Business School Lausanne’s Entrepreneurial Challenge calls on high school students in Switzerland to flex their leadership muscles and demonstrate their entrepreneurial talents. Across the country, bright young aspiring entrepreneurs bring forward their business ideas in the hopes of winning the competition and securing the prize of exclusive coaching sessions to help them kick off their business concept.
The 2019/2020 challenge culminated in four different winning parties across four categories. These future entrepreneurs created business ideas that were innovative, practical, sustainable, and disruptive, and for their efforts, won a set of coaching sessions with professor and angel investor Andre Delafontaine. Read on to learn about the ideas of these exciting young professionals.
Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz Student Krzysztof Jan Furmann Took the Prize of Best Industry Disruption Idea
“My business idea came to me when I lost my luggage while traveling. It cost 50 euros and took two weeks to get it back, so it got me thinking about the demand for on-time, high-speed delivery,” Krzysztof says of the idea that won him the prize for Best Industry Disruption. His entrepreneurial idea was a decentralized delivery and storage platform.
Krzystof says that for him, entrepreneurship is about “discerning issues common to society, and coming up with solutions that are profitable and sustainable.” He believes that decentralized platforms are more socially responsible in comparison to huge corporations, which is part of why he believes his platform is a necessary idea. He’s happy to have participated in BSL’s contest because it allowed him to become acclimated to the environment of Swiss entrepreneurship and to see how it differs from Poland, the country of his birth.
Juliette Bonin of Institut International de Lancy Was Awarded for the Best Business Model
Juliette’s entrepreneurial idea won in the category of Best Business Model. Her brainstorming and research sessions culminated in an application that connects riders and members of equestrian centers with riding schools perfectly adapted to their specific needs and wishes. Juliette sought to promote equestrian centers and share her passion for horseback riding by creating an online community.
“I thought the application could help riders blossom in their passion, because they’d be able to find the formula which corresponds to their needs,” Juliette said. She hopes that with the app, “horse-riding will be able to gradually enter the era of technology, be adapted to the new innovations of our society with its advantages”. For her, the contest was an opportunity to get feedback and different points of view from business professionals. “I want to be a person who helps others, makes things change and evolve, and allows the world to enter into a new era,” Juliette said of her aspirations for her future career.
Our Graduate Business School Awarded Collège du Léman’s Astrid Ussing’s Entrepreneurial Idea
Astrid Ussing took first place in the category of Environmental Sustainability for her innovative entrepreneurial idea. Our graduate business school was interested and excited in her unique method of upcycling. She thought of a process wherein household plastics would be collected and 3D printed into new objects useful for everyday living. She was inspired by the Scandinavian method of recycling, where people deliver their plastics to a plant in return for money.
“For me, being an entrepreneur means developing and transforming ideas into something that can improve the world we live in,” Astrid says of her drive towards entrepreneurship. She’s grateful to have participated in the challenge for the opportunity to gain experience in pitching a business idea in front of a jury/audience. Currently, she is attending university in Madrid while continuing to work on the project.
St George’s International School Students Yann Oppenheim and Lisa Baudet Were Awarded for the Best Not-for-Profit Idea
Yann Oppenheim and Lisa Baudet’s idea won the award for Best Not-for-Profit Idea. “We wanted to link our passion for skiing with the school’s goal of sustainability,” the two say of how the idea arose. Switzerland is known for its social responsibility and for its skiing, and the two invented an ingenious way to combine the two facets of the country’s culture. To that end, they developed the concept for the first environmentally friendly ski-waxing business in the Swiss Riviera. They appreciated contributing to the challenge because it gave them an opportunity to “learn the skills required to carry out a project through a pitch to investors,” they said. “It was a good opportunity to show our business to the real world and receive feedback on it.”
The 2019/2020 Entrepreneurial Challenge brought forward many brilliant and exciting ideas. Of course, BSL supports entrepreneurial talent not just through challenges such as this contest, but also through an innovative BBA program. These professional environments foster the growth of bright young professionals who create ideas that may change our world.
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