need. She is also a board member of the French Red Cross and has been included in the French issue of Vanity Fair’s ‘30 women under 30’, Euclid Networks’ Top 100 Women in Social Enterprise, and Carenews’ Top 50 ImpactEntrepreneurs. In 2018 she received L‘Usine Nouvelle’s Social and Solidarity Commitment Trophy as part of the Engineers of the Future Awards. 

“Victoria Mandefield’s achievements demonstrate that success in business can also mean success for society. Her efforts to prioritise purpose, people, and planet should inspire all of us to reorient our ideas about impactful leadership,” said Caryn Beck-Dudley, AACSB president and CEO. “It is a privilege to amplify her efforts and the entire 2023 Class of Influential Leaders.”

Now in its eighth year, AACSB’s Influential Leaders spotlight program recognises more than 275 business school graduates who have created lasting impact in business and society. All honourees have earned an undergraduate, graduate, or doctoral degree from one of the more than 950 AACSB-accredited business schools worldwide.

The 2023 honourees include advocates across businesses, non-profits, and governments who are committed to creating positive change in the world. These changemakers use their business education to create a more sustainable environment, elevate employment and education opportunities for underrepresented populations, and improve the livelihoods of society’s most underserved communities. They represent business education’s efforts to create and promote positive societal impact—a key feature of AACSB’s 2020 business accreditation standards and the focus of its recent accelerator work. Support for the 2022 Influential Leaders initiative is provided by Academic Partnerships.

The unique stories of each honouree, and how they are creating meaningful, lasting impact in the world, are available at aacsb.edu/influential-leaders.