Inspiring stories

I WILL Journey Stories

These people’s stories tell us how their I WILL statement went from an idea into action, and how they did it.

Simon Weber

Luisa Netzband

Myra van Esch

Michel Lander

Rashini Jadnanansing

Kilian Kuhlmann

David Genaro Garcia Escalona

Nazly Abd El Rahman

Esther Salem

Sofia Coscia

Zainab Syeda

Nima Salami

Diego Martin de Lagarde

Video interviews with I WILL Journey participants

Other inspiring stories

Get in the ring 2018 winners

Thom Uildriks and Spijk Geene receiving the I WILL award

Jeroen Burks

Edward Hoogedoorn

Niels van Deuren

Olivier Smeenk

Thom Uildriks battled his way to victory in a boxing ring for the I WILL Award 2018 competition at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM). The bachelor student won with Boxrs4ALL, the company he co-founded with his friend Spijk Geene that gives a pair of underwear to someone in Tanzania for every pair of boxers that is sold. Winning the award was exhilarating, Thom says, and he has been working hard since, trying to figure out a way for Boxrs4ALL to gain more traction and make a larger impact. We sat down with Thom to ask him how things are going.

So how has Boxrs4ALL been doing since you won the I WILL Award?

“Actually, the prize money has been instrumental in getting some things off the ground. We’ve hired a developer to professionalize our website, and we’ve hired someone to work on our packaging. We’ve also been talking to retailers about getting the underwear onto store shelves. But we’ve noticed that the bulk sales are made online, not in physical stores. Stores might be the place where the first purchase is made, but once people know what they want and like, they do their repurchasing online.”

What are some ways you’re planning on doing that?

“The number we’re selling now is good, but not on a larger scale. We’re looking into collaborating with companies that can sponsor us. This will provide more work for those making the underwear in Tanzania—the setup we have to support the local economy—and in turn give away a considerable amount of underwear. As a thank you, we give the company 100 pairs of underwear to distribute among employees. We’re also looking into getting more media coverage. We’ve been featured a few times but we want to get more recognition among potential customers.”

Where did the idea originate? And why underwear?

“In secondary school, Spijk and I went to Tanzania on a school exchange trip. Meeting the other schoolboys was awkward at first, but to break the ice we started playing football. We found out that it is common for them not to own any underwear, and it just really hit us and we wanted to do something about it. When we got back to the Netherlands, we learned more about the health risks that come from not wearing underwear and that’s where our idea took off.”

You started Boxrs4ALL at a young age, and you’re now a bachelor student. Do you ever stop and think about your achievements?

“We started this at 16 because we enjoyed it. It started with writing up texts and sketching logos. We both see it as a learning process and that it’s not about making money. A lot of young people start companies because they think they need to create the best of something, but Spijk and I started this because we thought it was important and we really enjoy it. It sounds cliché, but that’s really how it is for us. At the end of the day, in 10 or 20 years the contacts that we’ll have made will be really valuable.”

Where do you think that inherent motivation to do good comes from?

“I partly grew up in Brazil, and my mother worked as a volunteer for a foundation in the middle of the favelas. The money they made went directly back into the favelas. I remember going home to a nice house with people who took care of the household whereas 50 meters up the road another family was living in a house of 16m². It struck me how lucky I was to be in the position we were and I guess that and seeing the work my mother did is what led to me having this motivation.”

How has RSM been helpful in working on a startup?

“The minor in entrepreneurship taught me a lot, in particular a new way of thinking. I learned that a lot of things can change, and don’t go according to plan. It’s definitely been the case with our company; we thought that going a certain direction was the smart thing to do, but then things changed. Next to giving away a pair of underwear, we’re now looking into providing sanitation workshops in Tanzania, to teach schoolboys about the importance of washing their hands and brushing their teeth.”

Do you have any advice for fellow students or young professionals in the startup scene?

“A lot of young people often start companies because they have a vision of how something ought to look like or be, or they’re looking to make a newer and better version of an existing product. The funny thing is that this isn’t how successful startups typically begin or how they take off. They’ll start with small ideas and through feedback, demands, and a lot of twists and turns become what they are. Take Airbnb for example. It started out with two guys in California who couldn’t afford their rent and thought of renting out a mattress in their apartment and turn it into a bed and breakfast. I would say, try to allow for diversions and for things to go differently than planned because you never know where it might take you.”

Being a force for positive change isn’t a one-time action. Everything changes over time, and sometimes ambitions and plans need to change with it. That has been particularly true for plans and ambitions over the past 12 months. Tanara Sahgal (MSc Marketing Management 2021) is a student assistant for the I WILL movement at RSM and is catching up with people whose ambitions were in the spotlight last year. Here, she writes about her conversation with a finalist from the I WILL Awards 2020.

The I WILL Awards are always an exciting time at RSM, allowing us a look into the practical ambitions and business proposals from individuals in the RSM community, with one common goal in mind: to create a positive impact through their willpower.

Although only one finalist can win the I WILL Award, the ideas and efforts of the other finalists do not go unrecognised. The I WILL Award 2020 recognised the ideas of six finalists, including Edward Hoogedoorn: founder of Fuujse, a start-up that provides single easy-to-use covers that hide scary-looking intravenous infusion bags for children in hospital. Edward not only gave a great pitch to put him into the final round, he also went home with the audience prize of €2,000. The I WILL movement caught up with Edward for answers to our burning questions about him, his company and what he’s been up to since his pitch at the final of the I WILL Award in July 2020.

What is Fuusje and how do you think it is a force for positive change?

“A Fuusje is a humorous cover for children’s infusion bags, to create a positive light on their medical treatments. I believe that we should create more awareness of the psychological aspects of the treatment of young patients. I saw the effects of hospitalisation on a patient and their direct surroundings and thought that it could be done better. The positive change? That is something others need to decide; readers, hospital staff or patients. I just look for things that I could improve and hopefully, it inspires others to also tackle health care problems.”

