Whoever recently started their own company and is still looking for a building can now settle in the red-hot Startup Villa. The first start-up has settled already, and many more are supposed to follow in the coming months.
The former school of music at the Oostzeedijk has been vacant for no less than three years, and the young entrepreneur Niels van Deuren thought that a change was necessary. The founder of HousingAnywhere.com – a website for (temporarily) subletting your student room – got in touch with Kees van der Mark, owner of the building. “In the end we agreed with the owner that we with HousingAnywhere.com could enter the building. The Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship was very enthusiastic about that as well, after which we conceived the idea to make it a villa full of start-ups”, says Van Deuren, who will take an office with his company effective immediately.
The Startup Villa from inside
Ambition for Growth
The other enterprise which will locate itself in the villa is American Cups, where you can buy the red cups famous from all the American college parties. The Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship (ECE) will do their best to fill the other offices in the coming months. “The coming months we will promote the Startup Villa, and after the summer we will open it if we have enough demand”, says ECE-director Hendrik Halbe. According to him you have to bring something to the table if you want to have access to the Villa. “Only entrepreneurs with a hale ambition for growth are welcome. The Startup Villa is not for freelancers or students who have a nice little enterprise on the side. We are looking for entrepreneurs who want to conquer the market and really make a difference.”
Owner Kees van der Mark, Jochem Cuppen (Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship) and initiator Niels van Deuren (left to right)
StEEP
Interested parties who still study at the EUR can apply for a special programme, called StEEP. With this programme, ECE supports students who want to combine studying and running a business at a high level, comparable to the special top sports programmes from the EUR.
Want an office in the Startup Villa as well? Check out www.eur.nl/entrepreneurship and www.startupvilla.nl (online shortly). MvS
