For the Dutch version, click here As Treasurer, it is Bo’s responsibility to control the finances of Asset | Accounting & Finance. Besides that, she coordinates the Activities, Alumni, CityTrip, and Investment Night Committee. In this article, Bo describes what it means to be the Treasurer of Asset | Accounting & Finance and how she has experienced her board year so far. Why did you choose to do a board year at Asset | Accounting & Finance? When I started with my Bachelor Business Economics in Tilburg, I didn’t know a lot of people here. Because of that, I decided to become Active at Asset. I started by joining a committee at Asset | Marketing and because I enjoyed this a lot, I decided to join Asset | Accounting & Finance (A&F) as well. I considered doing a board year for quite some time, as I really enjoyed my time at A&F and wanted to boost my CV. Although I had not fully decided yet on which master I wanted to follow, Accounting and Finance seemed very interesting fields to me. To orientate better on which master to follow and to get in contact with firms in these fields, I decided to apply for the position as Treasurer of the board of A&F. What does your year look like and how is the experience so far? This year really feels like it’s flying by and when I look back, I already have great memories of the things we’ve done so far. The application procedure for the summer positions started in April. When I found out I was going to be the new Treasurer, the announcement couldn’t come soon enough for me and it was really hard to keep my plans for this year a secret. After the announcement, the transition period started in which I learned what tasks I was going to have as Treasurer. Because most departments within Asset switch boards in the summer, you start with a large new group in the Esplanade building in August. During the Announcement and Constitution Drinks, you will get to know your fellow board members of other departments, which will create a nice atmosphere at the rooms of Esplanade. When my board year started in the summer, I was still very busy organizing the studytrip to South Korea together with the StudyTour Committee. With the start of my new function, my responsibility and the number of tasks increased considerably and for some time I questioned if I could sufficiently do all tasks simultaneously. Eventually, this turned out fine and it came in quite handy that as Treasurer I had the overview of all the expenses and credit card usage during the StudyTour. However, I had to watch out for keeping the A&F card and my personal card apart while doing this. After a couple months already, the application of new board members was a discussion topic in our weekly board meetings. I felt like we had just started, so the idea of a new group coming was not on my mind yet. Therefore, it felt quite strange to me to look at a new Candidate Board with whom we were going to form the new board. Now that we have just started with the new board members, I realize how quick this year is passing by. Half a year has already passed, and suddenly we are the ‘older’ half of the board and soon we will start to look for the people who are going to replace us. Nevertheless, I do like this semi-annual board switch. The new board members bring in fresh ideas and I’m convinced we will make the upcoming semester a great success! What are your tasks as Treasurer of A&F and what does your day look like? As Treasurer you mainly focus on the financial situation and the administration of the association. To do this well, you must be able to communicate well with your fellow board members and the treasurers of the various committees. As Treasurer, you also meet with the auditing committee every quarter. They audit your financial administration and advise you about the financial situation of the association. This range in different tasks makes it quite difficult for me to describe what an average day looks like. Something that takes place every day is the fulfillment of my task list. At the start of every week, I set up a list of things I want to achieve the upcoming week and most of the days I start with the tasks that are on this list. What did you learn so far in your board year? Besides the responsibilities I have as a Treasurer, I also coordinate several committees. I really like brainstorming with the committees about setting up certain events and then working towards them. In this enjoyment I notice that it is quite hard for me to only coordinate the committee without taking on tasks myself as well, but I am currently working on finding my balance in this. Because you’re focused on various events, you’re always working on several tasks simultaneously. To keep these various tasks running, you must have a good overview of this. Additionally, I find it important to remain my own social life besides my board activities. Although it can be quite hard to plan this out, I think I’m getting better at it. Moreover, I am still undecided about which master to pursue. Initially I thought I had made up my mind, but lately I’ve started to doubt again. Therefore, I am happy that I postponed my masters’ choice and still have some time to orientate to find out what I find interesting. The events that A&F organizes significantly helped me with this. Due to these events, I met several companies and got a much better overview of the job possibilities that lie ahead. What is your greatest accomplishment? My committees! I enjoy working on our events with my committee members and I enjoy seeing everyone again at
Studying in Taiwan: A Great Choice!
