Edible flower brings in prestigious work placement in USA

Fourth year student of Tropical Agriculture Loet Rammelsberg has won an entrepreneur work placement in the United States with his corporate idea IEF (Indian Edible Flowers). The jury of experts selected eight more students, all of them masterstudents. Loet is the only winning bachelorstudent.

During their work placement at the renowned Kauffman Foundation, the students will come in contact with the most innovative and enterprising thinkers, experts, universities and companies in the United States, in order to futher develop their own companies or corporate ideas. In the coming months, the students will be following a special programme to prepare them for their stay in the United States. In june of 2011 they will return with a wealth of entrepreneur experience, which they will carry out to their fellow students in the form of an ambassadorship.

Within his study, Loet follows the major Fair Trade Management, where he learns all about fair trade. The corporate plan with which Loet won his entrepreneur work placement, consists of the sale of an edible flower, the Indian Cress. The Indian Cress is known to be edible, yet no one before has come up with the idea of making a trade out of it. Loet: "The Indian Cress is relatively cheap to grow, but is saleable for a good price. This makes the flower a suitable trading product." Loet convinced the jury with his plan and so he is leaving for the US in the beginning of january 2011 to conduct his prestigious work placement.

Jury of experts

The jury of experts consisted of Jaap Blaak, entrepreneur, invester, and amongst others member of the board of Pharming NV; Louis Hoeks, columnist and journalist at the newspaper 'Financieel Dagblad'; Bernd Damme, owner of Eyewear.nl and Wendy Torrance, director of the Kauffman Foundation's Global Scholars Program.

Action programme Education and Entrepreneurship

The entrepreneur work placement is part of the Action programme Education and Entrepreneurship which is conducted by NL Innovation as ordered by the Dutch ministries of Education, Culture and Science, and Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. The action programme stimulates entrepreneurship in the educational system, from primary school to university.

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