Last week, the U.S. Embassy Luxembourg hosted the initial three days of the first edition of its high school startup competition. The program begins with three workshop sessions and concludes with an evening of business pitch presentations on June 2nd. Rhett Power, a top U.S. entrepreneur, was brought in as a mentor and coach for nearly 20 high school student participants. Rhett’s entrepreneurial credentials and motivational speaking prowess made him a perfect choice to lead the three sessions.
…countries around the world are understanding the importance of entrepreneurship to their economies; thus, many countries, including Luxembourg, are heavily supporting the growth of startup ecosystems.
“I’m excited to be a part of this great Embassy event,” Rhett said. “Entrepreneurship is an important topic in today’s world, and I look forward to relaying my love of it to the high school students.”
On day one, U.S. Ambassador Mandell and Rhett welcomed the students by speaking about the importance of entrepreneurship. In addition, Luciano Da Conceição Afonso and Kim Conrardy, two Luxembourgish entrepreneurs who founded Dogwalker.lu and The Food Truck, respectively, were present to share their startup stories. The students were engaged listeners and interested to hear about the entrepreneurial thoughts of others. Afterward, in order to better understand the students’ feelings towards entrepreneurship, Rhett led a group discussion. The conversation showed that many students were hesitant towards the idea of starting their own business. In fact, numerous participants mentioned that they were told from a young age that getting a stable job was the best career path and that entrepreneurship was too risky. However, as Rhett noted, countries around the world are understanding the importance of entrepreneurship to their economies; thus, many countries, including Luxembourg, are heavily supporting the growth of startup ecosystems.
After day one’s welcome and interesting discussion about entrepreneurship, the students arrived for day two excited and ready to participate. The second session focused on the Luxembourg laws that must be followed to officially open a business and the critical business concepts that are needed in any startup pitch. Vincent Heiff, a startup specialist at the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce, L’Espace Enterprises, provided a detailed outline of the required legal steps. Following Heiff’s presentation, Rhett covered topics such as competition analysis, marketing and finance. After learning the basic laws and business pitch requirements, students engaged in a hands-on activity involving a fictional personal shopping business. At the end of the day, two participants were selected by the group to pitch the idea in under five minutes to Rhett, U.S. Embassy Public Affairs Officer Carolyn Turpin and Fulbright Student Dave Bernstein. The activity demonstrated the various challenges entrepreneurs face in developing a complete business plan and pitching it to others in a concise manner.
And what is the prize for the top five students? An all expense paid trip to a full week entrepreneurship camp in the United States!
The three-day entrepreneurship seminar concluded with a session that allowed the students to start planning their own business idea that they would pitch to a jury in the following weeks. Throughout the afternoon, Rhett offered advice and motivated students to really think deeply about their ideas. The students worked diligently and were eager to keep planning out their ideas even after the workshop had ended for the day.
From day to day, the energy increased and excitement grew as more innovative ideas were discussed as potential businesses. Perhaps some of the students will be Luxembourgish entrepreneurs that actually start a business one day. Regardless, the final day of the U.S. Embassy Luxembourg High School Startup Competition will be on June 2nd, when the students pitch their business ideas to a jury that includes U.S. Ambassador Mandell, Stephanie Shaheen of the U.S. Embassy Luxembourg’s Public Affairs Section, and Charles-Louis Machuron, the founder of Silicon Luxembourg. And what is the prize for the top five students? An all expenses paid trip to a full week entrepreneurship camp in the United States!
“I really hope to win the trip!” one excited student exclaimed. “I’m really interested in entrepreneurship and an experience like that in America will help me build my [entrepreneurial] skills further.”
