Auteur/autrice : Yann Tournesac

Mauritian Olympic swimmer Anishta Teeluck, born in Milan, is pursuing the MSc Sport, Event and Hospitality Management at SKEMA Business School’s Sophia Antipolis campus. Based in Antibes, where she trains alongside other international athletes, the two-time African champion in the 200m backstroke reflects on her journey, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and her long-term ambition: reaching Los Angeles 2028.

Anishta Teeluck has built her life around water, discipline and movement. Born in Milan, with dual Italian and Mauritian citizenship, she grew up in Italy, where she began swimming as a child and competed at both junior and elite national level. After the Covid period, she chose to represent Mauritius internationally, a decision that opened a new chapter in her sporting career.

Since then, she has competed in African championships, world championships and, in 2024, the Olympic Games in Paris, where she represented Mauritius in the 200m backstroke. Crowned African champion twice in the 200m backstroke in 2024, she is also a multiple Mauritian national record holder. Two weeks ago, at the African Championships in Algeria, she broke a historic 34-year-old national record in the 400m freestyle and won silver in the 200m backstroke, despite being ill during the competition.

Following the Games, she received a World Aquatics scholarship to train in Antibes, alongside other international athletes. Alongside her sporting career, she is pursuing the MSc Sport, Event and Hospitality Management at SKEMA Business School’s Sophia Antipolis campus.

Can you tell us about your background and your journey as a swimmer?

I was born in Milan and I have dual citizenship: I am Italian and Mauritian. I grew up in Italy, where I studied and began my swimming career. I am now pursuing a master’s degree in Sport, Event and Hospitality Management at SKEMA, and I will start my second year in September. I started swimming when I was around two years old. My mother put me in the pool, and that is how it began. I started competitive swimming when I was five or six.

Mauritius is a small island, a small country, and we did not have a very large delegation. I think we were around 13 athletes in total.

At first, I mainly swam in Italy for my club and competed at Italian national level, both in junior and elite competitions. I reached the finals at the Italian junior national championships. Then, after Covid, I felt that I needed to experience something more.

Is that when you decided to represent Mauritius?

Yes. In swimming, you can only have one sporting nationality. I decided to use my Mauritian nationality and went to Mauritius to take part in competitions. That opened many doors for me. I competed in several African championships, world championships and then the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in the 200m backstroke. That decision changed my path.

When did swimming become more than a passion?

After Covid, around 2022. I started travelling for competitions and received some support from the government after winning medals at continental level. It was not a lot, but it helped. That was when I thought: “Now this is becoming serious.”

After the Olympics, I received a scholarship from World Aquatics to train in Antibes, in a training centre with other international athletes. I have been based here since last year. I then decided to continue my studies and join SKEMA.

You represented Mauritius at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. What did that experience mean to you?

It was huge. Mauritius is a small island, a small country, and we did not have a very large delegation. I think we were around 13 athletes in total.

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I was able to experience the Olympic Village, the opening ceremony and the closing ceremony. I stayed in Paris for almost a month, and it was amazing. When you enter the Olympic Village, it feels like another world. Everything is made for athletes. You see athletes from everywhere. It is an experience unlike any other.

What do you remember from your race?

On the day of my race, I was in the first heat of the day. I felt as though all eyes were on me. When I entered the pool area, I saw the crowd around me and heard everyone shouting. I remember thinking: “Where am I?”

If I put too much pressure on myself, it affects my performance.

It was impressive. I was not as focused as I would have liked to be. My emotions took over a little. But it was an amazing experience. I enjoyed the Olympics, and now my goal is to reach the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028.

You specialise in backstroke. What do you like about this discipline?

I like every stroke, but I am faster in backstroke, so that became my discipline. I have competed a lot since I was young, and I still compete a lot today.

For most races, except the Olympics, which were different, I try not to think too much about pressure. I do not tell myself: “I have to win” or “I have to swim this specific time.” If I put too much pressure on myself, it affects my performance.

I try to follow my routine: wake up, have breakfast, do my warm-up, get ready, put on my suit and go to the call room. I focus on what I know how to do.

How do you balance high-level sport and your studies at SKEMA?

Organisation is very important. Being close to my training centre in Antibes helps a lot. I also have a car here, which makes things easier. If I had to take the bus every time, it would be much more difficult.

SKEMA also gives me flexibility. Sometimes I arrived late to class because of training, but the professors knew my situation and were understanding. That helped me attend classes when I could, listen to the lectures and keep up with the programme.

My classmates also helped me a lot. When I did not understand something, they took the time to explain it to me and send me their notes. That support made a real difference.

Does this dual project require sacrifices?

Yes. I do not really have much of a social life. I swim, I go to school, I study. Sometimes I have dinner with my classmates, but that is it.

You have to make sacrifices. For now, I am happy with it, and my results have been good, so I feel positive about the situation.

