Tweet06-03-2011 om 12:22 by Sueli Brodin

Why do international knowledge workers come to work and live in the Southeast Netherlands? What makes them and highly qualified foreign students stay in the Brainport region or what are their reasons to leave?

These are the questions Boudewijn van Straaten, a MSc Student at Tilburg University and graduate intern at Brainport Development came to discuss with me earlier this week in Maastricht.

He explained that he was preparing a survey on behalf of the Brainport International Community programme, whose mission is to attract and retain qualified international staff in the Southeast Netherlands.



He wanted to hear my thoughts on the subject and find out more about the particular situation of the Maastricht region.

By coincidence, it just so happened that I had met the day before with a young foreign entrepreneur who provided me with a fresh and concrete example to illustrate the issue.

The story of Frank Khan Sullivan:
“My name is Frank Khan Sullivan. I am part Irish, part Indian and grew up in the UK. When I was 16 I moved to Istanbul, Turkey and finished school there. I came to study European Law in Maastricht but decided to take a year off at the end of my first year because I wanted to be an entrepreneur and start working on the ideas I had.



What attracts me the most in this region is that it is a crossborder region. Being only 30 minutes away from Aachen and Liège offers tremendous opportunities.



I am about to officially launch Maastricht Business, a collaborative online platform for businesses, professionals and institutes in the Maastricht Region. I like Maastricht and want to stay here, but I am not going to wait until someone comes and gives me a job. I just create the job myself. My motto? 'Start something…'"

Two days later, I was invited to attend the presentation of BounceSpace, a new meeting and workspace for independent working professionals and starters in Maastricht, and met with several more young and inspiring international entrepreneurs in Maastricht.

The story of Yatan Blumenthal:
“My friend Jorn van Lieshout and I wanted to create a place in Maastricht where young starters with ideas would be able to work, meet and connect. There is a great need for such a place in Maastricht. One day during a brainstorm session in our tiny student room, we saw a man running in the street and it looked like he was bouncing. This image fitted exactly with our concept and that’s how the name “BounceSpace” was born. We see it as a space where ideas are bounced off one another in a collaborative environment.


I come from the other side of the world and this dream is the only reason that has kept me here, when I could be in so many other places. I believe in it and want to see it through. Now with the help and support of valuable partners, we’re almost there.



Thanks to a successful collaboration between Seats2meet and MVV Maastricht, BounceSpace will soon be a reality. We hope to sign the papers after carnaval. ”

The story of Charanya Chidambaram:
“When Yatan and Jorn asked me if I was interested in preparing dinner for 25 people on the occasion of the presentation of BounceSpace, I saw it as my first chance to put my ambition into practice. I love cooking, especially dishes from my home country India, and I see food as a powerful tool to connect people.



I studied Business and Economics at Maastricht University and now work there as a Junior Lecturer at the department of Marketing. There is something special about this region that I like very much. It is very international and full of potential. I see a lot of energy and unexploited opportunities around me.



I would like to open a cultural hotspot in Maastricht that brings together people and through them ideas from diverse fields stimulating an environment of dialogues. A space where I could also serve Indian food, just like tonight. People seem to appreciate it very much and I have received several requests to cook again!”

If the definition of an entrepreneur is “a person who exercises initiative by organising a venture to take benefit of an opportunity”, then Frank, Jorn, Yatan and Charanya undoubtedly fit the profile.

To me, they personify Simon Sinek’s “Start with Why” business model, which defines leaders as people who inspire others and rally followers because they know and are able to communicate why they believe in their business project.

The first thing I did when I went shopping in Maastricht a few days later was to visit the Chinese and Turkish shops in Mosae Gusto where Charanya told me she had found some of the ingredients for the delicious Indian dishes she had served for dinner at BounceSpace.



I had not been to the fairly new Turkish shop Turquoise yet and complimented the young owner of Turkish background on the rich assortment of fresh and dry products. We started talking, about Maastricht, the tradition of Carnaval in Limburg, the city of Rotterdam where he originally comes from, and one thing leading to another, he told me that he was looking for someone who could build him a website.

Ping!

An idea immediately bounced off my mind and I told him with a smile: “Give me your email address... I actually may know someone for you!”

Links:
Brainport Talent Region website
Brain Talent Region video
Frank Khan Sullivan on entrepreneurship
Maastricht Business
An impression of the design for BounceSpace by Maurer United Architects
Turquoise Mosae Gusto
First Follower: Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy
Simon Sinek on TED: How great leaders inspire action

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