In celebration of its 5-year anniversary, YES!Delft Students held a week-long series of special events, encouraging students to become entrepreneurs.
As the student arm of the largest, hi-tech business incubator in Europe, the association actively supports ambitious individuals with a key interest in entrepreneurship, through the organization of business-related workshops, forums and competitions. From March 10 to 14 2014, students were invited to participate in various activities aimed at inspiring entrepreneurship and developing their business skills.
“In five years, we have seen major growth in the organization,” says Maarten Vrouenraets, President of the YES!Delft Students board. “Our task is to get a continuous flow of entrepreneurs into YES!Delft and to serve as a platform for students to develop themselves in the field of entrepreneurship during the entire stage of their studies.” According to Vrouenraets, entrepreneurship is the most effective means for students to exploit their knowledge in a specific field and to get the most out of their own skills.
With more than 600 students in attendance, the highlight of the YES!Lustrum Week was the much-anticipated Entrepreneurship Forum, held at the TU Delft Auditorium. Featuring a host of highly successful entrepreneurs, the event was meant to motivate students to use their technical knowledge and abilities to start their own businesses. Spilgames founder Peter Driessen, Business Woman of the Year and serial entrepreneur Yolanda Eijgenstein (MasterPeace), and self-made billionaire Jan Brand (Brunel) were among the handful of heavyweights invited to share their knowledge and first-hand experiences.
In order to help bridge the gap between entrepreneurship and education, YES!Delft Students also organized in-depth training seminars as part of its lustrum activities. During these sessions, participants were given the opportunity to collaborate on multidisciplinary cases concerning the practicalities of starting a business. Students were also taught how to pitch their business ideas to potential investors with the help of experienced entrepreneurs.
“I am really interested in entrepreneurship and how to bring ideas from paper to the real world,” says Matteo Stante. As a participating student, he is convinced that these seminars are good opportunities to learn just that. “Of course it’s possible to rent a book from the library and study it, but it’s also nice to keep in touch with people who are actually working with start-ups and trying to bring innovation to the market.” Through these YES!Delft Students activities, students are made aware that entrepreneurship is a viable career option.
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