starthub testimonials
StartHub has made an impact on entrepreneurial education and student entrepreneurs since it was founded back in 2014. Therefore, we’ve decided to record stories from people within our community, with the help of Ben Excell!
We want to introduce you to Yvette Baggen, who you might have seen if you ever followed courses at StartHub Wageningen📚. She is an entrepreneurial teacher and researcher at the WUR, and besides that is also self-employed. Her dream is that, through education, students and professionals co-learn and co-create sustainable value!
Meet Sebastiaan Berendse, the Director of Corporate Value Creation (CVC) at Wageningen University & Research. He generates and develops WUR's activities to create impact and value-added for society.
Among other things, he is also responsible for the student incubator StartHub Wageningen. Want to know more about how Sebastiaan views (the future of) our incubator? Make sure to watch this video🙌
Meet Victor van Saltbommel, the Junior Incubation Manager of StartHub Wageningen. Alongside this, he is also doing a management traineeship at CVC (Corporate Value Creation).
Victor’s goal is to apply a more entrepreneurial mindset among WUR students. 💡💬 He does this by motivating, facilitating, and supporting students who are interested in entrepreneurship. 📈💡
Dr Christiaan de Koning - Entrepreneurial Fellow
Meet Christiaan de Koning the first titleholder of the Entrepreneurial Fellowship at Wageningen University & Research!
As the first Entrepreneurial Fellow at the WUR, Christiaan will be working closely with the various entrepreneurship-focused research groups and support facilities (like StartHub!) to help translate the knowledge contained within the University into sustainable ventures.
Christiaan is an avid deep tech enthusiast who enjoys working with science entrepreneurs. He is the founder of a transatlantic network between Oxford (UK) and Boston (US) for founders, funders, and local stakeholders: Founders and Funders. He holds a PhD in Management & Innovation from Christ Church College, University of Oxford. His research focuses on the commercialisation of new biotechnology (e.g. CRISPR).
Evi-Mara & Camilla - Ephora solutions
Meet Evi-Mara and Camilla, the co-founders of Ephora Solutions! They met a few years ago during a course at Wageningen University & Research, became friends, and started Ephora Solutions in the beginning of 2020 at StartHub. Their start-up is working towards a circular economy for plastic and jute packaging of coffee beans, as this is currently waste material.
In this clip Evi-Mara and Camilla explain all about their start-up, their aspirations and motivation, what StartHub helps them with, and what it takes to achieve a circular economy. If you want to know more about Ephora Solutions, check out their Instagram page or their website and start making a sustainable impact yourself!
Marco Mega - Banabar
Meet Marco, the founder of Banabar, a real food lover & entrepreneur from Italy! After completing his Master's degree in Food Technology at the Wageningen University & Research, he started working on his idea at StartHub. As a student, always in a rush, Marco ate a lot of snack bars, which he'd always considered to be a very convenient product. In his search for a tastier snack, he stumbled upon dried bananas as a replacement for the widely spread bars made from dates, nuts and granola. Besides creating nutritionally balanced bars with bananas & other super foods, Marco has a mission. By only using organic ingredients and rejected bananas, he wants to fight the social and environmental exploitation involved in banana farming. To do so, he also commits 1% of his total revenue to support the farmers he works with. Want to know more about how he wants you to do good while snacking? Check out Banabar's mission & try a Banabar yourself!
Iris houthoff - mylium
Meet Iris, former lecturer in Bioprocess Engineering at the Wageningen University & Research. During the StartHub Startup Week in 2017, she discovered that she loved entrepreneurship. She decided to pursue her passion and is now the founder of Mylium, a startup which creates circular fabrics using mycelium - the thread-like structure of mushrooms. Every day she learns new things, which she loves. “Even legal stuff, that I normally would find super boring, becomes interesting.”
frej & mitch - reshore
Meet Frej Gustafsson and Mitchell Williams from Reshore! While simultaneously finishing their master’s degrees, they started working on their own startup at StartHub. They are now working full-time on their living breakwater that improves ecosystems, quality of life and contributes to economic opportunities all in one neatly packaged solution. What we think makes them unique? Apart from having complementary strengths and a shared passion, they are also best friends!
