“Too few growth opportunities for start-ups in Rotterdam”

Alumnus Fabian Dudek (23) and Entrepreneurship Professor Justin Jansen stated in the Algemeen Dagblad (Dutch newspaper) on Thursday that start-ups in Rotterdam are given enough room to develop, but not to grow.

As Erasmus University student, Fabian Dudek established Nestpick, a property letting site. He has now relocated to Berlin. “Rotterdam doesn’t have enough new business investors, too few well-educated personnel and the university doesn’t do enough to drive the entrepreneurial climate”, Dudek gave as reason for his relocation.

Few opportunities for growth

Entrepreneurship Professor, Justin Jansen agrees. “Rotterdam is lacking in investment companies that can keep the start-ups in the city,” Jansen states in the same article. “Although Rotterdam does have business breeding grounds such as the Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship, the city still offers too few opportunities for continued growth.”

 

The port city is still not the start-up city that it wants to be, but Dudek is hopeful. “Silicon Valley wasn’t built in a couple of years either.”