In their second year of study at the Hoornbeeck College in Rotterdam, Marten-Jan, Joost, and Rineke had the opportunity to start their own company with the help of the school and Young Entrepreneurship. They registered with a group of seven students for the voluntary Student Company project. At the end of 2012, they started the project. 'For a year, you come up with a product or service that you want to bring to market,' Joost begins. 'We sat down with the seven of us for a big brainstorming session. We wondered what problems you might encounter every day. Suddenly, we came up with the well-known problem that your smartphone is often dead, exactly at the moment when there is no charging point nearby.' The group looked for a solution and found it on the internet: 'External chargers! We tested different types of chargers, conducted market research, and ultimately chose the S-Charger.'
Not just throwing it away
Young Entrepreneurship facilitated everything for the entrepreneurs during the ten-month project. They could start their business without having to go to a notary. Throughout the year, they were present at markets and fairs, and Young Entrepreneurship arranged media attention for the project. During this period, the young entrepreneurs experienced many wonderful things. 'We had a really great year. For example, we had the opportunity to present an S-Charger to Prime Minister Mark Rutte, we sold a lot, and we received the award for Student Company Of The Year 2013. In those months, we built a lot. We saw that there was still a lot of demand for this product and there were many opportunities; we didn't want to just throw it all away after the project. Marten-Jan, Rineke, and I decided in the summer of 2013 to continue the company together, and we bought out the other four. We chose to start a limited liability company.'
Future plans
The past year has gone well for the three ambitious entrepreneurs, and it is time to look ahead. 'In 2015, we want to focus on resellers. We want our chargers to be available in many stores. The S-Charger is now in 225 KPN stores, but our goal is to expand that. Furthermore, we want to focus not only on an external charger for smartphones but also on external chargers for laptops and tablets, among others. At the beginning of 2015, the focus will still be on smartphones, but afterwards, we will turn our attention to other mobile devices. We want to become the specialist in charging mobile devices, the number one in the Netherlands. The market is developing quickly, and therefore we must act quickly as well. I dare say that we will succeed!', Joost says convincingly. In addition, they are not only going to focus on the Netherlands but also want to conquer the foreign market with their chargers. They already have contacts with companies in Germany and Belgium.
Happy with Young Entrepreneurship
Every day, the three young entrepreneurs are happy that they started with the Student Company. 'We are really grateful to Young Entrepreneurship for the opportunities we have received; without them, our company would not exist today. It was a good springboard to entrepreneurship,' Joost says enthusiastically.
Young Entrepreneurship
You learn entrepreneurship by doing it! Moreover, you have to have experienced it to know how it feels. The Young Entrepreneurship Foundation inspires and encourages young people in the Netherlands to build an entrepreneurial future. They do this through practical and experience-oriented programs for primary education, secondary education, vocational education, higher education, and university. Their strength? Networking, connecting, and organizing. This way, they offer young people a unique entrepreneurship experience that changes lives. The lives of these starters have also changed through the programs of Young Entrepreneurship. Read their stories and get inspired! Want to help build an entrepreneurial future? Visit www.jongondernemen.nl and become a mentor or sponsor.