I chose to study for a semester in Taiwan, I really wanted to go to a country with a totally different culture than I’m used to and I definitely don’t regret that decision! The people are very nice, the weather is perfect, the nature is amazing and it is not too expensive. Also, the location is perfect, I traveled to Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam, all within 3 hours of flying from Taiwan. Arrival: My first week in Taiwan I couch surfed, this is a platform through which you can sleep at local peoples houses for free. I ended up in a Taiwanese family in the middle of Taipei. The oldest son, Chong-Han (22) fortunately spoke English very well and showed me a lot of beautiful and fun places in Taipei. By living in this Taiwanese family I was totally submerged in the Taiwanese culture, I learned a lot from it. After this week I was ready for my exchange at the National Taiwan University (NTU). Taiwan & the culture: When I arrived in Taiwan I had not a lot of knowledge of the culture and the country itself. Living at the Taiwanese family helped me a lot in understanding it. It was a pretty big culture shock for me, because a lot of people don’t speak English very well and the city looks completely different than I was used to in the Netherlands. Also the food was different ( a lot of rice). But I actually managed to adapt well to the culture. I found out Taiwanese people are very friendly, helpful, respectful but also very shy. As tourist you will likely not be bribed and if you ask someone a question, he will do anything to help you. They however are a lot more shy and less direct than us Dutch people, which could lead to some frustrations in group projects. Taiwan is a beautiful country with a lot of mountains and a great climate, I’m writing this letter in January and it is still around 20 degrees here. In the summer it can get extremely hot though, to around 35 degrees. I became a big fan of hiking, which is great here. You can also visit the nature parks and scouter around. Partying is different here, we always go to an all-you-can-drink club, where you can drink everything you want all night for about 10/15 euros, this led to some amazing night. “I do notice that, as a blonde- blue eyed European guy I do get stared at a lot by the local people.” The NTU: The National Taiwan University is quite highly regarded, the Taiwanese people really look up to you when you say you study at NTU. From Tilburg, you are obliged to collect 30 ECT’s, but I got 42 in total. I chose voluntarily to get Chinese lessons and have taught English to Taiwanese children. Both additional courses for me were great experienced for me. I held Skype-sessions weekly where, with help of a translator, I tried to teach them English. I was responsible for a class of 26 children, around 11 years old in a primary school. The children looked up to me and called me their teacher. We were received in a great way, they performed dances for us, organized group games and prepared a delicious dinner for us. I was enrolled in the College of Management and chose a lot of courses related to Finance. I have had a couple of nice courses about investing, risk management and mergers & acquisitions. The overall level of courses was a bit lower than in Tilburg, a couple courses were very easy, where others were more challenging. I think Chinese language was the hardest course I had. A part of your grade is coupled to participation and every course I followed was in a group. I worked with many different nationalities, made presentations and reports. Accommodation: Accommodation was well organized, I live in a big complex with student dorms. Almost just Exchange students live here. Male and female dorms are strictly separated and unfortunately you can’t have friends over in your room between midnight and 07:00 in the morning. My dorm room is pretty simple, with a bed, desk and own bathroom. It is pretty cheap, I chose a double room and I pay about 150 euros per month, but you can also choose a single room for 220 per month. By living in the dorms you meet a lot of new people very easily. All these fun international exchange students made my time here fantastic. The location is perfect as well, 10 minutes walking to lectures and in the middle of Taipei with easy access to metro and buses. Overall, I love Taiwan, perhaps to most chill place I have ever been to. The atmosphere is very pleasant, I felt at home very quickly. Despite Taiwan being a huge city, I didn’t have the feeling it is very chaotic and crowded. Moreover the interaction with the local Taiwanese truly is fascinating, they are really genuinely interested in me and my life (and I of course in their lives). It is just incredibly cool and funny to hang out with Taiwanese people. In the Netherlands I feel pretty normal, but here in Taiwan I feel super special. There is also so much to do in Taiwan, I literally was never bored for one second. I feel like I did and been through a lot here, life was truly intense here! I enjoyed the people, the nature, the culture and the amazing weather. In short: Taiwan has been an amazing choice for me and I would definitely recommend it to others!
