Nobody too young to be an entrepreneur! This is demonstrated in the course ‘Developing a Business Model Canvas’ for Bachelor students. Today we offer an insight into this new course and meet a familiar face.
‘Developing a Business Model Canvas’ is an elective course for Bachelor students at the University of Bern. During 17 lessons the ‘youngpreneurs’ develop an entrepreneurial idea into a business model. Entrepreneurial thinking and action are taught both hands-on and scientifically well-founded by Philipp Sieger, Professor for Strategic Entrepreneurship. In February, the course started with an introduction to entrepreneurship. Today, the students present their developed Value Proposition Canvas. Based on the theoretical input, the students evaluated their idea from different perspectives: customer segmentations, customer gains and pains, gain creators, pain relievers and products and services. Overall, the diversity and creativity of the students’ ideas are remarkable.
«I am really amazed about the quality of the business ideas so far»,
Philipp Sieger acknowledges the work of the Bachelor students. «The ideas are novel and promising throughout, covering different relevant aspects of daily life: shopping, shoes, construction, counseling, socializing or event organization – and each addresses a relevant customer need». Then he leads over to the highlight of the class, namely the guest input of a ‘youngpreneur’ who is in the middle of building his start-up: Christoph Bertschi from Smartbreed. He is a familiar face within the Bernese Ecosystem; Christoph Bertschi and his two brothers, respectively business partners, are also participants of the current business creation competition STAGE UP. He talks about their business idea, a fully automated insect farm, how it came about and what the first steps were, bluntly and honestly: «You google how many zoos there are around. We found out that there are 54 zoos in Europe. Then I called the receptionist every other day for 3 weeks – the reception staff already knew me very well – until I was allowed to have an appointment with the right person at the zoo.» Going door to door is also part of the daily routine of a youngpreneur. Christoph Bertschi’s authentic presentation is well-received by the students and motivates them to further develop their business idea.
The final presentations of their Business Model Canvas will take place at the end of May. Hopefully, the entrepreneurial spirit will be growing even further – and who knows, maybe we can welcome one or the other familiar face at STAGE UP 2022?