Despite what a challenging year this has been for all of us, more student entrepreneurs are taking on the challenges of running a business next to their studies! In this news update, we would like to introduce our two newest participants to the Talented Student Entrepreneur Programme, who have both founded software-based startups.

Within this programme, we support ambitious student entrepreneurs in combining their studies and startups by providing them with a dedicated study advisor from their faculty and access to the community and network of Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship.  The programme allows participants to organise their studies more flexibly according to their business needs, e.g. in terms of time schedules and class participation. This combination of educational and entrepreneurial support can help produce successful alumni that are also strong entrepreneurs.

We recently accepted these two promising young student entrepreneurs after they digitally pitched their startups to us:

Olivier Vroom is a final year economics student at Erasmus University College and founder of ShareableURL.com.

ShareableURL.com allows users to customise their links to make them human-friendly, readable, and shareable. It has been used around the world, including by government workers in the United Kingdom, the Gadjah Mada University in Indonesia, and the musical artist Nathan Piland in the United States.

Here is a brief explainer video of what ShareableURL.com is and how to use it.

Thomas van der Wolde, founder of WebGuide ICT and Armedes, is a Strategic Entrepreneurship Master’s student at Rotterdam School of Management.

WebGuide ICT helps small and medium sized businesses with all their questions and problems regarding web, branding and IT. With services ranging from web development, webhosting and running online marketing campaigns to IT support, cybersecurity and technology consultancy, WebGuide ICT offers everything a company needs to succeed digitally.

Armedes is a software package that makes sure that your device works well, keeping it from slowing down, getting infected by viruses, losing your data or showing error messages. Gone are the days of needing to wait for hours for someone to fix your issue and paying a lot of money. With Armedes you can keep using your computer, while their software runs in the background and all repairs are covered by the small monthly fee.

We look forward to welcoming these participants in the programme and offering the support that enables them to run their businesses while completing their studies at the same time!

Are you a student entrepreneur at Erasmus University Rotterdam and looking for support? Find out more about the opportunities with Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship via the Talented Student Entrepreneur Programme. Not a student entrepreneur but interested in entrepreneurship? Check out our webpage for an overview of the startup programmes that we offer!