Powered by NEOMA BS – Reims: celebrating a passion for entrepreneurship
February 14th in Reims was not only a day of celebration for lovers, but also as day for lovers of entrepreneurship. The NEC association, Incubators, alumni entrepreneurs and incubated start-ups hosted an event to celebrate business creation!
“A recent study has revealed that 40% of people under 30 are ready to start their own business! You could well be the next successful start-upper!” It is precisely to inspire new vocations and encourage students to start their own businesses that the NEOMA BS Incubators and the NEC Student Association (NEOMA Entrepreneurship Club) held the Powered By NEOMA BS event on the Reims Campus. A perfect opportunity to test the water and perhaps take the plunge!
The day was organised into a number of high points. The first of them was undoubtedly the pitch competition. This gave students the chance to present their new concept, still in the embryonic stage, and to explore potential market interest. It also gave students the tricky task of standing in front of an audience for the first time and convincing them in one minute. In the end, the “15 minutes for me” concept of hypnotherapy adapted to everyone’s needs won the hearts of the audience and picked up the €500 prize. Following this, several incubated start-ups battled it out with well-oiled pitches. VEATA and its pastries with zero blood-sugar-level impact captivated those present and pocketed the Incubator Prize worth 1000 euros. A great opportunity to help accelerate development, gain invaluable customer feedback and provide an important insight into this developing company, incubated at NEOMA BS over the past several months.
Close-up on VEATA
The VEATA start-up was conceived by Mamoun Elamrani-Jamal, a student at NEOMA BS on the Reims Campus. “Having started a diet to support my father when he was first diagnosed with diabetes, we both quickly realised how frustrating this was. As I am passionate about cooking and baking, I developed a recipe for a dessert that has no impact on blood sugar levels: the famous chocolate muffin. This recipe has made it easier and less frustrating for us to stick to our diets, so for us, diabetes is just a distant memory. If it worked for us, then why wouldn’t it work for you?” With a French market of 4 million diabetics, not to mention people wishing to reduce their sugar intake, VEATA will certainly be called upon in the months and years to come. After the muffin, other pastries should soon be available. “It is always interesting to attend entrepreneurship-related events. This gives us an opportunity to share and develop ideas and to forge possible partnerships that can help us develop our projects,” concludes Mamoun.
Powered By NEOMA BS – Reims, also provided an opportunity for the day’s visitors to talk to the incubated project creators and pick up invaluable advice based on proven experience. After an exhibition involving all the incubated start-ups, whereby interested students were able to make initial contacts, two conferences were held. First guest of honour: Anne-Sophie FRENOVE. A 2003 NEOMA BS TEMA graduate and former AirBnB development manager, Anne-Sophie is now an author and recently co-wrote Into the French Tech with Emmanuelle Flahault-Franc. In the book, they share advice based on a range of French Tech success stories . How to get started? Who to start with? How to grow? What risks need to be addressed? All these start-up challenges for creators were addressed by Anne-Sophie in her talk on the Campus.
Anne-Sophie was followed by Axel GUIDICELLI, co-founder of Ulysses, a start-up previously incubated at NEOMA BS, who gave an outline of his personal story. This gave him the opportunity to talk about his experience, particularly with Station F, and to pass on some humble advice. An interesting and inspiring day that may mark the beginning of a new adventure for the participants.
