Inflight Magazine of Brussels Airlines

Europe’s young guns

A new generation of European entrepreneurs is on the rise, but do these young hopefuls have what it takes to avoid going bust? Boyd Farrow aims to find out

Maybe it’s just a translation thing but, according to a perky Estonian website (illustrated with hearts and happy kittens), Heatuju Maaletooja aims to “bring laughter and friskiness to the people”. Warmth and safety are also earnestly promised.

If this sounds like a schoolgirl’s manifesto for global domination, it’s not far from the truth. Heatuju Maaletooja, meaning good mood, is an international business that evolved from a school economics project headed by 16-year-old Karoli Hindriks. The student’s ingenious idea was to produce funky knitwear and accessories incorporating reflector fabrics so the wearer can be seen in the dark. After Hindriks won an Estonian award – and became a minor celebrity in Talinn – Good Mood was launched in 2002. Hindriks is now a veteran businesswoman of 24 and the business has seen yearly turnover hikes of 60%.

“Before that project, I hadn’t even thought of becoming an entrepreneur,” Hindriks says, quite reasonably. “But being very young, I managed to get a lot of media attention and that helped. I am glad I started so early as I’ve had more time to make mistakes and become wiser.

“It takes courage to strike out on your own,” she adds. “Young people see entrepreneurship as an alternative, but too few act on it. They see more career opportunities and safer income in a large corporation, but I believe this mentality can be changed. Failure is not the end, it’s just a lesson. There is more to life than working 100 hours per week. My intention is to build up my business, create new businesses and live a normal life. Being an entrepreneur gives me more freedom to achieve those goals.”

Indeed, once Good Mood was up and running, Hindriks took “a regular job”, as publicity manager at MTV Estonia. In March she was promoted to run the station. “I love my MTV job and my own company has a very good team in place. It runs very well without me,” she says.

Hindriks believes that schools, governments and companies could do a lot more to sustain the motivation of young entrepreneurs. “One way would be innovation competitions,” she suggests. “The best ideas would get financing to start up the business and secure intellectual property rights. It’s also important that governments provide free business advice at a local level, and they need to make it easier to create a company as well as less painful to end one.”

These views are endorsed by Caroline Jenner, who runs Junior Achievement – Young Enterprise (JA–YE), a European network of organisations dedicated to entrepreneurship education. Jenner passionately believes that entrepreneurs are made, not born: “Many feel that business people don’t belong in the classroom, but they can bring a great deal to the learning process. They’re role models and represent a powerful area of opportunity. And they can help persuade young people that maths, sciences and languages are important.”

Jenner says, in spite of our cynical times, research shows that 78% of young people think being an entrepreneur is ‘cool’. “For this generation, entrepreneurship is more mainstream, more familiar and more attractive,” she notes. “This is good news because the success of the next generation is dependent on young people’s access to entrepreneurial education. The earlier we start, the better.”

Jenner would approve of Ben Woldring, from Usquert in the Netherlands. Woldring created a price-comparison website for the Dutch telecom services when he was just 13 and founded Bencom (bencom.nl) when he was 17.

His company has since spawned a slew of similar sites for mobile phone services, broadband providers and utilities companies that have inspired much customer loyalty. Indeed, the ‘Vote for Me’ button on his sites helped him win BusinessWeek magazine’s Young Entrepreneur competition last year.

As Woldring tells it, shaving euros off thousands of people’s phone bills before he had started shaving himself seemed perfectly natural. “When I was 13,” he says, “the internet was completely new. I was really interested in it but I guess the entrepreneurial spirit was always in me too. Telecoms had just been deregulated in the Netherlands, so there were many adverts on TV saying: ‘We’re the cheapest’. My parents were looking for the cheapest option for their mobile phone and I thought a website working out costs would be popular with Dutch people.”

Woldring’s parents were keener on him finishing school but, emboldened by media interest in the website, they registered a company on his behalf. Commercial success came early, but so did credibility issues. “One marketing person called wanting to take ads and my mum said I was at school and could they call back at 3pm,” he groans.

Now localised versions of his sites are being rolled out throughout Europe and Woldring, who’s still only 22, employs seven people. “They’re professionals, not people my own age,” he clarifies.

“You can’t wait too long if you’re serious about starting your own company. I see people in the telecom business all the time who say: ‘I’ve always wanted to start my own business but…’ It is much easier when you’re young. You have no responsibilities, you have nothing to lose and you don’t need much money. All you need is one idea.”

Successful ideas don’t even have to be as high-tech as a new internet service or reflective thread for bunny sweaters. British student James Gibson had his eureka moment after a friend was unimpressed by the overflowing kitchen bin in his digs. After quitting a sports management course and working in a local council’s recycling department, Gibson decided to develop the BinFix bin liner dispenser, a cardboard container that attaches to the bottom of a bin and holds a roll of scented bin liners with tie handles.

