Creating new opportunities

For the second time, NTNU and Engage offers an online course in entrepreneurship and business development. It was held for the first time this summer and the experiences have been great.

By Tina Larsen

The online course is adapted to laid-off and partially laid-off employees. Through the online course, the participants will work with self-selected issues that are relevant to themselves and the company they are partially laid off from. They will learn how to identify new business opportunities, and how to go about doing something with these opportunities.

Experiences from the first course

The course was held for the first time this summer and the experiences have been great. The course had almost 300 applicants and 55 participants were picked. 60 % were women and 40 % were men, and the age range was from 24 to 65 years.

I have been to establishment courses before, but this course was more useful and comprehensive, and not least more relevant as I am running my own business and had the opportunity to work with my own case.

Karen Elle Lepperød, former participant

She mentions that the course provided clear guidelines for stepping out of the comfort zone and takling to the target group. This resulted in a study that gave her lots of valuable input to further develop her company. “The course instructors were available for guidance during the project and was of great benefit”, she says.

A new round

As a result of the success from this summer, NTNU and Engage will now run a new round of the course. Even Haug Larsen, an assistant professor at NTNU School of Entrepreneurship, are one of the lecturers working with this project.

What is exciting about a course like this is that people from different disciplines and with different interests and perspectives meet and find each other. They work together in groups and a lot of good can then be created. In fact, one of the groups from this summer has decided to further develop the idea they worked on.

Even Haug Larsen, Assistant Professor NSE

Skill-upgrading and new opportunities

The aim of the course is to give the participants a skill-upgrading in entrepreneurship which can lead to new opportunities. For example, one of the participants who had lost his job applied for a position as a business developer. “A couple of days ago we received a message that he got the job and he believes this course was a contributing factor to that”, Larsen says. Karen Elle Lepperød also experienced that she gained new and useful knowledge

I learned more about entrepreneurship and ways to develop a business plan. There were several considerations here that were new to me and that I became aware of during the course.

Karen Elle Lepperød