In the bachelor course ‘Entrepreneurship’, students explored their entrepreneurial skills and ambitions. They learned the key elements of entrepreneurship, and why it is indispensable from our economy and society. Part of the course is the RSM Entrepreneurship Challenge, in which students develop a real, innovative business idea in two months. The course is taught by Dr Laura Rosendahl Huber and Dr René Bakker (in the Dutch-taught BSc Business Administration/Bedrijfskunde) and by Dr Anna Nadolska (in the English-taught BSc International Business Administration).
All teams were guided by tutors and entrepreneurial coaches from all kinds of domains. The student-teams could choose the coach in which they were most interested, regarding their initial business idea to optimize their coaching process and their start-up evolution.
A real educational experience
Bedrijfskunde student Lex van den Herik said the entrepreneurship challenge was a real educational experience, thanks to the extensive feedback from their tutor, business coach and fellow students in a practical situation. “Using the theory of The Lean Startup method, this experience clearly showed us the usefulness of feedback while executing a business idea. Looking back we also gained insight over time on the effectiveness of dividing tasks based on personal strengths and agendas for getting way more tasks done!”
The finalists were:
CoffeeFlex, by students Hellen Li, Farahnaaz Margaret, Duy Pham and Tom Roedolf. CoffeeFlex offers a sustainable solution for the plastic elements of coffee cups.
Planet Durable, by students Isabel Beckand Verwée, Fay Declercq, Lex van den Herik, Julian Lutterman, Anne Miedema and Alexander Thuis. Planet Durable is an educational initiative which focuses on helping children understand the sustainable development goals.
Charlotta Green, by students Jan van der Heiden, Marijn Hogendoorn, Sting van den Hombergh, Sanne Janssen and Lars Jennissen. Charlotta Green is a sustainable and fashionable brand for bags and other leather-look accessories made of multiple kinds of woods, such as mango-wood.
Investing capital
All three teams had presented their great ideas to the jury, which was made up of Hadewych Cels (owner of Karmijn, a private equity organization for SME-companies); Frederick Rustler (Hummingbird Fund and scout for Techleap); and Ernst Hoestra (CEO Erasmus Enterprise and Entrepreneur in Residence at INSEAD).
The jury prize went to Planet Durable. The jury was impressed with the way these students already had validated their idea. During the live-stream, all students of the course could also vote for their favourite finalist. This audience prize was won by CoffeeFlex.
The winners of the jury prize and the students’ votes received an investing capital of €750 from the Hummingbird Fund and a student-entrepreneur workplace in the Erasmus Enterprise building. The Charlotta Green team received an investing capital of €250 from the Hummingbird Fund.
