Meet our alumni | Leopoldo Angelini, Master in Sustainability Entrepreneurship & Innovation

MSc in Sustainability Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Interview with alum Leo Angelini on his start-up and ESCP experiences

We spoke to Leopoldo Angelini, a passionate entrepreneur and a 2023 graduate of the Master in Sustainability Entrepreneurship and Innovation (MSEI). With a background shaped by an entrepreneurial upbringing, Leo has channeled his innovative mindset into creating Menumal, a cutting-edge digital menu software startup. Through the MSEI programme and his real-world experiences, he gained valuable insights into sustainability and entrepreneurship, which have been important in refining his vision and driving his venture forward.

Tell us about yourself.

I’m from Forte dei Marmi (Tuscany), Italy. I did my undergraduate degree in economics and business administration from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, and was class of 2023 for the MSc in Sustainability Entrepreneurship & Innovation.
 

What is your personal experience with entrepreneurship?

Growing up with an entrepreneurial father probably imprinted on me the mindset of a problem-solver instead of seeing tasks as modules. That’s where it all started. Since my teenage years, I always found ways to make my situation more comfortable, despite my parents never putting too much pressure on me. I went the extra mile for myself, for special interests or vices. That’s probably where my entrepreneurial traits were nurtured, allowing me to make some extra money and optimise things around me.
 

How did you get interested in sustainability?

University projects were a chance to dive deeper into the real pains of real companies and to come up with concrete solutions after focusing for a long time on the most promising and under-observed problems. That’s why, after developing my skills in various conditions, I decided to tackle a significant problem in a specific sector of interest: the restaurant industry. I started with restaurant menus, and here I am with my start-up, Menumal.
 

What's the goal of Menumal?

We’ve developed a very innovative digital menu software that allows business owners to solve many problems and highlight some hidden opportunities such as additional commercialization options. From the user’s point of view, the technology is both innovative and easy to use. When you start something from scratch, a vision exists but takes real shape the more time you focus on that specific sector. Things are going well, the team is on fire, and the objective is to dominate the digital menu industry, followed by the POS (Point of Sale) industry and then the “technology around restaurant” industry.
 

Why study the MSEI (Master in Sustainability Entrepreneurship and Innovation)?

The MSEI was a chance to learn from an experimental journey, tracking the typical mistakes of previous startups and entrepreneurs while focusing on the sustainability sector. Sustainability not only involves coming up with impactful solutions related to carbon but also developing a mindset with a subconscious influence that shapes my way of thinking, ensuring that I am doing good even when I do not consciously plan it. I acquired a steadfast mindset to do things that scale, help the community, solve real problems, and are meant to last long and create more value over time.
 

Can you share more about what you did in your Company Consultancy Project (CCP) and your internship/business project?

My group worked with the European Space Agency — great organization, great project and lots of freedom to discover. The group didn’t mesh well, but luckily we were offered positions in the company. Sadly I had already founded the company at that moment, and I didn’t allow myself a plan B  —  Menumal was ready to launch. I did the business development project instead of an internship, and I took the chance to focus on it and report the progress of my incubation period.

What kind of impact do you hope to have on business and society?

Menumal is my first company. It’s our very real calling card to prove to people, investors, schools and community that we model things well, and that others things that come afterwards will be just as good, but with a different range towards solving bigger, everyday problems. So the purpose is to impact people and inspire and transform threats into solutions and inspirational stories.

What would you recommend to students moving to Berlin to study?

Enjoy the parks, the spaces of the campus to gather, group up to fix global problems but starting with a micro-perspective. Engage with local startups, show off the most extrovert self and enjoy the outcome of it.