What has swimming taught you about discipline, resilience and failure?

My motto is never to give up. After the Olympics, I went through a more difficult period. I was not performing as I had before. In those moments, you have to continue and trust the process.

If you keep training and keep doing everything you can, the results will come. You have to stay consistent, determined and focused on your goals. When something does not work, you have to ask yourself what went wrong and what you can improve.

What are your next goals?

In sport, my long-term goal is to compete at the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028. In life, I want to find a job, be stable somewhere and continue swimming, even after my career. Not at the same level, of course, but I want sport to remain part of my life.

What kind of job would you like to do?

To be honest, I do not know yet. As I am studying sport management, I would like to work for an organisation or a company involved in managing sporting events. Maybe in an Olympic committee or in the international sports sector. I am still thinking about it.

What advice would you give to students who want to pursue an ambitious project?

You need to be organised. When you have things to do, you need to follow your organisation and do them. And when you do not feel like doing something, you need to think about your goals.

Difficulties are always there. Obstacles are always there. You have to keep pushing and do things as well as you can. There are sacrifices, of course. It is difficult, but it is not impossible.

Do you have any role models in swimming?

In swimming history, Michael Phelps is a reference. But Federica Pellegrini was also one of my role models. She is Italian, and when I was a little girl in Italy, I watched her a lot.

In a 70-page report published by SKEMA Publika, Amaury Goguel starts from a question that seems simple at first: is China still a developing country? For the associate professor, co-director of the MSc Financial Markets & Investments on the Raleigh campus and member of the SKEMA Centre for Global Risks, this debate reveals the obsolescence of traditional indicators, starting with GDP per capita. In a world shaped by trade tensions, financial fragilities, technological shifts and demographic shocks, development can no longer be reduced to a level of wealth. It must also be understood as a trajectory, shaped by economic maturity, internal vulnerabilities and resilience.

Your study starts from a topical question: is China still a developing country? Why does this debate reveal the limits of traditional economic indicators?

This debate shows that our traditional analytical frameworks, based on criteria that are too rigid, are now outdated. If we look only at GDP per capita, China still has the standard of living of a developing country, three times lower than that of the United States. But if we measure its technological complexity, it stands at the level of the world’s most advanced economies.

GDP per capita is based on an arithmetic average that hides the reality of inequality

China explodes the traditional categories. Its status is hybrid and requires a contextual reading that traditional tools cannot provide.

GDP remains the global benchmark for measuring development. Why do you believe it is no longer enough to describe the economic reality of the 21st century?

GDP per capita is based on an arithmetic average that hides the reality of inequality and income distribution. It creates the illusion of a representative average, while missing part of the social and economic reality. GDP also has many blind spots. It cannot capture production externalities or a country’s capacity to withstand shocks. Nor does it reflect major financial vulnerabilities, such as hidden debt, the growth of shadow banking or demographic crises.

Development is, in reality, a dynamic combination of economic maturity and financial, social, political or commercial resilience. It is a ridge line, a path and a trajectory shaped by multiple constraints.

In your report, you propose a new indicator based on ten economic, financial and commercial criteria. What does it reveal that GDP does not?

Our indicator provides a diagnostic view of internal imbalances. It does not seek only to measure a level of wealth, but to understand development trajectories, areas of strength and fragility, growth balances under constraint and resilience capacities.

What sets it apart from existing approaches is that it moves beyond a binary reading of development. Traditional methods still tend to lock countries into rigid categories, between “developed” and “developing” economies, by adding together isolated economic indicators. Our multifactorial approach analyses the economy as a global and dynamic system.

It does not stop at absolute wealth levels. It assesses a country’s trajectory through a combination of several dimensions: its capacity to produce, finance, stabilise and add complexity to its economic model.

This approach helps capture blind spots. It sheds light on the real resilience of a model when faced with long-term shocks, as well as the internal coherence of its macroeconomic choices. It makes it possible to identify trade-offs and hidden vulnerabilities that traditional indicators fail to show.

The application of this indicator to China, France and the United States reveals three distinct economic profiles. What are the main lessons from this comparison?

The United States can be seen as an innovation economy on life support. It benefits from exceptional technological leadership and the “exorbitant privilege” of the dollar, but remains weakened by recurrent macroeconomic overheating and record public debt.

France is closer to a conversion model. Its growth is modest and exposed to external shocks, but the country stands out for its capacity to convert economic wealth into high levels of human and social development.

China appears as an asymmetric colossus. It is a sophisticated industrial and export power, but remains held back by weak domestic demand, structural demographic decline and massive corporate debt.

Does your work suggest that the distinction between developed and developing countries has become obsolete?

The binary view has had its day. Setting two blocs of countries against each other no longer reflects the reality of global trade or value chains. China sits precisely on the frontier. It has the financial power and political autonomy of a developed country, while still facing the fragilities and average income level of a country in transition.

