Inspiration Days

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The EFR Inspiration Days is one of the most prestigious events organized by students in Europe. We aspire to be the most innovative, society-aligned event that interactively connects and inspires students from all faculties. To meet our goal, we host an interactive congress, a breakout session and discussions relating to the theme of this year; Time to Thrive!

The theme of this year is supported by three pillars. The first pillar is resilience because the way to success is not always easy. The second is innovation, as a necessity to thrive in an ever-changing world. Lastly, we have passion, as the fuel to success.

With passion, resilience and innovation we believe that you can thrive in both unexpected hardships and your everyday life. The goal is to show you the insights of a dynamic world from different perspectives. We plan to do this by hosting speakers from different (professional) backgrounds, who each walked down their path to success.

On April 7th 2021 you can question and discuss your ambitions and goals with people who left a mark on the world. It will be a day filled with captivating stories and inspiring discussions where you can contribute to. Whether you are in your first, second, third year or masters, it is never too early nor too late to get inspired.

This event is the successor of the well-known EFR World of Business congress.

For any questions please contact us: info@efr-inspirationdays.nl 

Sessions

  • Opening/Closing

    The opening session of the EFR Inspiration Days is the plenary opening of the event. During the opening Frans van Houten will give a speech related to the theme; Time to thrive. The closing session will consist of a keynote speech by Mabel van Oranje and will concern a topic related to the theme. The keynote speech will be followed by a panel discussion between Diederik Gommers, Marguerite Soeteman-Reijnen, Pauline van der Meer Mohr en Robert Swaak. The debate will be led by Jörgen Raymann and will focus on various currently relevant topics.

  • Lunch Round Table

    The Lunch Round Table is the direct successor of the Conference Platform of the EFR Business Week. The lunch will consist of 20 prominent speakers like Elske Doets, Ron Blaauw, Marieke van Schaik and Martijn van Rooy. They will discuss topics related to the theme of the EFR Inspiration Days with 60 highly motivated students. The lunch will be introduced by Jan Peter Balkenende, after which the students and speakers will debate on various topics. This way the students can learn from the insights of the speakers, but also challenge them and present their own views on the topics.

  • Workshop and breakout

    During the workshop- and breakout sessions students will be divided over three different rooms. In every room, one of the pillars of the main theme will be discussed. During the workshop, you will get a chance to learn about a topic from an expert in an interactive way. Afterwards the break-out session starts. Here, an expert by experience will share his/her story about the topic with the group. Each group will consist of 100 students. The session about innovation will be held by Ferdinand Grapperhaus Jr. and Virgina Yanquilevich. Passion will be given by Maaike Head and Daphne Feller and resilience by Ferry Zandvliet and Bas van der Putten.

  • Playground

    The playground is all about socializing and discovering the innovations of the future. Due to Covid-19 this years’ playground will be very different from what it used to be during the EFR Business Week. However, we ensure you that this one will be even better! Throughout the day we will show you several amazing videos about the newest innovations. After the workshops there will be a Social Half Hour, where you get the chance to socialize with the speakers, companies, and your fellow students. This is your chance to not only get inspired but also share your thoughts!

Speakers

  • Mabel van Oranje

    Mabel van Oranje is the founder and chair of Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage
    In 1995, Mabel van Oranje founded War Child the Netherlands together with Willemijn Verloop. Her whole career, she has been a human rights activist and serial entrepreneur for social change. In 2016, she started fighting against child marriages and founded Girls not Brides.

  • Frans van Houten

    Frans van Houten is Chief Executive Officer of Royal Philips Electronics.
    Frans van Houten led the transformation of the Royal Philips company to become market leader in the niche market of health technology. Furthermore, he received the Fortune Award for Circular Economy Leadership at the World Economic Forum.

  • Pauline van der Meer Mohr

    Pauline van der Meer Mohr is a board member and advisor for multiple big companies such as HSBC, EY, DSM and Viatris.
    Pauline van der Meer Mohr has had various roles including chairwoman of the executive board of the Erasmus University Rotterdam, Chairwoman of the Monitoring Committee for the Dutch Corporate Governance Code, and member of multiple supervisory boards including HSBC Holdings Plc, DSM, EY, Viatris Inc and the Dutch Dance Theatre.

