“Entrepreneurship has become sexier”

Family

“Both my grandfathers were entrepreneurs. The one on my father’s side had a winch factory in the shipbuilding industry. My other grandfather was a carpenter and ran a furniture business. My father had a profession, he was a civil-law notary. I grew up in Drenthe, between the cows. That is where I could often be found. I remember I often had to take a shower when I came home covered in dirt once again. One of my uncles, Gerard Wortelboer, was also a farmer; I went to the agricultural fair with him. I never sold anything as a kid. But I was always very interested in everything that was going on around me.”

Student

“After graduating from havo, I first studied chemical technology at the University of Applied Sciences in Groningen. During internships in England and Germany, I noticed that company culture differs from country to country. In Germany, I once wanted to copy the operating instructions and asked Herr Direktor for permission. It was not allowed. Later, I heard that I should have asked the deputy manager, who would arrange it with the Big Boss. How could I know? In the Netherlands, you pull the instructions off the wall, remove the staples, and make a copy. It is much more informal here. After studying at the University of Applied Sciences, I studied business administration in Groningen and obtained my Ph.D. at Erasmus University in Rotterdam in the field of business innovation.”

Work

“In Rotterdam, as one of the first ones, I started teaching entrepreneurship. Before that, there was research into entrepreneurship, but no education. After that, I helped set up a center for entrepreneurship at Maastricht University and taught entrepreneurship at the Master School of Management, also in Maastricht. I taught a lot of classes abroad for MSM. Suriname, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, China, Peru, Hungary, you name it. I learned that the Netherlands is not really a country, but a city, with lots of green between the neighborhoods. I advise students to look beyond the borders of the Netherlands. There is a far greater market beyond the borders. Why stop there?” 

Students abroad

“Most people’s dreams are universal. A decent job, a nice life, and maybe a company car. Abroad, the contrast between rich and poor is much greater than it is here. If you don’t try your best there, you won’t make it. In Kazakhstan, the students had three smartphones. One work phone, two private phones. They alternated because they were afraid of being bugged by the secret service.”

Research or education

“Research is super fun, but teaching students is much more fun. I don’t have enough patience to be a researcher, especially for the tedious publishing process. I enjoy teaching young people things, improving them. Teaching them that dry theory really adds something to their skills. I have my former students, who are now entrepreneurs, give guest lectures, so that today’s students learn from their practical experience.”

Entrepreneurship over the years

“Entrepreneurship has become sexier. In the past, the goal of business administration students was often to get a good job at a large company. If you really couldn’t find anything better, you would start your own business. A small group chose entrepreneurship. Now that group is much larger. But the group that truly chooses entrepreneurship remains small. Today, there are many more role models than there used to be, for example Picnic’s Michel Muller or the Carlier brothers of VanMoof bikes. We can all follow them through social media. Entrepreneurship nowadays is also easier than it used to be, thanks to the Internet. In the past, the drive of an aspiring entrepreneur was often: your own joint, making good money, and no nagging boss. These days, students are more socially engaged, they want to add something to the world.”

The Entrepreneur

“He or she is not a loner, often it is a duo that complements each other. One is extroverted and seeks out risks, the other is introverted and keeps a closer eye on things. The entrepreneur doesn’t exist. Research has shown that managers in companies take more risk than entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs play with their own money, managers don’t. Good entrepreneurs are clever at minimizing the risks and can accept that sometimes something will not work, but before that time wholeheartedly believe in it. Entrepreneurs have an urge to prove themselves and believe in the manufacturability of success. They are not so much interested in what the competition does, but what their customers think.”

His own company

“I started it as a joke when students in Rotterdam kept asking me if I was an entrepreneur myself. The company is called Bodebo; that was my nickname in military service. I sold Italian furniture online. This came about because I was looking for a nice bookcase on the Internet. But it was expensive. Elsewhere, the same bookcase turned out to be much cheaper. Then I thought, if I order five at the same time it would make a considerable difference in terms of shipping costs and I could sell four of them. I easily sold those four. And then I ordered another five, and so on and so forth. I registered with the Chamber of Commerce and built a simple website. I’ve stopped now; a German party came onto the scene selling the same furniture for a lower price than I could offer. I direct potential customers to him now. For me, Bodebo was a nice hobby, which I might take up again later on. I also learned something from it: I don’t like bookkeeping. And: if, as an entrepreneur, you accidentally forget to pay your VAT, then the tax authorities are not your best friend.”

Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation

“We will be starting the three-year bachelor in September. I’m looking forward to it. My ambition is for our students to push their boundaries. To think out of the box and color outside the lines. Many people keep their head down because they think they can’t do it. But they could, as long as they believe in it. That’s what I want to impart on my students. The sky is the limit.”

Tips for prospective students

1. Let yourself be inspired by the biographies of well-known entrepreneurs. For example, Apple’s Steve Jobs, Virgin’s Richard Branson, and Muhammad Yunus, known for microcredit. Some entrepreneurs have gone bankrupt several times but still have recovered.

2. Make sure you have a mentor, an experienced entrepreneur you trust and with whom you can discuss all your ideas and hurdles.

3. Learn to reflect on yourself. Create your own counterarguments, so that you don’t keep chasing after something like a blind horse.

4. Celebrate your successes! And realize that sometimes they are achieved with luck.

5. Don’t give up too quickly, but suffer losses in time, so you still have time and space to try something else.

6. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. You will get it more often than you think.

The preferences of Wynand Bodewes

Text: Peter de Jong

Image: Bob Bronshoff