We therefore need to change perspective. The challenge is no longer to attach a fixed label to a country, but to measure its institutional maturity, its innovation trajectory and its resilience in the face of the risks of our century, marked by the convergence of tensions and the accumulation of risks.

You also mention an “exclusion triangle” between social protection, economic sovereignty and economic efficiency. What does this concept mean?

The exclusion triangle refers to a simple tension: a country cannot strengthen social protection, economic sovereignty and economic efficiency to the same degree without creating imbalances. Each model therefore depends on choices.

More social protection can weigh on competitiveness. More sovereignty can reduce certain efficiency gains. More efficiency can weaken the social compromise. The point is not to designate a perfect model, but to understand the tensions running through each economy.

Ever more social protection, more economic sovereignty or more efficiency: choices have to be made. A country can display a very high standard of living while concealing a critical lack of savings, as in the United States. Conversely, an industrial hyperpower can hide financial immaturity, as in China.

The value of this approach lies in revealing where an economic model may become fragile. It does not show only what works, but also the possible breaking points.

Read the SKEMA Publika report

At 32, Vincent Beaudet (SKEMA 2018) is fully committed to his role as an account executive at Starburst, in the world of data. Alongside his day job, he is helping his brother develop Fallen, an app designed for sports coaches, nutritionists and gyms.

A sports enthusiast and CrossFit practitioner, this graduate of SKEMA’s MSc Corporate Financial Management programme on the Sophia Antipolis campus brings his commercial and communications expertise to a project created by his brother, CEO/CTO and a developer with more than 20 years’ experience.

You first built a career in finance before moving into tech. How did that path take shape?

After leaving SKEMA, I was focused on corporate finance. I had completed several internships in that field and was due to join PwC. In the end, I changed direction before signing. I went on to specialise in real estate, then joined Allianz Real Estate, where I spent several years working in asset management.

I am an account executive at Starburst, a fast-growing American start-up with a presence in Europe.

After a while, I wanted something different: a more direct, faster-paced environment and, above all, a model in which I would be paid according to what I generated, like an entrepreneur. Managing my clients, building my portfolio, being responsible for my results. That is what led me towards tech and sales.

You now work in data and AI. What does your role involve?

I am an account executive at Starburst, a fast-growing American start-up with a presence in Europe. I support European companies with their data management and data access challenges. What I particularly enjoy is that, in Southern Europe, there is still a lot to build. I manage my clients, but I am also helping to open up a market. It is a dynamic environment, with an international and entrepreneurial culture, which is exactly what I was looking for.

Where did the idea for Fallen come from?

It came from sport, quite naturally. I train a lot, particularly in CrossFit, and my brother is also part of that world. He was the one who drove the project from the outset. In discussions with coaches, he often heard the same comments about tools that were too expensive, too complex or poorly suited to their needs. He wanted to build something simple, centred on use, and brought me in to work on the commercial side, social media and product vision.

What need are you trying to address with the app?

The idea is to enable coaches to manage their activity without having to juggle several different tools. Fallen brings together programme creation, client tracking, assessments, nutrition and progress feedback within a single, intuitive solution. A coach can build sessions, assign them to clients, track their progress and collect their feedback in one place. The app is also used by gyms, nutritionists and physiotherapists who want to structure their support.

You place a strong emphasis on simplicity. Why?

Because many solutions become heavier as they add more features. My brother has taken the opposite approach: staying focused on what matters. He spends a great deal of time on the UI/UX side, with a real focus on offering the smoothest experience possible at every stage. For a coach, saving time matters as much as the quality of the support they provide. That is also what we are seeing in the first user feedback.

Where does Fallen stand today?

We officially launched last September. Several hundred users now use Fallen every day, and the first recurring revenues are coming in. What is encouraging is that coaches who had been using three or four of the main solutions on the market are already choosing to join us. That is a strong signal that the product appeals to users and meets a genuine need. For my part, I contribute to business development and also support my brother on product vision and pre-deployment testing.

Is AI changing the way you work on the project?

For my brother, who develops the platform, yes. Tools such as Claude save him real time on certain updates or targeted technical tasks. But they do not replace the core work: thinking through the product, checking the code, making technical choices. On my side, I also use AI to move faster on content creation and the preparation of my commercial actions.

How do you manage everything: entrepreneurial life, professional life and personal life?

Honestly, it is mainly a question of organisation. I block out time during my free hours and at weekends to move Fallen forward in a structured way. But we have to be honest: the bulk of the product is development, and that is handled entirely by my brother. I step in where I can bring value: sales, communication and go-to-market strategy. We also automate as many repetitive tasks as possible using AI. In the end, it is not a question of the number of hours, but of organisation.

Know more about Fallen