Future CEO Summer Programme
Experience what it takes to lead a business through strategy, finance, negotiation, and high-pressure decisions.
See what the experience is like
Think like a CEO
Are you ready to run a company?
Over two weeks at Imperial College London, you'll work alongside real business leaders, strategists, and finance professionals to take a single company from startup through scaling, investment, and crisis, making every strategic decision along the way. You'll lead through live simulations, analyse real corporate scenarios, experience a professional trading floor with a company that trains many of London's top analysts, and present to boardroom panels under pressure. Every session is delivered by people who run companies for a living.
By the end of the programme, you'll know what leadership actually feels like when the stakes are real, and whether a career in business leadership is the right path for you. The programme concludes with the ProEd Field Project, a group research project designed to strengthen university applications, presented to external professionals. You leave with a ProEd certificate, a written Field Project report, and professional panel feedback.
Key highlights
Take the CEO seat
Take ownership of a case-study business, shape its strategic direction, and make decisions across operations, marketing and finance.
Think like an investor
Analyse a company from an investor’s perspective, decide whether it’s worth backing, and take on the challenge of turning around a struggling business.
Lead through a crisis
Step into a full-day CEO simulation where every decision has consequences, balancing the competing demands of shareholders, staff and regulators.
Experience a professional trading floor
Spend a day in London’s financial district, experience a professional trading floor, and meet professionals working across investment banking and corporate leadership.
Programme timetable
Timetable is a guide only and may be subject to change.
How Empires Are Built
- Take apart a real company and understand how every part of a business connects
- Analyse a strategic opportunity and form your initial recommendation
- Structured public speaking and persuasion workshop
- Begin building the case you will present to a board panel on Day 3
Think Like a CFO
- Read company accounts the way a professional investor would
- Build your own financial statements and stress-test them under pressure
- Build the financial case for your strategic recommendation
- Uncover the cognitive biases that distort every business decision
The Art of the Deal
- Present your strategic recommendation to a board panel and defend it under questioning
- Negotiate a live business deal with confidential briefs and competing priorities
- Make high-stakes decisions with incomplete information under time pressure
- Compete in a team-based crisis simulation
The Boardroom
- Take ownership of a case study business and shape its strategic direction
- Work through a real operations challenge and present your fix
- Build a marketing campaign and defend it in a simulated press conference
Would You Invest?
- Analyse a company as an investor and decide whether to back it
- Investigate what companies hide from their shareholders
- Run a corporate turnaround: a business on the brink, your job to save it
Spend the Day as a London Trader
- Experience a professional trading floor with a company that trains London's top analysts
- Walk through London's financial district with an expert guide
- Meet professionals working across investment banking and corporate leadership
How Empires Are Built
- Take apart a real company and understand how every part of a business connects
- Analyse a strategic opportunity and form your initial recommendation
- Structured public speaking and persuasion workshop
- Begin building the case you will present to a board panel on Day 3
Think Like a CFO
- Read company accounts the way a professional investor would
- Build your own financial statements and stress-test them under pressure
- Build the financial case for your strategic recommendation
- Uncover the cognitive biases that distort every business decision
The Art of the Deal
- Present your strategic recommendation to a board panel and defend it under questioning
- Negotiate a live business deal with confidential briefs and competing priorities
- Make high-stakes decisions with incomplete information under time pressure
- Compete in a team-based crisis simulation
The Boardroom
- Take ownership of a case study business and shape its strategic direction
- Work through a real operations challenge and present your fix
- Build a marketing campaign and defend it in a simulated press conference
Would You Invest?
- Analyse a company as an investor and decide whether to back it
- Investigate what companies hide from their shareholders
- Run a corporate turnaround: a business on the brink, your job to save it
Spend the Day as a London Trader
- Experience a professional trading floor with a company that trains London's top analysts
- Walk through London's financial district with an expert guide
- Meet professionals working across investment banking and corporate leadership
The ProEd Field Project
The programme concludes with the ProEd Field Project, where students bring together what they have learned through a group research project, presented to a panel of external industry professionals.
Build your case
Develop a business-focused research project that brings together the ideas explored throughout the programme. Students work as a group to build their case, produce a written report, and prepare a final presentation.
How it’s supervised
Work with professional mentors to develop the project, strengthen the written report, rehearse the presentation, and prepare for challenging questions from the panel.
Example: Take on a company facing a major business challenge and develop a strategy for its next move. Analyse its financial position, market and operations, recommend a course of action, and present your case to a panel of industry professionals.
Learn from industry professionals
Oleg brings more than two decades of experience across investment banking, corporate strategy, and advisory. An MBA graduate of London Business School, he spent seven years working in investment banking in London, including at Morgan Stanley and Citigroup as an M&A advisor.
Since 2014, Oleg has advised business owners, investors, and senior management on business valuation, due diligence, project management, and strategy across a range of industries. He also holds director roles with a Singapore family office and an investment banking boutique.
Oleg has taught and mentored students since 2017, from school age through to undergraduate level. As Subject Lead for the Future CEO Programme, he draws on his professional experience to give students practical insight into finance, investment, strategy, and the decisions involved in leading a business.
What's included
Included in the fee
Single room upgrade available at booking
Optional lunch vouchers can be booked for students attending all residential programmes. On-campus cafes and restaurants are available. However, they only accept payment cards and do not accept cash.
All day travel costs covered
test
Not included
Optional lunch vouchers can be booked for students attending all residential programmes. On-campus cafes and restaurants are available. However, they only accept payment cards and do not accept cash.
What past students say
Starts 19 Jul
