Entrepreneurship World Cup 2024 - Belgian Finals

Humgy Central

MEIR 78, 2000 ANTWERP (STADSFEESTZAAL)
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Humgy is located in the vibrant centre of the city in the iconic Stadsfeestzaal with affordable parking spaces. Next to the event spaces there is 1.700 square meters of open desks, offices and meeting rooms. It is bustling with activity and is an ideal environment for startups to thrive and flourish, the perfect location for the EWC finals!

For jury and finalists: We welcome you between 5 PM and 5:30 PM.
For other guests, welcome as of 5:30 PM.
The pitches will start at 6:00 PM.

The winners will be announced around 10:00 PM and must remain available for interviews afterwards.

• 6:00 PM: Pitch round Idea Stage and Early Stage
• 7:45 PM: Break
• 8:00 PM: Pitch round Growth Stage
• 9:00 PM: Networking reception and jury deliberation
• 9:30 PM: Announcement of winners

The finalists are expected to be present for the entire evening.

The setup of the pitch of the finalists will proceed in the same manner as during the preliminary rounds. Only one person can speak and will pitch in English. 

As a finalist you will have 15 minutes to convince the jury. Rework your pitch if necessary, taking into account the tips you received during the preliminary round. Need support? Inform your local coach from Voka or Uwe in time. They can connect you with the right colleague who will review your pitch with you and provide some tips & tricks to make your presentation a top performance!

You will do a 5-minute presentation supported by a slide deck, in which you persuade the jury of your project, paying particular attention to the following topics*:
*These topics are further detailed on the EWC Rules official page.

Product

• Is there a Problem/solution fit?
• Are you an imitator or an innovator? Does the company have a sustainable claim to fame?
• How is your traction? Are you starting to achieve meaningful market share? Is your growth accelerating?
• Do you delight customers and show repeated use?

People

• Experience and reputation of the Founding Team, advisors, clients, board etc.
• Ability to recruit and develop top talent
• Complementary nature of founding team

Potential

• How big can this opportunity be?
• Are you attacking either a massive addressable market or a small, but rapidly growing market?
• Is your market opportunity limited by megatrends (massive economic and cultural shifts) or are you being propelled by these trends?

Predictability

• For companies that have begun monetizing, are you recurring revenues or a formula that produces predictable operating results?
• Do you gain operating leverage as you continue to achieve economies of scale?
   

Following your presentation, the jury will have time to ask questions for 10 minutes, to which you can provide brief and clear answers.

Only the pitching person can answer the jury's question. In cases where questions require a complex answer from a specific profile within the startup, there can be made an exception. In this case the question can be redirected to a teammate who can briefly provide the answer.

By sticking to the 5-minute pitch time, you ensure that the jury has enough time to ask the questions they want answers to. This increases your chances of winning the top prize in your category!

You can find more inspiration and tips from our partners PMV and Smartpresentations on the public page of EWC Belgium.
 

On Monday, March 18, 2024, the 3 finalists for the Idea Stage powered by Uwe were unveiled, and are presented below in a randomized order:

• Zeal Robotics, innovating the next era of autonomous mobile robots tailored for warehouses.
• Mappalink, fostering trust between humans and robots, thereby unlocking automation potential, enhancing safety, and minimizing downtime.
• UnVeil Surgical, addressing contemporary demands with cutting-edge 3D sensing and image-guided surgery solutions.
   

The 3 finalists for the Early Stage powered by Smartpresentations were disclosed on Wednesday, March 20, 2024, and are presented below in a randomized order:

• Contour Lab personalizes the shopping experience on fashion webshops and changes the way consumers buy clothing today.
• Play it enhances your company's training strategy with game-based learning.
• Uze charges your electric vehicle wherever and whenever it suits you.

The 3 finalists for the Growth Stage powered by PMV were disclosed on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, and are presented below in a randomized order:

• manual.to, transforming manuals into training resources and swiftly disseminating crucial knowledge across your organization.
• Studaro, aiding in the exploration of Gen Z talent pools and fostering enduring professional relationships.
• Sundo, introducing the world's inaugural intelligent sunscreen dispenser, facilitating a sun-safe future.
   

Congratulations to all finalists! We extend our best wishes as they prepare for their final presentations!

Bruno Delepierre - Managing Director - Global Entrepreneurship Netwerk Belgium / CEO - Happonomy.
Didier Malherbe - Vice-Chairman of the Board - Union Wallonne des Entreprises (UWE) / Chairman of the Board - Belgian Foreign Trade Agency (AWEX).
Véronique Bockstal - Founder - Outgrow / Accelerator of the accelerator program for female founders in collaboration with UCLL.
Jens De Vos - Director Projects and Services - Voka
Harald Dumoulin - Founder - Smartpresentations / Expert Storyteller and presentationcoach
Ruben Verplancke - Co-founder en CFO - Sealution / Winner EWC Belgium 2022
Hugues Williamson - Financial Analyst - FIB finance&invest.brussels
Luc Bastiaens - Business Advisor -  VLAIO
Olivia Degueldre - COO - Pulse Foundation
Maxime Van Peel - Senior Investment Manager - PMV

More information regarding the jury can be found on the public EWC Belgium page.

EWC is all about the entire experience – training, resources, connections, mentorship and more. But on top of that, there is a chance to have access to a great number of impactful prizes.

In EWC Belgian Qualifier stage we offer:

• Visibility for your startup, interview and press coverage.

• Possibility to participate in one of the Voka or UWE training courses.

           

• Special prize offered by the partners SmartPresentations and PMV.
            

The Belgian finalist will be presented to the international jury and will have the chance to be selected for the top 100 in Riyadh:

• Free participation in the EWC virtual Bootcamp by KAUST University.
• Access to the Global GEN-startersclub.
• USD $1 million in cash and/or investment total for the global winners. plus in-kind support for the top 100 global finalists.
• Investment opportunities, resources and perks from the EWC global leading partners.
• Free trip to Riyadh (SA) + accommodation 

More information about the international awards can be checked on the GEN Global page.