Good practice:

Gentrepreneur, a city platform for student-entrepreneurs in Ghent (East-Flanders)

Gentrepreneur was developed by the financial support of Flanders and Europe in 2011, after noticing that students elaborate a business of their own without having the right information, and thus make mistakes or wrong decisions. Since 2016, it is a network that connects its main stakeholders (the academic institutions in Ghent, the City of Ghent, the Province of East-Flanders and the business supporting network organisations such as Unizo, Voka, Vlaio, Vlajo…) with students (aged 18 to 26) who want to combine their studies with an own business and seek support in doing so. Gentrepreneur provides student-entrepreneurs with all the necessary information, they inspire them through the stories of other entrepreneurs and business ideas to realise their dreams, they coach, guide and follow them through their student entrepreneurship.
The goal is to be easily accessible, which is why Gentrepreneur is accessible by phone, mail, website and on a real, physical location in one of the collaborating high schools. This way any student-entrepreneur can find support the way they prefer.
Gentrepreneur also organises all kinds of events (on- and offline) to bring students together, where they can share ideas and experiences, where they can really influence one another.
The service offer of Gentrepreneur continues to be updated according to the needs of the beneficiaries, which are detected by working together with the students and a broad network of partners.

70% of the funding: EFRO, co-financed by Vlaio
30% of the resources: the City of Ghent, the Province of East-Flanders, the academic institutions (Artevelde, UGent, HOGENT).
Today 3 fte are paid with project subsidies.

The results of Gentrepreneur are prosperous and promising.
Each year more than 1000 students are coached by Gentrepreneur; 350 of them say they actually run a business next to their studies.
Five years after graduation, 40% of these students are still running their business - most of them mention they wouldn't have done this without the initial support of Gentrepreneur.
Even during COVID19, all of their numbers are increasing.

In recent years a lot of entrepreneurship initiatives were created. It is important for the young entrepreneurs to have a clear overview and to not get lost in a labyrinth of information.

Collaboration is key in the story of Gentrepreneur. That is why all parties influencing the student-entrepreneurs, from experts and teachers to role models and parents, are having an essential role in creating a challenging, stimulating community for young entrepreneurs in Ghent. The part of the high schools and universities is essential, since each school also has its own business contact center.
Since there are a lot of initiatives for young entrepreneurs nowadays, Gentrepeneur sees the need to work together with them, in order to create one single contact point where student-entrepreneurs can go for answers on all of their questions.