INVEST Entrepreneurship Program helps you to launch your business

From the INVEST Entrepreneurship Program, you’ll get financial support and entrepreneurship coaching to help you to launch your business and become a more competent entrepreneur. 
Students, staff, and alumni of INVEST partner universities can apply.
Applying for the program is easy:
1.    Send your application by the 28th of November, 2022
2.    Present your idea to the jury


Who is the INVEST Entrepreneurship Program for?

You can apply for the INVEST Entrepreneurship Program if your team includes at least one person who is a student, staff representative, or alumni of INVEST partner universities.
In addition to yourself, your team must have at least one person with whom you develop the business idea further.


What do I commit to when I apply?

When you apply, you understand that the INVEST Entrepreneurship Program will publish at least one blog post about your team that relates to your experiences with the program.
You are able and committed to spending your time developing your business idea for at least a few hours a week during the whole coaching period which is 3-4 months long. During this time there will be a total of 3-5 meetings with your coaches.
If you are selected for the program and so choose, specific parts of the coaching process, which are agreed upon in advance, are followed by university students who are studying entrepreneurship. When deemed appropriate and beneficial these students are asked to assist you in your start-up process.


What are the benefits of the INVEST Entrepreneurship Program?

If you are selected for the INVEST Entrepreneurship Program, you will have access to a 4-month training period during which you will be assisted by experts representing different fields and countries from the INVEST partnership.
If you so choose, you will get to know and network with other start-up entrepreneurs and university students who are studying entrepreneurship.
You will get some financial support. 
You get visibility for your new start-up business.


Here’s how to apply for the INVEST Entrepreneurship Program

  1. Complete the one-page business plan (get the template here)
  2. Send an email with your contact information and the one-page business plan as an attachment to the representative of your university (The title of the email should be Application to INVEST Entrepreneurship Program):
  • SUA, Ondrej Beňuš: ondrej.benus@uniag.sk
  • UARD, to be added later
  • UTH, to be added later
  • Karelia UAS, Heikki Immonen: heikki.immonen@karelia.fi
  • HVHL, Jitse Schaafsma: jitse.schaafsma@hvhl.nl
  1. If your application is selected to be presented to the jury, prepare a pitching presentation of your idea (link to the presentation template here)
  2. Practice presenting your ideas within the time limit (5 min)
  3. Present your business idea to the jury on an online pitching event, which will be held on the 13th of December, 2022

If you want more information, please contact your university representative (see above)


Selection criteria

The selection criteria the jury will use are:
Fit with INVEST focal points: Focal point A: Water, Energy, Food or Environment, Focal point B: Quality of Life, Focal point C: Entrepreneurship 

Product-Market Fit: Are there customers that will buy your product or service at the price you want to ask? How well does your product or service standouts from the competition relative to an important customer need? You have a good product-market fit if your product solves a currently poorly solved important customer problem better and/or more cheaply than existing competing solutions.

Feasibility: Are you able to deliver a product that works as planned? Does the product or service you are offering work? Is it really solving the problem as planned? Do you have the resources, such as skills, to produce it as planned? 

Profitability: Will the business generate the amount of income and profit you want? You might have a good product-market fit and high feasibility, but your business will not bring you and your investors the income you want. This will result in business failure. 

Degree of Proof: How certain we can be of the quality and depth of your understanding on which the business idea is based on? How experienced you are? Have you already tested parts of the business idea somehow? What other proof do you have?