YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS

“What is creativity?”
Ole Hamre opened the fair “Young Entrepreneurs” today by talking about creativity and “why is it so difficult to get new ideas??”. He spoke about what stands in the way of creativity, and how we are masters of creating order and learning to restrict ourselves. When we have a product we often think of it as finished, but then there are many ways still to develop it. He used a quote from Frank Zappa that I thought was a good visual metaphor: “Your mind is like a parachute, it only works when it’s open.” I see where he’s getting at with the quote in this setting. He wants people to see that there are still different ways of approaching being an entrepreneur, everything has not yet been done. The quirky and genuine product is recognized, with room still for version 2.1.

I was at the fair as part of a jury set to judge the stands and exhibitions in Greieghallen. UE (Young Entrepeneurs) is a project based on learning by doing. Youth still at school learn how to plan and run a company with all the aspects that you encounter with it. Funding, ideas, design, marketing, teamwork, and all the other things you can’t learn without actually doing it. I was startled by the genuinity of many of the products, and baffled by the fact that this is now part of their education.

The group that we decided to put in 1st place for the exhibit/stand, had a strong idea, concept and product. They had used their product as a piece of display rather than just being displayed. They had managed to make their product exclusive, with thought for everything from main branding to shoppingbags, cards, logo and appearance of the vendours. Second place went to a group that had a creative display, strong product and worked through profile. 3rd place went to (probably the most unlikely winner) a group that sold a service, and that is possibly more difficult to sell than a physical product. They immidiately conveyed their service by appearance. They stood out in the jugle of gleaming and simplistic logos and sellers, and had created a strong piece of display using only their own tools of trade. They lacked a good logo and printed profile, but their creativity and no-nonsense approach really stood out, even though they probably didn’t intend too.

I will update the post with names of the winners after they know themselves;)

Many of the stands had fallen into the cheap-velvet-trap of vendours all of the world, and trying to bribe customers with useless candy, but I had to remind myself that these groups are still learning. This is part of their education, and what a great job most of them did of it!