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USASBE 2016 - Outstanding Entrepreneurship Program Abroad - The Entrepreneurship Award
- 1. 11 Excellence in Entrepreneurship Education The USASBE Outstanding Entrepreneurship Program Abroad Award THE ENTREPRENEURSHIP AWARD University College Ghent January 2016 Anja Cornelis - Ruth DeVreese anja.cornelis@hogent.be - ruth.devreese@hogent.be
- 2. 2 Agenda 1. HEIs & Aalst Expertise 2. How it started Diverse opleidingen 4. Curriculum- embedded project Uitgebreid netwerk Uitgebreid netwerk 3. The Entrepreneurship Award 5. Sustainability of the project 6. Added value 8. Q&A7. The future
- 3. 3 Ghent: 65000 students - 2 universities and 4 university colleges Aalst: 4000 students - 2 university colleges (University College Ghent and Odisee) Project is for students Professional Bachelor of Business Management, both colleges Aalst Accountancy and Taxation Finance and Insurance SME management Marketing 1. Higher education institutions
- 4. 4 1. City of Aalst • 82 379 inhabitants of the city • 36 859 number of people employed in the region • 6 500 enterprises, SME’s, entrepreneurs,… • 1 200 shops, main branches are domestic goods, fashion and food • The city has 8 business parks • World famous companies such as the Jan de Nul Group, Honda Belgium and Tupperware • Presence of internationally renowned hospitals: innovative health care economy with a specialised niche in heart surgery
- 5. 5 Call for ‘bridge projects’ economy – education Financed by Flemish government Filling a gap between education and entrepreneurs (nursery school –> University) Call of 2010: negative perceptions entrepreneurship & teaching entrepreneurial skills 10 projects financed (200.000 EUR, 3 years, additional 20% cofunding) 3-year project (2011-2014) 2. How it started students entrepreneurs university colleges partners sponsors innovative creative young Entrepreneurial spirit Networking event
- 6. 6 3. The Entrepreneurship Award
- 7. 7 Video T h e E n t r e p r e n e u r s h i p A w a r d
- 8. 8 role model innovation csr Nominated entrepreneurs Top 3 entrepreneurs Winner First year students Second year students Final year students
- 9. 9 Students gain a better picture of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs Boost our students’ entrepreneurial spirit Develop a regional network -> cross-pollination Alleviate the fear of failure 3. Objectives of the Entrepreneurship Award 3 categories Most bitten entrepreneur of Aalst Alumni entrepreneurs Restarter
- 10. 10 3. Project with and for students WHO IS BITTEN HARDEST BY THE ENTREPRENEURSHIP BUG?
- 11. 11 3. Use of social media
- 12. 12 3. Facts & Figures Number of students involved Number of entrepreneurs Number of participants 3000 1500 100 Elected as the Belgian entry for the European Enterprise Promotion Award
- 13. 13 4. Curriculum-embedded project Business Project Strategic Management (first semester) • First year students Business Management • Focus on the role of the entrepreneur • Strategic analysis of the firm • Failure Evaluation presentations candidates • Second year students Business Management • Evaluation skills • Getting to know regional entrepreneurs and their activities • Mandatory presence The award show • Third year students Business Management • Networking skills • Mandatory presence
- 15. 15 Entrepreneurship is a Key Focus area Entrepreneurship as an elective course for non-business students Charter for student entrepreneurs Partner Student Ghentrepreneur: virtual portfolio Partner Ministry of Makers: designers/business community 5. University College Ghent Centre For Entrepreneurship
- 16. 16 6. Added value Added value for first year students Getting to know real entrepreneurs/ role models Learning about the positive and negative sides of being self- employed. Starting an own business is a realistic option Added value for second and third year students Event = first real-life networking moment Internships/ bachelor papers Contact with role models Future employment Added value for entrepreneurs Branding for the company Regional network Internships/ papers/ market research Contact with future employees
- 17. 17 6. Added value Added value for the City of Aalst Project is accelerator for the regional network Positive impact on the local economy Increase of start ups Closer contact with the colleges Advisory Councils Added value for HEIs Boosts the Entrepreneurial spirit of students and staff. Real-life cases for students projects. Regional network Role models Funding
- 18. 18
- 19. 19 Entrepreneurial regional ecosystem 7. The future Entrepreneurs Student clubs City Aalst Investor fund University colleges Youth organizations
- 20. 20 The Entrepreneurship Award 8. Q&A
Editor's Notes
- R Goodmorning. First of all, thank you for having us and giving us the opportunity to present our case ‘the Entrepreneurship Award’. I am Ruth DeVreese and this is my colleague Anja Cornelis and together we are the founders (and the driving forces) of the Entrepreneurship Award.