Wine Solutions
In this student entrepreneur Jop Heuvelmans talks about his own business: Wine Solutions. He describes the establishment of the company and he explains what is like to be a student entrepreneur. Could you briefly describe what the business involves and what it is trying to achieve? Wine solutions is a company consisting of two parts – both parts operating in the wine industry. One part of my business is that I have created a web shop selling various wine accessories. The other part of Wine solutions consists of me presenting wine tastings, where I educate a whole range of participants on the basis of tasting wines in an informal setting. My ultimate goal is to create a sense of awareness among my participants that they will see how beautiful and diverse wine can be. When did you come up with the idea of starting your own business? It has all started as an assignment during secondary school, which eventually evolved into a real company: Wine Solutions. The company was born in 2012, back then still operating with three close friends, when we had the idea to start a company for the final assignment we had to make in our exam year. Initially, we did not really had an idea what kind of company it was going to be, but since my father (Ruud Heuvelmans) runs his own wine import company, the idea of a web shop in wine accessories was born. After we had successfully finished the assignment, we all went into different directions and came to the conclusion that it would be best if one of us would proceed with the company. From that moment onwards, I run the company by myself. In what way has the company evolved since its inception? I initially started giving the wine tastings, as a way of increasing my turnover on wine accessories. Afterwards, I realized it was a different target group for the wine tastings as those who are buying my wine accessories, so I have made a clear distinction between the two activities. Moreover, I realized that did not want to be a salesman on my own tastings. At the moment of this interview, I am creating an app to virtualize wine tastings, so people can do them wherever they want. Can owning and running a business be combined easily with your studies? In my case I can easily combine it with my studies, since my studies leaves me plenty of time to work on Wine Solutions. I believe it is sometimes even easier to combine everything, compared to a normal student job, since when I have exams or a busy schedule, I just turn down the business activities to a minimum. What skills have you acquired during your studies that can be applied to your daily business activities? In general, I’ve applied very little from my studies into Wine Solutions. I feel my study is too specific and aimed at large companies to be useful for me at this point. Although accounting class has helped me to form the basics of my own bookkeeping. Up to this point, what skills have you gained from the establishment of your business? Up to this point in time, I have learned to always be critical, and know how to negotiate properly. Furthermore, I have realized the importance of taking initiative and responsibility, since your own company is at stake if you do not. Moreover, with various activities running at the same time, planning and organizing your agenda is something I have mastered over the last years. During the wine tastings I have learned to further develop my presenting skills, since I often speak in front of big groups of people. In general, many skills I have acquired are practical skills you would hardly ever master, merely by studying theory. How do you see the future of the company? I have recently participated in an elevator pitch contest, in which I pitched a new idea and eventually won the contest. My idea is to create an app, which will allow people to host their own wine tasting. Participants will receive six bottles of wine. Using the app, which provides information and questions about the wines, participants will learn everything about the wines in their glass. As an added bonus of answering the questions, participants construct their own wine profile. Ultimately, I want to help people figure out what kind of wines they like, and create a community of people who have gained knowledge about drinking wine and their own preferences. Finally, what would you like to say to students who are also planning to start their own business? I would just go for it. Do not even bother starting to write a hundred-page-businessplan – I would suggest using the Lean Start-up Method. In my case, I went to Starterslift, an organization situated at Tilburg University, who helps starting entrepreneurs with their business idea. To me the Lean Start-up was a real eye opener, and Starterslift helped me implementing these concepts and helping me solve my issues. Besides, they’ve provided me with a lot of useful contacts. General information Founder: Jop Heuvelmans Study: Bedrijfseconomie Company name: Wine Solutions Location: Tilburg Employees: 1 Activities: Wine tastings & wine accessories web shop Website: www.winesolutions.nl
