Swedish student organization inspire students to become entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs Academy is a Swedish student organization from Uppsala University, which want to encourage the students and turn all the knowledge at the university into willpower, to become entrepreneurs.

Uppsala, the fourth largest city of Sweden with more than 40.000 students, has a growing startup community but the students are leaving for Stockholm because it is bigger, somewhat close by and most of the jobs are located there. Entrepreneurs Academy wants to turn that trend around.

They want people to stay in Uppsala, be part of their own business ideas or join a smaller startup, as they believe this to be the best learning experience.

Four students at the Uppsala University founded the organization back in 2006, with the goal of inspiring the city’s students to become entrepreneurs. They saw the potential in Uppsala’s students, and created Entrepreneurs Academy. Fredrik Lagermalm is the President of Entrepreneurs Academy, and he believes in the organization.

 “We want to be the bridge between the university, its students, the startup community and the existing business world in Uppsala,” said Fredrik Lagermalm, President of Entrepreneurs Academy.

Fredrik and the organization wants to plant the seeds within the student’s minds, and that people should be thinking more critically about the world, and when you do that you will be able to find solutions, and opportunities in your surroundings and create amazing startups.

More focus on entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs Academy wants to be the first name that pops into your head, when thinking about entrepreneurship. The team behind the organization, along with other forces in the town, aims for Uppsala to become one of the biggest startup hubs in the Nordic, and the entrepreneur culture at the university is very important for the organization.

“We want to inspire people in the early phase. We believe that people should create their startups while still in school, because that’s when people have the most time and security,” explained Fredrik Lagermalm.  

The culture amongst the students of Uppsala University regarding entrepreneurship is emerging; people have plenty of possibilities to start their own business as students. The students have many resources available to them, and if they utilize all the accessible tools, then it is already looking good for their business.

The university does help many of its students, but Linnea Nyman, Vice President of Entrepreneurs Academy, believes that the university should work harder to promote entrepreneurship.

“You have many possibilities to create a business as a student, especially in a city like Uppsala. But in general, I do not think that the university works hard enough to encourage entrepreneurship as a part of the university’s culture, and this is where Entrepreneurs Academy comes in to fill that demand and make it happen.”

The culture at Entrepreneurs Academy is good, and the members of the organization loves being a part of it all.

“As a member of Entrepreneurs Academy you get to meet many new inspiring people every day. Together we have become like a big family, helping each other out and creating a good environment for entrepreneurship,” expressed Sara Hjortmar, Project leader of the Anders Wall-Lecture.  

Fredrik Lagermalm believes that entrepreneurship and innovation should be mandatory in schools, as it becomes more and more clear, that innovation is the future.

 “We need to continue to develop and to do that, you’ll need to inspire people.”

An organization with focus on events

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The organization is behind a lot of different kinds of case-competitions, events, lectures and even startup trips, which is to ensure that Entrepreneurs Academy is connected to the different startup communities around the world.

They are for example sending 13 students to Berlin in April on a startup trip, where they will experience the hottest startups in the city, and get a lot of experience and knowledge to bring home to the Uppsala community.

Entrepreneurs Academy was part of the latest Uppstart event, which was founded by the entrepreneur Jason Dainter. It is one of the biggest tech-startup-gatherings in Scandinavia, hosted in Uppsala castle.

It is a huge conference where students, startups, investors and entrepreneurs gets to listen to salespitches, community leaders, startups as well as try some of the amazing games and tech developed in Uppsala.

“We are going to be a part of this year’s event as well, and we will continue to push our students to attend this truly awesome event,” expressed Fredrik Lagermalm.

The biggest event that Entrepreneurs Academy is behind is the Anders Wall lecture, the biggest event in Sweden that aims to inspire the entrepreneurial spirit. They invite the whole business sector, royalties and the rest of Uppsala to attend and many interesting people from Scandinavia come to speak at the event.

“We are aiming to inspire the whole of Uppsala, as well as the rest of Scandinavia.”