- R We walk you through our case and show how it is evolved from an educational project toward a regional ecosystem
- First of all, we are working at the University College Ghent. That college has different campuses in Ghent but also one in the city center of Aalst. For this project, we closely work together with Odisee, that’s the other university college in Aalst. This project is meant for our students Business Management, in Aalst there are 4 majors. A professional bachelor degree is a 3 year educational programme, with ends with an internship of 3 months.
- R Now, you probably wonder where Aalst is located. It’s between Ghent, Brussels and Antwerp. It’s only a 20 minute drive from Brussels. We are also the home of some world famous companies such as Jan De Nul, famous for its dredging for example the Panama canal, but also Tupperware and Honda. Next to that, we are known for our innovative health care. Even our king had his heart surgery in Aalst. So you see, in our small city, there is a lot of entrepreneurial activity, but when we started working at the university college in 2008, the regional working field didn’t know both schools very well or vice versa – also, our first year students were complaining they were not familiar with the working field
- R From 2009 we have conducted a research about restarters, entrepreneurs who went bankrupt and started again. That is still a big taboo in Flanders and even in Europe. And with that experience, and also the facts of our students not knowing the regional working field and entrepreneurs not knowing our colleges, we had the chance to submit a proposal in the call for bridge projects. We had the idea that a networking event where we involve all our students and the local entrepreneurs at the end of the academic year could give an answer to the issues we noticed. And so we were funded. And that is how it all started. Important to know is that we had to search ourselve for an additional 20% cofunding.
- A The entrepreneurship award is an anual event and this year we start the fifth edition. Our student are searching for the ‘most bitten entrepreneur’ in the region. most bitten by the entrepreneurship bug. The picture shows the winner , ‘the most bitten entrepreneur’ of 2015 Bartel De Wulf of Belgocatering with the first year students SME Management (Audry, Jeremy and Wannes ) who nominated him. We now will show you a short video, in which the students involved in the project and the event will give jou their impressions.
- A
- A All students of the three year program Bachelor Business Management are involved. The first year students are the first link in the build up to the entrepreneurship award. They nominate an entrepreneur of their choosing and present him or her to the second year students. The first years are the ambassadors for their entrepreneurs and create a gripping impression they present to the second Bachelor Business Management The second year students choose a top 3 based on preconceived criteria : commitment of the entrepreneur to being a role model, socially responsible entrepreneurship and the focus on innovation. On the evening of the event itself the third year students and the other members of the audience choose the winner.
- A The students get acquainted with the entrepreneur behind the enterprise. They experience what it is like to start your own business. Students without an entrepreneur in the family or their circle of friends find it difficult to get a clear picture of entrepreneurship and what it involves. With our project they get the opportunity to get a positive and realistic image of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs. 2)This project teaches them to act independently as their chosen entrepreneur’s ambassador. In doing so their creative skills, teamwork, communication and presentation skills and perseverance are triggered. We involve them in as many aspects as possible in organising the event.. 3) The projects acts as an accelerator for the expansion of a regional network. Some 150 entrepreneurs were found to be prepared to share their knowledge and expertise with young people. These entrepreneurs are active in a wide range of sectors and their enterprises vary substantially in size, form a one man shop to a leading company ( from a local barista to Jan De Nul dredging). 4) Entrepreneurship is not always succesful. We also aim to, look at some of the aspects of entrepreneurship that are not so positive by shattering the taboo on business failure and promoting it as a topic of discussion.
- A Like I already said we aim to get as much students involved as we can to boost their entrepreneurial spirit For example The slogan ‘who has been bitten hardest by the entrepreneurship bug’ (Most bitten entrepreneur) is a real good slogan in Dutch ;-)was thought up bij students in the Marketing Programme. Students are involved in the organisation of the event and we try to get students working on the event in multidisciplinary groups, which enhances their skills of collaboration, creative thinking, understanding of each other … For the developmernt of our website students of the marketingprogramme had to work together with students of the computer science programme. This was not an easy task as you can imagine, but both students and lecturers of the programmes learnt a lot by doing so.
