Global Entrepreneurship Week Brabant 2023
In the third week of November, the Global Entrepreneurship Week Brabant 2023 took place. During this week the Universities (of applied sciences) in Brabant collaborated to organize several events for their students. Take a look at the overview and recap of the events that took place during this week:
Get Inspired Event: Teun van de Keuken & Jamie Crummie
On Monday, November 13, the Get Inspired Event took place at Stadstheater de Boemel.
The event featured Teun van de Keuken and Jamie Crummie, two inspiring entrepreneurs who shared their stories of how they built mission-driven organizations aiming to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems.
First, Teun Van De Keuken took the stage. The founder of Tony’s Chocolonely, a Dutch chocolate company striving to make chocolate 100% slave-free. Van De Keuken, also a journalist and a podcast maker, explained how he started his company as a personal crusade against the injustice and exploitation in the cocoa industry. He revealed how he founded Tony’s Chocolonely out of a desire to challenge the status quo by creating a transparent and fair supply chain, without slavery or child labor.
The second speaker was Jamie Crummie, the co-founder of Too Good To Go, a social enterprise that fights food waste by connecting consumers with restaurants and shops that have surplus food. Crummie, also a lawyer and an activist, described how he came up with the idea of creating an app that allows people to buy and collect unsold food at a discounted price. He demonstrated how his company is not only saving food and money but also reducing greenhouse gas emissions and raising awareness about the environmental and social impact of food waste. He also gave some tips on how anyone can reduce food waste within their own home: sense-check your food instead of blindly throwing it away due to a lapsed date. Look, Smell, Taste, Don't Waste!
On Tuesday, the Social Business Modeling workshop was given by Kerry Forrester and Dirk van den Berg . Approximately 25 interested do-gooders attended. The workshop was followed by The Alumni Startup Cafe later that day. The Alumni Startup Cafe is held in the Faculty Club, and is organized twice a year. 11 Startups and 11 mentors interact through speed dates. Many great connections and valuable contacts were made.
Super Bowlr
On Thursday afternoon all student entrepreneurs of the different universities got together to network and have some fun during the Super Bowlr event.
Everyone got assigned a bowling lane randomly, so they could get to know some other people, which in some cases even resulted in exchanging numbers. The idea behind the event is to broaden the network of the young entrepreneurs, so they could even find other entrepreneurs who have some experience with subjects they might struggle with.
After an hour of bowling, it was time for a nice dinner. During the dinner there still was the chance to network with others. And of course, the best bowler of the day got a trophy and a big applause. There also was a ‘troostprijs’ for the entrepreneurs with the lowest score, they also proudly received their trophy.
Before the Super Bowlr event, an entrepreneurship meeting for academics was held at the Faculty Club. Academics from the various faculties were present to exchange knowledge about (social) entrepreneurship. An interesting discussion followed the keynote by Joris Knoben. The event will certainly have a follow-up!
Dragons' Den
On Friday, November 17, we concluded Global Entrepreneurship Week with a Dragons' Den. Seven startups, one from each knowledge institution in Brabant, took the stage to pitch their ideas to the dragons at Grasso Den Bosch.
The teams were introduced by the lively host Rudy for a 2-minute pitch, followed by a round of questions from the dragons. All teams impressed both the dragons and the audience with their inspiring stories and innovative ideas—an achievement that all pitchers can be proud of! However, three of the pitchers left Grasso on Friday with an extra dose of pride, having secured investments from Midpoint Brabant, Rabobank, and Round One Ventures to further develop their innovative ventures! Congratulations to Wouter Witteman from Eindhoven University of Technology, Berend Stokman from Avans University of Applied Sciences, and Sieuwe Elferink from Fontys University!
Curious about other entrepreneurial events on our agenda? Click here for an overview of entrepreneurship events. Hopefully, we'll see you soon at one of our events!