Meet Aria Samimi & Leon Schipper, the co-founders of InsectSense🐝 InsectSense develops insect-inspired innovations! For e.g. did you know that insects can help in the detection of Covid-19? Learn more about their story here!
Meet Ben Excell, our digital developer and studio director. Ben got introduced to StartHub via entrepreneurial courses he followed during his studies, and he decided to get more involved. One thing led to another, and the studio was created, which we use to host our StartHub events and make testimonials like this!
Later, he also got involved with the Fablab Wageningen, which is located in StartHub. Want to know more about Ben’s journey and his insights? Then watch the clip! 🤩
Meet Stefan Nortier, he is a coach and trainer at StartHub Wageningen 🤩. Which means he can help you with personal and team development! 💪
Stefan knows all about role division, social contracts and professionalization. So, if you are starting-up at StartHub, you will likely encounter him.
Meet Mariana, the CEO of PlantWizard! This plant scientist & plant lover from Portugal is currently working on her start-up at StartHub. As a part of this, she participated in the StartHub Realisation boot camp and became an AtlasInvest Entrepreneurship Grant finalist🔥!
Together with her team, she is developing an online platform for the indoor plant market 🌱 Listen to her story here!
Lisa Ploum - WUR
Meet Lisa Ploum, an employee of CVC (corporate value creation) and ELS (education and learning sciences) at Wageningen University & Research where she provides and coordinates entrepreneurship education. That is why you can find Lisa at StartHub a lot!
Since she is also a teacher, you might know her from the minor “Entrepreneurship and Innovation” or from the “Master Track Entrepreneurship”.
Lisa’s goal is to start up people! And with people she means you, students and recent graduates. A big part of Lisa’s job is to facilitate and support you in your entrepreneurial process. She is doing this by teaching students and recent graduates about the entrepreneurial mindset and by inspiring them to implement their knowledge in an entrepreneurial way. This can for example be in your own start-up!
Suradj Hiralal - Oost NL
Meet Suradj, Business Developer at The East Netherlands Development Agency Oost NL. His responsibilities at OostNL include, among many other things, developing innovative business cases in the agri-food domain and advising businesses on their investor and market readiness. During his studies at Wageningen University, Suradj was also part of the student board of StartHub Wageningen. Currently, Suradj is still involved with StartHub, but this time as part of StartHub’s expert panel! Together with other highly knowledgeable experts, he has a passion for supporting entrepreneurial students and is now able to share his expertise, knowledge and advice on behalf of OostNL. We are happy to have you on board Suradj!
Juliana Romero Guzmán - Cano-ela
Meet Juliana, the founder of Cano-ela. Our ever-smiling entrepreneur from Mexico was awarded a PhD at Wageningen University in the Food Process Engineering group. She developed a Proof of Concept of a new extraction process during her PhD project and is now further developing her technology to get the maximum functionality out of raw materials such as canola seeds. Her work allows the creation of food products with a very clean label and a low impact on the environment. We are glad that she was picked up by the Value Creation department and is now part of the StartHub!
rosanne - starthub student board 2020/2021
Meet Rosanne Vromen, the Content & Marketing Manager of the StartHub student board! “After the first year of my master's, I felt like doing something completely different. I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and develop skills that you wouldn't learn in a lecture hall. Designing content for the StartHub communication channels allows me to be creative, which I really enjoy. I've worked with a lot of inspiring people, hosted one of our webinars, organized these testimonials and much more! If you have any questions for me, feel free to reach out to rosanne@starthubwageningen.nl!”
Tim daalderop - FabLab Wageningen
Did you know there is a FabLab at the Hub, that can help you in for example developing your prototype? Tim Daalderop, Incubation Manager of StartHub, but also part of the board of FabLab Wageningen, will tell you all about it in the video above!