  • Diederik Gommers

    Diederik Gommers is a Dutch Intensive Care specialist and the chairman of the Dutch Association of Intensive Care Units.
    Diederik Gommers is an intensive care specialist best known for his role during the corona crisis in which he aimed to make science accessible for the entire Dutch community. Furthermore he is a medical specialist in the Erasmus Medical Centre and professor here as well.

  • Maaike Head

    Maaike Head is a Dutch gold olympic medalist rowing.
    Maaike Head started her career in speed skating where she was outstanding and won a gold medal in team pursuit. In 2007, Maaike switched careers and started rowing at SKADI. At the olympic games in 2016, Maaike Head and Ilse Paulis broke the world record in the lightweight double sculls for which they received a gold medal!

  • Jan Peter Balkenende

    Jan Peter Balkenende was Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 2002 to 2010.
    After being Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Balkenende worked as Partner at EY on corporate responsibility and international affairs. Since 2016, he is External Senior Advisor to EY and since 2017 a member of the Supervisory Board of ING. Besides that, he is a Professor of Governance, Institutions, and Internationalization at Erasmus University Rotterdam since 2010.

  • Marguerite Soeteman-Reijnen

    Marguerite Soeteman-Reijnen is the Chairman of the Executive Board of Aon Holdings and the chairman of SER Topvrouwen.
    Marguerite Soeteman-Reijnen is the chairwoman of all Aon Holding entities, which are the top shareholders in over 400 Aon participations. Furthermore, she is an ambassador for women’s rights as chairwoman of a foundation, that aims to stimulate women in Dutch boards.

  • Jörgen Raymann

    Jörgen Raymann is a famous Dutch- Surinamese cabaretier (former), stand-up comedian, actor, consultant and presenter.
    Jörgen Raymann broke through with his comedy show Raymann is Laat and his role on The Comedy Factory. Currently he is active as Chief Inspirational Officer for Lenard and Lenard. On top of this, he recently received a presidential honor from the Surinam president Chan Santokhi.

  • Marieke van Schaik

    Marieke van Schaik is Chief Executive Officer of the Netherlands Red Cross
    Marieke van Schaik is CEO of the Netherlands Red Cross. Holding a degree in International Relations from the University of Amsterdam, she joined the Charity Department of the Dutch Charity Lotteries in 2000 and became managing director here in 2009, until she started her position at the Netherlands Red Cross in 2018.

  • Robert Swaak

    Robert Swaak is Chief Executive Officer of ABN AMRO.
    Robert Swaak is the CEO of ABN AMRO after a long career at PwC, where he held various positions like Global Relationship Partner and Member of the Global Sustainability Board. Last year, he was appointed CEO of ABN AMRO, where he is also responsible for Group Audit, Legal & Corporate Office, Strategy & Sustainability, and Brand Marketing & Communications.

  • Daphne Feller

    Daphne Feller is the founder and owner of BrainExplainers and a certified Brain Based Coach.
    Daphne Feller started her own company, BrainExplainers, in 2016 after gaining senior corporate work experience at multiple healthcare companies. With her experience, she speaks and writes about neuroscience and heart intelligence in relation to leadership and well-being. On April 6th, she will publish her first book; ‘brein hart zijn’.

  • Ferry Zandvliet

    Ferry Zandvliet is a survivor of the attack on the Bataclan
    On November 13, 2015, Ferry Zandvliet visited a concert in the Bataclan theater in Paris. During the fateful evening, terrorists shot 89 people. Despite experiencing this horrible ordeal, Ferry’s story is not about misery, but about survival and enrichment. Last year, he published a book about his experience and the aftermath: Souvenirs – Beter na Bataclan.

  • Ferdinand Grapperhaus jr.

    Ferdinand Grapperhaus jr. is Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of PHYSEE Technologies.
    Ferdinand Grapperhaus jr. tries to contribute to the development and application of technology by co-founding PHYSEE Technologies in 2014. PHYSEE develops coating, sensory and solar technologies to enhance glass for built environments. Furthermore, he founded GESTE Summerschool, an education project where children get acquainted with science, technology, and sustainable energy.

