Last September 27, it was finally time. After working hard for nine months with my committee, the Financial Business Dinner 2018 took place. My name is Martijn Wijnans and as ‘External Affairs’ within my committee, I can proudly say that together with my fellow committee members Shaiana Cripaul, Bo Janssen, Sjors van der Heijden and coordinator Femke de Boer, we were able to organize another great edition!
The Financial Business Dinner is an annual event organized by Asset Accounting | Finance. Fifteen companies and sixty students are invited to this dinner, with the purpose of bringing students in touch with companies specialized in Finance and Controlling. Prior to the dinner, an etiquette workshop was given by Etiquette à la Carte.
As External Affairs within my committee I was responsible for the communication with the companies, finding a location for the event, a part of the promotion and the communication with restaurant Hofstede de Blaak.
Many things had to be arranged prior to the dinner. Most importantly, finding fifteen companies who were willing to participate in this dinner and finding a suitable location. After having visited several locations, we chose for Hofstede de Blaak, the same venue as last year. In order to prepare all the students for the dinner, an etiquette workshop was offered. After having confirmed the workshop, the companies and the location, we could start with the promotion. To bring our event under the attention to students, we decided to hand out Toblerone goodies. These were very popular since we managed to hand out all 800 of them. In addition, flyers and posters needed to be designed and after that the registrations could open.
“I proudly look back at a success edition of the Financial Business Dinner.”
After a period of three weeks intensively distributing flyers, we managed to get many registrations. However, now the real work was about to start. Every student could choose from the fifteen companies, seven companies with who they would like to dine. The CV’s of the students were sent to all seven companies. After receiving all the top 10’s from the companies, the big puzzle could start. In a record time we succeeded in linking sixty students to all the companies and dividing them into 4 courses. When the big puzzle was solved, all the students and companies were mailed with the last information about the dinner.
Now that everything was arranged in details, after working hard for months, the day of the Financial Business Dinner 2018 commenced. The day started at 4 o’clock with an etiquette workshop. Here we learned all the etiquette rules about dining. After the workshop, we welcomed all the students and companies at Hofstede the Blaak. After a short speech from the Chairman of the committee, Shaiana Cripaul, dinner was served. After every course, a bell rang to make the students aware that they had to go to the next company. In total, each student saw four companies. The transitions between the courses went smoothly, and before we knew it we were already having dessert. After the dessert, a word of thanks was given by the Chairman Shaiana Cripaul and by the Chairman of Asset | Accounting & Finance, Stijn van Laar. The evening ended with a closing drink. At that moment it is a strange feeling that nine months of work is over, but my committee and I felt satisfied about this evening.
I proudly look back at a success edition of the Financial Business Dinner. Therefore, I would like to thank all the fifteen participating companies, Ahold Delhaize, Achmea, Accuracy, Exxonmobil, DAF, FrieslandCampina, First Dutch, Fagro, Johnson & Johnson, Mars, Kempen, PepsiCo, Rabobank, Rembrandt F&O and PostNL. Lastly, I would like to thank my committee and in particular our coordinator Femke de Boer for her help and guidance.
