Entrepreneurship Societies
By James McDade, IB16 student from New Zealand
Have you ever thought to become an entrepreneur? Not sure what to do or where to start? How about joining an entrepreneurship society or ES for short. Finland has 19 ES’ in higher education institutes scattered around the country that promote and cultivate entrepreneurship and start-ups.
An ES fosters a community like spirit where students can gain knowledge and practical information about how to get started in entrepreneurship through seminars, accelerator programs and pitching to name a few. ES’ also reach out to the business communities, not just regionally but internationally to gain a better insight into current trends and topics. This can also allow students to network into the business community and to other ES societies around Finland, as many ES hold events that other ES are encouraged to attend. Who knows, you might meet your future business partners in one of these events.
Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences is lucky to have on its own campus, its very own ES. Seinäjoki Entrepreneurship Society – SeiES is a non profit organisation, started and operated by students in higher education in Southern Ostrobothnia. It has just completed its first year in operations and held many events, such as monthly members meetings, The Beginning, Nexus, and is cooperative partner of competitions such as Lift Off and GrowUp student’s competitions, just to name a few.