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Successful inspiring and interactive kick off NBC 2016

This morning we launched the New Business Challenge 2016 with the official international kick off. After celebrating the start of the 2016 program participants had to work together and impress the companies by presenting innovative ideas for their business case.

After the interactive start with Selwyn Moons (Deputy Director of the Sustainable Economic Development Department) and some good old fashioned confetti, participants got informed about their business case and were able to choose their partner. A difficult task, because you can only qualify for the program as a duo! In Ghana, the programme started with a keynote speech by the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Netherlands to Ghana, H.E. Hans Docter, who emphasized on the need for the Ghana-Netherlands collaborations for global development and an informative session by Samuel Waterberg on the cultural differences.

After the introduction, there was no time to lose. In both countries, duos were being formed. As Joana in Ghana reported: “It was ‘crazy’ during this time as most were thinking… ‘Will pairing up with this person get us selected?’, but it was fun at the same time”. After duos were formed everyone immediately started working on their business case. They had to present their first solutions in a few hours! Even during lunch, all participants sat together with their partner to come up with innovative ideas and possible solutions for their company. There was a lot of energy in the building, a lot of brainstorming and innovation.  However, they couldn’t ignore the swinging Ghanaian tunes and the live Skype with the Ghanaian teams. It made everyone even more enthusiastic ánd competitive. One of the Ghanaian participants said “I have never had this kind of experience before. It is really making me nervous because I know only one third will get selected. I need to be part of that one third. It is an experience I’d love to have!”.

During the afternoon session, all duos worked on their assignment. “We’re already thinking about all the possible practical solutions but we should build a framework first”, said someone to his team mate during their meeting. “I know, but I’m so excited about what we could do in Ghana that I can’t slow down” was the reaction. Everywhere you looked there were scribbles in notebooks and many open tabs in internet browsers. In Ghana it looked the same: some teams had nothing on their flip over paper as at thirty minutes before deadline and others had too much on their sheets thirty minutes to time. It was clear: this program is serious business!

Next to working together on the assignment, all duos were able to make an appointment with their company representative; an opportunity they didn’t want to miss. “I must admit I’m actually nervous right now”, was whispered as a duo entered the temporary office of the representative. She was not the only one; duo’s were rushing into the room looking for a pen or a poster or asked how much time they had until the deadline. The only thing that could distract them was a bar of Tony Chocolonely’s chocolate: handed out as a well-deserved snack. During the afternoon, the duos really got to know each other: “I think you’re really down-to-earth. It’s exact what I needed as a team mate”, was said. Another duo explained: “We don’t actually have the same opinion about everything but I think that is actually in our advantage!”.

At 4pm, the tension couldn’t get any higher. It was time for the duos to present their ideas in front of the company representative ánd the other duos! All duos, now with their own team names and team slogan, did the best they could in convincing the company representative that they were the perfect participants for the challenge.

Also in Ghana, the nerves were high. As Joana reports: “Five minutes on the clock to prove themselves worthy of a one-month amazing experience, the teams presented as if their lives depended on it with company representatives having the challenging time of deciding who will move on to the next round”. From local training programs to innovative analyzation solutions.. all teams had to present their ideas in only five minutes. Despite the sometimes difficult questions from the representative all teams delivered really good results. It will be a really challenging task for the company representatives in both Ghana and the Netherlands to select the participants for the challenge!