  • Virginia Yanquilevich

    Virginia Yanquilevich is the Chief Executive Officer of Dopper
    Virginia Yanquilevich is the CEO of Dopper. After moving from Argentina to the Netherlands nearly twenty years ago, Virginia has worked as a journalist and in management roles in consumer electronics. Now at Dopper, she wants to create social impact through business together with her team of change-makers.

  • Bas van der Putten

    Founder and owner of Go Lemon
    Throughout his personal and professional life, Bas has always been a high-energy, passionate, and driven person and leader. However, it was not until the age of 43 that he started to discover his true entrepreneurial skills and founded the first Apple Subscription Company in Europe in 2017 among other companies and adventures.

  • Elske Doets

    Elske Doets is an entrepreneur, founder, speaker, inspirator, writer, and Businesswoman of the year 2017.
    Next to leading a successful travel agency, Elske Doets founded the Young Lady Business Academy to help young woman throw away their own hesitations and aim for the top. Elske Doets is an independent mind with clear views on society and business in the near future. With those views, she also wrote two books.

  • Ron Blaauw

    Ron Blaauw is a culinary entrepreneur and SVH master chef.
    Ron Blaauw is a well-known dutch master chef, who has multiple restaurants in the Netherlands. His restaurant Ron Gastrobar received a Michelin star. Next to his own restaurants he also gives culinair advise, has participated in multiple television shows and is an ambassador for SOS kinderdorpen.

  • Zina Abboud

    Zina Abboud is the owner and founder of Zina’s Kitchen
    Zina Abboud has always had a passion for food. After she fled from Aleppo, she instantaneously impressed the Dutch public with the rich Syrian kitchen. Immediately after she got her residence permit in the Netherlands, she started her own catering company: Zina’s Kitchen. In 2018 she also published her own cookbook with Syrian recipes.

  • Martijn van Rooy

    Martijn van Rooy is founder and chief executive officer of Parfumado.
    Martijn van Rooy founded Parfumado to bring one of the most offline industries, the parfum branche, online. Last year he expanded his business with the sister company Rocket Campaign. This company helps brands get samples to clients.

  • Lunch round table

  • Opening session

  • Workshop and breakout

  • Social half hour

  • Closing session

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EFR wall of fame

EFR strives to inspire students. We do this by inviting all sorts of speakers to our events, ranging from worldwide political leaders to captains of industries. These people have been invited to events like the World of Business congres and EFR/EenVandaag election debate, see here our wall of fame.

  • Jeroen Dijsselbloem

    Jeroen Dijsselbloem is a Dutch politician and economist. Former Minister of Finance and President of the Eurogroup.
    He is a member of the Labour Party (PvdA), he has also been Chairman of the supervisory board of Wageningen University since 1 April 2019.

  • Pim Fortuyn

    Pim Fortuyn was a Dutch politician, academic, author and businessman who formed his own party: the Pim Fortuyn List.
    Fortuyn prompted controversy in the Netherlands with his views on multiculturalism, immigration and Islam in the Netherlands. He called Islam "a backward culture", and was quoted as saying that if it were legally possible, he would close the borders for Muslim immigrants.

  • Mikhail Gorbachev

    Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is the former President of the Soviet Union and Nobel Peace Prize winner.
    He is a Russian and formerly Soviet politician. Mikhail was the eighth and last leader of the Soviet Union and the general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Ideologically, he initially adhered to Marxism-Leninism although by the early 1990s had moved toward social democracy.

  • Ban Ki-moon

    Ban Ki-moon is a South-Korean diplomat and politician. Former Secretary-General of the United Nations.
    He is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 2007 to December 2016. Before becoming Secretary-General, Ban was a career diplomat in South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the United Nations. He entered diplomatic service the year he graduated from university, accepting his first post in New Delhi, India.

  • Neelie Kroes

    Neelie Kroes is a former Dutch politician and European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda.
    Neelie Kroes is a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and businesswoman In 2007 Neelie Kroes became 59th on the Forbes-lijst The 100 Most Powerful Women, one year later she became 47th.
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Each year EFR organises multiple events. Below you can find an overview of the biggest events.

Flagship events

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