RSM International Management/CEMS Students Get A Taste Of Berlin’s Start-Ups Scene

CEMS programes aim at developing high quality graduates with a well developed global mindset in preparation for an international career in business.

Thus, it was a bit of surprise for a group of students from Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) to be taken on a tour to Berlin, the start-up hub of Europe.

The trip, to explore a range of innovative and disruptive companies, was organised by the CEMS Club Rotterdam and participants of the MSc International Management/CEMS programme at RSM.

At neighbourhoods such as Kreuzberg, Prenzlauer Berg and Mitte, the students interacted CEMS alumni and other graduates who decided to work for start-ups after graduation.

They got insights into working for a start-up in its early stages, from seed financing or at the scale-up stage, through business cases and workshops provided by the companies they visited.

At Barzahlen, they realised the size and importance of the cash payment market in Germany and in Europe.

One of the bigger start-up firms visited was advertising technology company AppLift, where they set to work in teams on a business case about the use of marketing tools to promote a mobile application.

At Betahaus which hosts WATTx, an innovation hub working on smart climate solutions through the Internet of Things, they discovered how the open plan layout allows the sharing of knowledge and experiences across and between several start-up companies.

The students found FinLeap as a ‘start-up factory’ targeting financial technology firms focussing on new technologies and scalable business models to provide simpler and more transparent digital services and banking. Other start-up companies included Resolution Foundry and HomeToGo.

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“The CEMS programme has a lot of big corporate partners. multinationals, consultancy firms and banks, so events are often tailored around those types of firms, Tim Heijmann and Jon Gadellaa, who organised the tour, said.

“We had the feeling that one segment of the global business world was left out of the mix: start-ups. We wanted people to experience how it is to work in a smaller company, and show them the innovative and disruptive environment of the Berlin start-up scene,” they added.

“We believe we reached our goal as some people are planning to apply for one of the visited companies, and many others said they have now a better understanding of their career options and opportunities,” they said.

Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) is one of Europe’s leading business schools, and ranked among the top three for research. It offers a range of bachelor, master, MBA, PhD and executive programmes. (Image Courtsey : www.rsm.nl)