- R We use social media. Like on YouTube are all our videos of the winning entrepreneurs. We use that in educational packages. But we are most proud that we’ve reached more than 100.000 clicks in the week after our last event in May. We see that our students, but also their parents, uncles, friends, and our former students… like our page and give comments. That truly creates an entrepreneurial community.
- R So here are some facts and figures. There are already more than 3000 students involved and more than 100 entrepreneurs have been nominated. Our participants are limited becuase of the capacity of the event location but each year we are already full booked more than one month in advance. Last year our project was elected for the Europese Enterprise Promotion Awards. (Also each year we visit the winning entrepreneur with our second year students SME-management in his or her enterprise. They have to present their business plan, and the entrepreneur gives feedback to them. It’s our experience that they accept feedback more easily from then than from us )
- R We have also worked hard to embed this project in the curriculum so a lot of other lecturers are involved and the students see the added value of doing their best for the Entrepreneurship Award also returning in other courses. Ourthird year students, we prepare them for the networking event with practical excercises like the elevator pitch and how to use Linked In in a professional manner.
- R As I mentioned in the beginning, we had to search for 20% cofunding , that’s about 25.000 EUR each year and we’ve reached that by working with sponsors. We are very proud that all of our sponsors like working with us through the past 5 years which gives us a solid financial basis.
- A The sustainability is also ensured because our project is now embedded in the Centre for Entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is a key focus area at University College Ghent since 2008. The University College Ghent Center for entrepreneurship (gives wings to your ideas) it stimulates the entrepreneurial spirit of students, lecturers and staff. And aims to build a bridge between the college and the entrepreneurs. The center support and encourages students who want to start their own business. It is a strong identity boasting a substantial internal and external network Curriculum component in which students from different faculties and porgrammes (non business), f.ex. (students from the school of arts, real estate, wood technology,..) work together in teams on concrete business plans that enables them to establish cohesion between the various aspects of entrepreneurship. Next year we will enhance this course with a specific programme for students who start their own business. The charter provide students with the facilities they need to combine entrepreneurship with their studies. They can get individual academic and examinationrelated support. With the charter we facilitate them to make their first steps as an entrepreneur. Student Ghentrepreneur is also an ecosystem. It involves the university Ghent , the Colleges and the city of Ghent. Student entrepreneurs can apply for a ‘startersportfolio’, which is virtual money (up tot 3000 euro’s) that can be used to buy tailored advice form experts in the sector (such as accountants, lawyers,…). Bridge between designers and the businesscomunity. This collaboration is of crucial importance to promote innovation. How do you create an entrepreneurial spirit in creative people and how do you inspire creativity in entrepreneurs. Ministry of Makers is the bridge between both worlds.
- A As you already heard, there is a lot of added value for first year students, second and third year students and also for the ntrepreneurs. Sara met a nominated entrepreneur at the event and she was offered a job, she is still working there and is having a career, she came to witness about that to our 3 year students....and explained the importance of networking.
- As you can see our project has evolved from a pure educational project between partners to a regional network that leads to more start-ups We now have regional real-life cases for student projects, we can invite role models as guest speakers, and the entrepreneurial spirit of not only our students but also the staff is boosted. Our colleague Joris from Odisee has started with Yinto, to taste flemish beers at home.
- R We have the full support of the mayor of Aalst, each year he attends our event. You can read his findings inside the paper. Here is a quote of our mayor. We have the full support of the city for this project. Not only from the mayor but also from the other politicians and the city personnel.
- R What will bring the future? For the moment, we are working on the develomment of an entrepreneurial regional ecosystem. ENTREPRENEURSHIP EVERYWHERE So not only the schools, the entrepreneurs and the city of Aalst will be involved but also student clubs and youth organizations. And next to that, we wat to establish an investor fund for starting companies in Aalst and also to ensure the future of the Entrepeneurship Award, without any subsidies from the government. It’s also our dream that other cities and education institutions will follow our example. We want to share all of our experience and knowledge. And in Duthc we have developed an information folder to make that possible.
- And now we are ready to answer all of your questions.