The Future Looks Bright For SDU Entrepreneurs

Christian Olesen is a young serial entrepreneur who not only started his first company in high school, but went on to start a handful of other companies, including FraMor.dk og Butiksiden.dk. He is passionate about what he does and has participated in Venture Cup more than five times.

Stefan Roi was always interested in entrepreneurship and didn’t understand why there was no place to meet up with people and talk startups the same way you could meet up and talk football. Then he founded Idemee and is now helping passionate people find the right project for them.

What opportunities are there for students with good ideas?

Christian: “We have quite a lot of entrepreneurial organizations. Venture Cup, IDEA House and AISEC is doing great work here. There is also a lot of specialized courses at some study lines, like in Kolding and Odense. All HA students have entrepreneurship their first semester here.”

Stefan: “A large part of the entrepreneurial spirit at SDU stems from events. Like creative workshops at IværkOdense and Studenterhuset. IværkOdense did three Venture Cup preparation sessions and hosts IdéBanko as well.  You should definitely try out Forskerparken too. There are a lot of helpful companies there. Of course, Ideeme is doing a lot of work, trying to provide networking, idea sharing, feedback and basically just help you try things out. It’s really a great option you have.”

Do you think University of Southern Denmark prepares students to start their own company?

Christian: “People who study entrepreneurship are very likely to start something themselves, but SDU generally tries hard to teach us about ‘teams’ and what qualities a good team should have. That’s necessary for all good projects or startups.”

Stefan: “Most of the extracurricular activities at SDU is something you have to seek out yourself or have your friends tell you about. If you are interested in entrepreneurship and you are proactive about it, you gain a lot of value here. But unfortunately, if you aren’t looking for it, you are not likely to be ‘pushed’ into anything that could arouse your interest. The key areas here are passion and responsibility, and that’s not really a bad thing to give to future entrepreneurs.”

Why do you think students can be hesitant to start something themselves?

Stefan: “Most students don’t really have any entrepreneurs among their friends. It’s hard to find the energy to follow your passion if you don’t get that daily dose of inspiration and understanding from your network. Thats the biggest barrier, I think. Also, the university environment focuses a bit to much on just exams and ECTS points. The opportunities for entrepreneurship is sometimes forgotten within these constraints.

Christian: “There are a lot of myths surrounding “entrepreneurs” – anything from the notion that they are super humans to the idea that they are super nerds and that scares away people who don’t see the ‘super’ part in themselves. Basically it’s about not knowing any entrepreneurs and not knowing what starting a business really means.

What does the future look like for SDU?

Christian: “Students can get so much out of participation in a Venture Cup competition. Just learning to think conceptually and planning your idea the whole way through. Very many students have a great idea but they are lost if you ask them; ‘how are you going to make money from that?’ That’s something Venture Cup can really help you learn.”

Stefan: “The focus and attention paid to entrepreneurship is growing and people are increasingly looking up to and admiring startup founders. That’s why I think the future looks pretty bright!”