At Start-up School young people do their own business: ‘It is so different from normal education’

Taking all kinds of compulsory courses, just sitting and listening to lecturers, and learning things that are of no use to you later on. Jaimy Muller von Czernicki (16) was always reluctant to go to school. She was easily distracted and struggled with the long classes. “I was creative and I had a lot of ideas, but I couldn’t express them at school.” She has been thinking about school differently for a month now.

Muller von Czernicki is one of the first batch of students of a new MBO concept: Start-up School. They don’t get a lesson about entrepreneurship, they immediately start doing it themselves. Learning years are called start-up phases. The study program is not clearly defined. The students are involved in everything and think about excursions or guest speakers. After three years, they registered their own company and obtained a diploma at MBO level 4. The first group of eighteen young people aged 15 to 21 started in February.

Start-up School is part of Summa College, a secondary vocational education institution in Brabant. About forty organizations have joined the concept, including chip machine manufacturer ASML and the municipality of Eindhoven. They are charmed by the educational concept and would like to contribute, says teacher Stein Hurkx. “In the entrepreneurial world there is a lot of willingness to help others. And they see the group of students as a breeding ground for young talent with fresh ideas, from which collaborations can arise.”

Companies and entrepreneurs provide guest lectures and come up with challenges: Problem statements that students have to solve for credits and with which they acquire entrepreneurial skills. Muller von Czernicki is enthusiastic. “I now come home with a smile. My parents like that too.”

Entrepreneurship is popular among young people, according to figures from the Chamber of Commerce. The number of young entrepreneurs has been increasing rapidly for several years now. In the first quarter of 2017, more than 8,258 young people under the age of 25 registered their company. This had more than doubled to 17,455 starters by 2021. Especially during the corona period, many young people have started their own business. The Netherlands now has almost 130,000 registered entrepreneurs under the age of 25.

At the same time, more than 20,000 young people drop out of school every year, according to figures from Statistics Netherlands. Last year there were 26,160, about 2 percent of the total. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science wants to reduce the number of early school leavers by 2024 to a maximum of 20,000 young people. This is done, among other things, by investing in extra guidance, tackling absence from school and collaborating with care providers, municipalities and youth doctors.

Socially responsible

Stein Hurkx, Addy Aertse and Bram Finke, all three teachers at Summa College, came up with the concept for the new school. They regularly saw talented students drop out because they were not properly served in education. Aertse: “Students said they would rather do business than go to school. But parents also want their children to graduate. We bring those two wishes together.” There were two requirements for the young people: at least a VMBO-T diploma and intrinsic motivation. Before the training, they first had to go through a selection.

Also read this interview with the director of a foundation that teaches children and young people to do business: ‘Everyone must do business soon’

The name Start-up School should not be interpreted too literally, emphasizes Aertse. “The goal is for students to set up a small business, but that doesn’t have to be something with tech. You are not necessarily going to make the new Facebook here.” Students are free to choose the type of company, as long as the starting point is: a socially responsible company with a long-term vision that is not only focused on profit.

This freedom is reflected in the plans of the young people. Their ideas range from setting up their own gym or lunchroom to ‘something with second-hand clothes’. No problem if they don’t know it yet: the first year focuses on orientation. Collaborations can also arise.

Most students at Start-up School felt that they did not fit well into the mainstream school system, they say. One of them is Ward van Zon (20) from Veldhoven. At sixteen he was already selling T-shirts that he had printed. A few years later, he made money making websites. He was unable to use those entrepreneurial qualities very well at his school at the time; he did not finish high school.

Inspiration

After the first few weeks, Van Zon is positive about the training. He feels at home there. “It’s so different from normal education,” he says. “There I just sat behind my laptop listening to the teacher. Here I am busy all day.”

Even though the teaching days are shorter than in regular education, Van Zon finds it ‘really tough’. “You are very productive during those hours at school.”

What the students agree on: the environment inspires them. The location of Start-up School is the Microlab, a breeding ground for several hundred, mainly young, companies at Strijp-S in Eindhoven. The young people talk to entrepreneurs in the elevator or attend lectures. In addition, the students inspire each other. “No one skips class, because everyone wants to come to class because they find it interesting,” says student Santiago Flores Rozo. “When a guest lecturer comes, many questions are asked.”

For a seventeen-year-old, Flores Rozo already has a lot of work experience: he had a thriving online business in the resale of sneakers, recruited donors for Unicef ​​and subscribers for meal box supplier HelloFresh, and was manager of a sneaker brand. Why would you go back to school with a resume like that? “Here I can expand my network,” he replies.

When he told about Start-Up School at home, his parents were not immediately accommodating. “My parents are pretty strict when it comes to school. My mother really wants me to go to college and then university, that’s her dream.” Flores Rozo was born in Las Cruces, which he describes as a Colombian ghetto. “We lived in a small apartment, there was little money. I was not allowed to play outside because it was too dangerous. My mother went to the Netherlands for my future.”

It remains to be seen whether Start-up School will actually produce companies. Whether or not students implement an idea successfully has no consequences for obtaining the diploma. The teachers dream about the future. Aertse: “This class can pass on knowledge and experience to next generations of Start-up School.”

Even so, Start-up School cannot escape some school rules. In the second year, the students have to pass exams in Dutch, English and maths, which they have to schedule themselves.

Flores Rozo does not yet know what kind of business he will start, perhaps something with fashion or art. But he has no doubts that he will have his own company in three years’ time. “I want to do something with my talents. I want to build a name for my children.”

Also Jaimy Muller von Czernicki doesn’t know exactly yet. She prefers to do something in which she can express her passions: dancing, traveling, make-up. “I enjoy going to school every day, I have never had that before.”