Scenting rewards, the 21-year-old enrolled on a 12-week business course at Nottingham University. This helped him find a manufacturer and borrow €20,000 from the bank to discover whether people would actually buy his product. Around 2,000 bin-liner units were made to take to London’s Ideal Home Show in 2005. They all sold for €4 each.

Since then, Gibson has tied up a licensing deal with one of the big household goods brands. He says BinFix, which The Grocer magazine voted star household product of the year, will soon be available Europe-wide.

“I am not a real entrepreneur. I like to see myself as a businessman who can get other people’s ideas to market,” he says. “Being in business is the best education. You have to learn about everything, from finance to patents.”

Does he think that the market’s attitude to young business people is changing? “The people you need to impress – big business – haven’t altered their attitude much. Lots of young people have good ideas, the hard part is following through. You really have to prove you’re passionate about your product and that you know what you‘re doing.”

That said, Gibson is still reeling from the disappointment of only bagging The Grocer’s silver gong for overall product of the year. “We lost to bread with invisible crusts,” he laments. “Business, huh?”

FR » L’Europe des jeunes loups

Une nouvelle génération d’ entrepreneurs européens est en route, mais ces jeunes espoirs ont-ils les reins suffisamment solides pour éviter d’y laisser des plumes?

Karoli Hindriks venait d’avoir juste 16 ans lorsqu’elle a fondé Heatuju Maaletooja, une affaire internationale de production de tricots et d’accessoires phosphorescents et branchés. Hindriks est aujourd’hui une vétérante femme d’affaires de 24 ans et son entreprise a vu son chiffre d’affaires annuel grimper de 60%.

Hindriks soutient que les écoles, le gouvernement et les sociétés pourraient faire beaucoup plus pour soutenir les jeunes entrepreneurs motivés. “Il est important que les gouvernements fournissent des conseils gratuits sur le fait d’entreprendre et qu’ils facilitent également la création d’entreprise tout en allégeant aussi les procédures pour arrêter une société,” confirme-t-elle.

Pour certains entrepreneurs, comme Ben Woldring, la clé de leur succès réside dans le fait qu’ils aient pu démarrer leur affaire très jeunes. A l’âge de 13 ans, Woldring a créé un site web de comparaison des prix pour les services de télécommunications des Pays-bas, avant de fonder Bencom à 17 ans à peine. “Lorsque vous êtes jeune, vous n’avez aucune responsabilité et donc rien à perdre. Tout ce dont vous avez besoin c’est d’une bonne idée” affirme-t-il sur un ton enthousiaste.

Les idées qui marchent ne doivent pas nécessairement se situer dans l’univers des hautes technologies comme un nouveau service internet ou du fil phosphorescent. L’étudiant britannique James Gibson a développé BinFix, un distributeur pratique et hygiénique de sacs poubelles qui leur garde un parfum de fraîcheur, après avoir enduré des poubelles débordantes dans son flat d’étudiant. Un cours de 12 semaines dans une école de business et un prêt bancaire de €20,000 ont suffià Gibson pour monter et faire tourner son affaire. Gibson a récemment conclu un contrat de licence avec une grande marque d’articles ménagers et son produit sera bientôt distribué dans toute l’Europe.

NL » Europa’s jonge beloftes

Er is een nieuwe generatie Europese ondernemers op komst! Maar hebben die jonge beloftes wel alles in huis om te slagen?

Karoli Hindriks was amper 16 toen ze Heatuju Maaletooja in het leven riep, een internationaal bedrijf dat hippe reflecterende gadgets en dito breigoed maakt. Hindriks is nu een businessveterane van 24, en de omzet van haar bedrijf stijgt jaarlijks met 60 %.

Volgens Hindriks kunnen scholen, regeringen en bedrijven meer inspanningen leveren om jonge ondernemers te motiveren. “De overheid moet gratis advies verlenen, en moet het gemakkelijker maken om een bedrijf op te richten en minder omslachtig om er een op te doeken”, zegt ze.

Sommige ondernemers, zoals Ben Woldring, waren succesvol net omdat ze al op jonge leeftijd een bedrijf konden oprichten. Toen Woldring 13 was, creëerde hij een prijsvergelijkende website voor de Nederlandse telecomdiensten. Vier jaar later richtte hij Bencom op. “Als je jong bent, heb je nog geen verantwoordelijkheden, heb je niets te verliezen. Het enige wat je nodig hebt, is een idee”, vertelt hij enthousiast.

En je hoeft zelfs geen hoogtechnologische internetdienst of fluorescerend garen te ontwikkelen. Het kan ook eenvoudiger. Zo bedacht Brits student James Gibson de BinFixvuilniszakverdeler, nadat een vriend klaagde over de overvolle vuilbakken in zijn studentenhuis. Een cursus van 12 weken en een lening van € 20.000 volstonden voor Gibson om zijn bedrijf uit de grond te stampen. Onlangs sloot hij een contract met een groot merk van huishoudproducten, dat zijn product in heel Europa op de markt zal brengen.

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