Generally, what have you and your team been up to since the I WILL Award finals? Are you still a part of Fuusje?

“Yes, although hospitals have some other things on their mind right now. Although it should not sound like an excuse, it is the reality we are facing. Extra projects like Fuusje are not a priority. That’s completely logical, but also challenging for us. We have not given up hope, but we have decided to save our energy for better times. We have worked on our strategy and the back-end part of the company, which will enable us to flourish when COVID-19 is gone.”

Fuusje won the audience prize of € 2,000 last year. What did you use it for?

“We spent some money on creating German designs and translations. Furthermore, we made some investments so we can be active on the German market. Most importantly, we saved the majority of the money for our launch in the German market. Our goal is to send samples of the kits to some selected hospitals so they can see in real life how Fuusje works. ‘Less talking, more actually delivering Fuusjes in hospitals!’”

What are your future ambitions?

“My goals are still that Fuusje should be available for every patient worldwide, no matter what! Furthermore, I think Fuusje and the story of Fuusje could be an inspiring story for people all around the world to improve the world for the better.”

What was your I WILL statement and why? Do you think it has changed since the I WILL Award 2020?

I WILL make Fuusje world-famous!
“One step at a time I am getting there, maybe not at the speed I dreamt about, but I am moving, and I will make it.”

"Sometimes existing structures need to be reinvented for the better”

Growing up in Tanzania, Olivier Smeenk saw that the level of impact that can be achieved through financial aid and NGO intervention is limited. He then had an idea with a solid plan, which won the I WILL Award 2016.

Low-cost weather monitoring solution

His plan for Kukua started when he was sailing in Tanzania’s Msasani Bay with a large group of other enthusiasts, including Kukua’s co-founder Tom Vanneste. “When sailing we noticed that we could gain a competitive advantage by monitoring the weather conditions, but to our surprise this data was not readily available in Tanzania,” says Olivier, adding that when they found out the majority of African countries had this issue, he and Tom decided that they needed to solve it.

Preparing for unexpected droughts and floods

Olivier and Tom saw that many farmers were not surviving the dry seasons; they did not know when to expect the rains to come due to the climate change. “We couldn’t bear witnessing this, so our plan would be to install a dense network of weather stations and to provide the data to smallholder farmers.”

Kukua was officially founded in 2015 when it received a €90,000 grant from the EU for implementing its idea. Kukua had already established a partnership with the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture and installed 20 weather stations as a pilot to prove that the technology works. “We developed a full-scale web application on which our data is accessible and our devices can be monitored, as well as our required SMS service”

Growing the ecosystem

Kukua won the I WILL Award 2016, and is using the €15,000 prize money to enhance its weather service for African farmers to provide food security. “We also partnered with IHS towers in 2016, a company that will invest in our development as they require our wind and solar data, and will host our weather stations safely on their telecom tower property,” says Olivier. He adds that at the moment 60 weather stations are being installed across Northern and Southern Nigeria by Kukua’s local partners, and he plans to start providing data to customers before the end of the year.

Kukua’s mission is to install 10,000 weather stations in the next five years across Sub-Saharan Africa. For this, the organisation is working on growing the ecosystem that will support this development, including public funds, data customers, NGOs that work with smallholder farmers, and other weather data companies.

Olivier Smeenk, Dutch

BSc International Business Administration (Alumnus)

The I WILL Award

The I WILL Award was held every two years (2012-2020). It offered a €15,000 prize to bring the best big idea into practice. A shortlist of six finalists competed in the exciting final round, a live event that made them pitch their big plan. Each finalist had a limited amount of time to prove to the jury that their willpower can change society and inspire others. Check out the previous I WILL Award finals and read about the winners – and what happened to them – to find out more about their ideas for making a positive change.

Previous I WILL Award winners

I WILL Award 2020

The 2020 award was won by Blockheating, an innovative start-up that recycles and exchanges heat from data processing centres to greenhouses. Other competing impactful business ideas in the 2020 final included upcycling fashion waste, creating a circular economy, and virtual reality technology in outpatient care.

I WILL Award 2018

In the exciting 2018 final there were two winners. Back in 2018, Boxrs4ALL impressed the judges with its project to donate boys’ underwear to Tanzania for each pair of underwear it sold – it has since updated its business model to help girls too by addressing period poverty, and changed its name to Moja Wear. And Juvoo was the start-up that developed a digital administration buddy for healthcare professionals. Each of the two start‑ups won €15,000 to put their inspiring idea into action.

I WILL Award 2016

Weather data service Kukua won 2016’s I WILL Award. it was co-founded by RSM bachelor graduate Ollie Smeenk, and provided a weather data service for farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa, to enhance food security and cope with climate change. As traditional weather patterns have disappeared, frequent droughts and floods have led to increased famine and 1.5 million tonnes of food are wasted every year. Kukua’s weather monitoring solution used existing low-cost technologies and sent weather forecasts to farmers via SMS to address this problem.

I WILL Award 2014

Dwillo, which provided an online mentoring community, was chosen as the winner for the I WILL Award in 2014. It operated in universities and organisations and facilitated mentoring and coaching relations between students and young professionals. Having a mentor helps mentees in making difficult choices related to study, career and personal development. In return mentors enjoy a fresh perspective and gain intrinsic satisfaction by giving back.

I WILL Award 2012

Carlo Cronauer and Paola Gutierrez Watts, who both graduated from the RSM MBA programme in 2012, won €15,000 of funding for their CroMiDo project, which won the I WILL Award in 2012. It allows donors anywhere in the world to help another person in need with a system of micro-donations sent by mobile phone.