Samantha Kempe

What did your CV look like before London Business School?

My undergraduate degree was in industrial design at Loughborough, but somewhere along the way I realised I wasn’t going to become the next James Dyson, so I pivoted into real estate. That shift led me to complete an MA in Real Estate Finance and Investment in London, which really set the direction for my career. From there, I spent around 12 years in the corporate world, working across different parts of the real estate industry throughout.

At that point, I started thinking about my next chapter. I knew I wanted to do something more entrepreneurial, and I also wanted to broaden my horizons, upskill, and create a bit of space to figure out what to do next. As I was already based in London, I focused on finding the highest-impact programme available locally. If I was going to step away and make that investment, I wanted to choose a school that would really stand out. For me, London Business School was the obvious choice.

Is there a specific opportunity or turning point in your career that you’d attribute to your time at London Business School?

I co-founded my business, IMMO, while at the School, with a London Business School alumnus as our founding investor. We met through the School community. Initially, I was just giving feedback on a project he was working on, but I was then asked to join the business alongside another co-founder, and the rest is history. Today, IMMO is a leading real estate fintech business working with investors, sellers and renters, and is the largest Series B prop tech business in Europe.

As well as putting me in touch with those future collaborators, the School was a very supportive place to develop as an entrepreneur. I was genuinely surprised by the breadth of entrepreneurship electives and resources available, and that support played an important role in helping me build the business.

I went into the MBA expecting to build very specific technical skills in areas like strategy and accounting, and those were valuable. But the biggest impact was how the course reshaped the way I think. Through both the core modules and my electives, particularly in strategy and leadership, I learned to approach problems more critically, to question assumptions, and to see the bigger picture across different areas of business. It really trained my brain to think differently. Even core modules challenged my assumptions. For example, I had always thought of marketing as primarily PR or social media, but the course showed me how central it is to strategy, from pricing to product to go-to-market decisions.

More broadly, the MBA made me reflect on myself and the companies I’d worked in, and think more intentionally about the kind of business environment I wanted to create. It definitely kickstarted a period of growth for me.

If you could do your LBS experience again, is there anything you’d do differently, or lean into more?

No — I leaned into absolutely everything! I was on the committees for the Real Estate Club and the Expedition Club; I programmed talks from entrepreneur leaders in London for the Entrepreneurship Lab; and I co-chaired the Women in Business Club as well, all while founding my business and of course studying. I wouldn’t change any of it, but I was definitely at 100% capacity. I would say to new students that they should lean in to as much as they can, and try new things. I think the MBA shows you that you have to be multifaceted — it’s not solely academic intellect that drives you in business.

If you had to describe your overall LBS experience in three words, what would they be?

Reflection. Direction. Connection.

I would say reflection because the course allowed me to think about my career up to that point, and how to build on what I’d already achieved.

Direction, as it gave me that headspace to figure out where I wanted to go, and what I wanted to change, as well as giving me the tools to be able to take myself down a new path.

And finally, connection. Being from London, I already had an established network, so I hadn’t expected that to be such a defining part of the experience. But the connections I built were incredibly strong, and I know they will last a lifetime. The friendships I made at the School have brought a real richness to my life.