A Dutch Perspective from Down Under
A contribution by Faces editor Georgie Watson. She is an exchange student from Melbourne, Australia and studies Finance and Economics at TiU. She writes about the highlights and surprises she discovered in Netherlands and around Europe. A reoccurring question that has been proposed to me, is why as an exchange student from Australia, did I chose to study in Tilburg, of all places? Let me start by stating the obvious: speaking a foreign language is not a current talent of mine. When considering my options, it was the Dutchmen’s ability to communicate in English with such affluence that sparked my interest in the country. Globally, the Dutch are renowned for being “ahead of the times” in their English speaking ability and this I can confirm. What’s more, the feedback I received from friends who had previously lived in the Netherlands made me realise that this country could be an exciting place to learn, travel and socialise. My first impressions, having just traveled through the Mediterranean the previous month, I landed in Schiphol Airport and there were three things that stood out immediately. Obviously, the high degree of English-speaking locals, the mass of generally well-dressed and well-groomed men, and finally, the unbelievably heavy rainfall outside (given it was August!), which particularly shocked me as I dragged a twenty-eight kilo suitcase full of summer clothing behind me. Three months on, I can confidently say that I have had the most amazing experience, have met fabulous people and have been surprised by such vast facilities available in Tilburg and at the University itself. It was the Economic School and its strong global reputation that drew me to Tilburg University. The emphasis on economics and world trade in my chosen subjects has been challenging yet incredibly relevant and rewarding, particularly given the current hype around European economic instability. It has been enlightening to live in a country within the European Union and simultaneously study fiscal and monetary issues that align with news headlines. Coming from Australia, it makes you realize how isolated we really are. The combined effect of living and learning within the European Union has given me invaluable insight. It is clear to me that The Netherlands, despite its small size, is a big player and contributor to the European economy. Professors here (taking note that they are teaching in their second language) are incredibly thorough and passionate about what they are teaching. I have adapted to the strict emphasis on arriving on time to lectures, though conversely, have not been so flexible in adjusting to the coffee, which does not compare to Melbourne’s high standards. Of course, the people I have met have been the highlight. Living in international student accommodation, I have been exposed to so many different cultures, religions, perspectives and cooking styles, which create an environment that is conducive to learning something new every day. In Tilburg there have been countless opportunities for exchange students to meet new people. From the international student associations to Dutch study organizations (ASSET being one of them), they provide a setting to meet interesting characters, make friends and create networks that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. The Netherlands is clearly an international hub attracting thousands of students from around the world. Unlike some countries, the diversity of people that you interact with daily creates a foundation of insight into a variety of cultures that you cannot experience anywhere else. From Colombia to South Korea, we share stories and contribute to heated debates at the dinner table, which provide a platform of continuous development within a social setting. The combination of these daily interactions, along with studying international economics truly makes for an invaluable time abroad. Some highlights for me also include the overwhelming ease of international travel. Given Australia’s inaccessibility from the rest of the world, popping over to Barcelona for your birthday weekend would be impossible. I have loved how proximate European countries are to one another. The nightlife has also been memorable, however, adapting to the bike ride home at four am in the morning is still a struggle. I have additionally loved being able to run in any direction to find yourself bound by dense forest or rich agricultural landscapes. This contrasts’ strongly to the typical Melbourne run: heavy traffic, modern skyscrapers and artificial noises. Finally, there was one thing I had to do before my time was up: learn to ride a bike without hands. The achievement was a memorable occasion and I will be taking this trendy skill back home to Australia! With only a few months left, I cannot imagine what life will be like when I have to depart. Upon graduating from my Bachelor of Commerce in July 2015, I will be applying for graduate positions in finance and I hope to one day return to work in Europe, whilst always knowing that my second home is right at my doorstep.
