Studytrip NL: getting together at the RVO The Hague

After an exciting weekend with a scavenger hunt, a visit to the Zaanse Schans and a lot of fun activities, all participants gathered Monday morning at the RVO in The Hague to work on their business challenge. The day started with inspiring presentations by Rosalind Boschloo about governmental involvement in business issues between Ghana and the Netherlands. After Rosalinds presentation everyone listened carefully to the inspiring speech by Doris Bese from the Ghanaian Embassy in the Hague. By sharing her story and her experience with (starting a) business, she immediately got everyone’s attention. “I have a business plan that I worked on with my friends back in Ghana but we do not know who to send it to” was a question asked after the presentation. Practical tips by both Rosalind and Doris followed.

After the presentations it was time to announce the winners of the Scavenger hunt. Pictures at the ‘Erasmus Bridge’ (made with chalk on the pavement), with Dutch herring or at the Ghanaen market were shown on the big screen and caused many smiles and laughs. Also the videos with Ghanaian participants singing the Dutch ‘Vader Jacob’ song were a big hit.

It was time for some interaction! As JelYvon perfectly announced: “We are going to work on working together”, teams were challenged with creative assignments. First, they had to build a sole standing structure with spaghetti, tape and a piece of rope. On top of the structure, a marshmallow had to be placed without damaging the structure. Not only caused the assignment a lot of ‘oohs’ and ‘aahhhs’ but also a lot of insights about the team. Team roles came to the surface and the participants learned to work together effectively. The following written test elaborated on the subject and prepared all participants for the second part of the programme.

In the afternoon, teams worked together on their business case. They got information about how to tackle the business case questions and how to effectively form a solution. Many teams decided to take their efforts to an extra level: “We decided to meet for dinner every night and evaluate our process on the business case”, one team explained. Of course, there will also be enough time for a lot of fun!

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