Grants for startups

Sustainability

Are you a Fontys student and do you have your own company where sustainability is paramount? Through the Fontys Centre for Entrepreneurship & Stichting Steunfonds Duurzaamheid you can claim a subsidy of 15.000 euros to take your business to a higher level or to accelerate growth.

But what exactly is sustainability? Sustainability is ensuring a balance between people, the environment and the economy so we are not exhausting the earth. For now, but also for future generations. Meeting our own needs must be in balance with what the earth can handle. Sustainability is a concept that is becoming more important when starting a business; also called corporate social responsibility in this context. After all, corporate social responsibility means that you, as a company, start bearing responsibility for society. For example, by taking into account climate neutrality, circularity, inclusiveness and/or fair chains in activities and processes, a company undertakes in a future-proof manner. To measure and monitor this, we look at the SDGs. The SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) are seventeen goals to make the world a better place by 2030. The SDGs were agreed upon by the countries affiliated with the United Nations (UN), including the Netherlands.

Grant

Stichting Steunfonds Duurzaamheid and the Fontys Centre for Entrepreneurship have set themselves the goal of promoting entrepreneurship with social impact, among young starting entrepreneurs. Fontys students who have their own business and wish to achieve social impact can apply for the subsidy. The subsidy, in the form of individual financial support from the Stichting Steunfonds Duurzaamheid, aims to support entrepreneurship with social impact. The advanced idea or business of the student entrepreneur is at least in line with 1 or more SDGs of the United Nations. It can be a product, process or service innovation.

The individual financial support can be used to:

Develop a MVP.
Explore feasibility of the idea.
Accelerate validation.
Accelerate the market introduction.

Available budget

Per grant application: €15.000. +/- 7 student entrepreneurs per calendar year will have a submitted application honored.

For Whom?

Fontys student entrepreneurs who have their own business and wish to make a social impact can apply for this subsidy. The conditions are that the applicant is enrolled as a student at Fontys University of Applied Sciences. The applicant is in the Customer Discovery phase, the Customer Validation phase or the Customer Creation phase with his or her company. In concrete terms, this means that students in different life phases of a startup can apply for the grant. After registration, the Fontys student will be invited for an exploratory interview so that the drive and degree of determination of entrepreneurship can be measured. If the outcome is positive, the applicant will be put in contact with the grant provider. Applications will only be considered if the student entrepreneur's business operations meets at least one of the established Sustainable Development Goals and if sustainability is at the forefront of his or her operations.

>> What do the phases of the startup entail?

In the customer discovery phase, one goes on an early investigation of the viability of the initial concept, what needs to be improved, what needs to be removed, what needs to be added. Does the solution fit the identified problem?
In the customer validation phase, the business model is the focus. There is a business model fit if the idea can be translated into a repeatable and scalable business model. In this phase, the optimization of the growth engine is central.
The main goal of the customer creation phase is to provide an experience that drives market demand straight into the sales channel of the company. It's about creating end-user demand and scale.