Creative Business students get the chance to start a career by doing the Entrepreneurship course
In the second year of the Creative Business (CB) programme, all students are offered the opportunity to start up with their own business idea. They take on this challenge in a ‘Dragon’s Den’ style pitch session (similar to the well-known BBC programme), which is part of the course Entrepreneurship.
“The second year students presented their business plan to get funding in front of the ‘Dragons’: three real entrepreneurs and business owners“, says organiser and course coordinator Klaas Fleischmann. The pitch sessions are similar to those in the well-known BBC programme. “A fantastic way to practice pitching skills and an opportunity for stealing the spotlight and put big smiles on jury’s faces. And some students get funding!”
On top of that, the smartest students see the course Entrepreneurship as a great way to start a career instead of just another course at HU. They take the extra bold step and do an internship at their own company, right after this course. “CB offers this unique possibility since last year”, says Nathalie Brähler, head of CB Development.
“It has been a super cool experience to be part of the jury of the Creative Business Dragons' Den. Students' start-up ideas are our future!” says Jara Pascual, co-founder & CEO at KNOWCO.
Gerwald van den Oetelaar, angel investor and co-founder of Appical - a company that helps customers like KLM, Heineken and Coolblue with pre- and on-boarding of new employees - fully agrees: “I belief challenging students at an early stage in their careers is the key to a successful future for them. I was therefore very excited to see that these talented students, with their entrepreneurial spirits, found real solutions to everyday problems and more importantly, were able to build these into solid business models."