Karel de Grote University College: Building a Solar Boat - PART 4 - The Race for Funding
Friday, 21 May 2010 | Leadership in Engineering
The Wall Street Journal Europe Future Leadership Institute invited students from Karel de Grote University College (KdG), Antwerp, Belgium, to write about their experiences building a solar boat. Dieter Vertessen, lector at KdG, then created a writing project bringing students from the department of Commercial Sciences and Business Management together with the students of the department of Science and Technology. The business management students began to report on the engineering project....
High-Tech parts are expensive
An ambitious and ingenious project such as participating in the Frisian Solar Challenge requires a lot of funding. The team members voluntarily invest very much time building the boat, but hi-tech parts are expensive.
Of course it always demands a serious effort to stimulate people to provide funds. In these times of crisis, however, finding financial resources is harder than ever.
To the team members it really was a big challenge and it meant broadening their horizons and thinking outside the box. "The race for funding" turned out to be as challenging as building the solar boat itself.
Finding doors shut
20,000 euros. That was the sum Jeroen Claessens had to gather. He was the student team leader responsible for planning, logistics, press contacts, energising the other team members and sponsorship. No money meant no boat, no race and probably bad marks for their thesis.
Moreover, 20 000 euros was the absolute minimum. The sum was needed merely to make the boat sail. In order to perform better, more expensive components were to be bought.
According to Jeroen, in times of economic crisis, hunting for sponsors is like "begging for money in a slum." "I started out contacting sponsors of the previous solar boat project", he explains. "However, only a few seemed to be interested in cooperating with our new team." The reason most frequently given was that there simply was not any financial room for sponsoring. "In the future no problem, but right now it is out of the question!" So Jeroen decided to contact all the bigger companies in Antwerp. Even then the finish was not near at all.
Negotiating return on investment
Most companies the team could persuade to contribute, offered them payment in kind. Instead of just giving money, they provided the parts needed for the construction of the solar boat.
The talks with new sponsors often became real negotiations. The companies focused on what they might receive in return. "Where will our logo be printed? On the participants' T-shirts, or just on the boat? How big will it be? Which media are going to report the race?" The team soon realised the companies really focused on return on investment. A lot of sponsoring companies wanted to show the boat on their own events. The team members did not object against this at all, but of course getting the boat from one company to another was going to be quite a challenge.
Finding alternatives
Jeroen explains how the problematic start of finding sponsors was a stimulus to putting his energy in alternative sponsoring. "Thinking out of the box, I started . persuading sympathisers to contribute, which proved to be much easier."
One of the alternative methods he used for getting sponsoring was selling solar cells. That way the solar boat team was literally given the energy to complete their project. This technique was also used by other teams and by the former solar team of Karel de Grote University College in 2008. The 2009 team, however, raised more money from this form of sponsorship.
Another offer the team made in return for sponsorship was more playful: Would you like to be famous for one day? Karel de Grote University College can give you that one moment of glory by putting your name on the hull of the solar boat.
They also appealed to young families. These families were offered solar play sets with which their kids could build their own solar power windmills, airboats or even walking puppies.
Getting into the picture
Jeroen availed himself of every opportunity to introduce the project in traditional offline media. But also social networking websites, such as Facebook, became significant tools for him to persuade people to sponsor. The team used a Facebook fan page to keep their ‘fans' well-informed. The Facebook page allowed them to express their opinion and enthusiasm.
The team's presence on social networking websites also created what marketeers call ‘buzz'. It made everybody aware of the fact that the students of Karel de Grote University College were working on an important and interesting project.
Ready for take off
The team finally had the badly-needed 20,000 euros at their disposal, which meant that their participation in the race was certain. The fact that the team managed to catch a big fish during the last negotiations surely helped a lot: "Port of Antwerp" became the sponsor name of the boat. From March 2010 onwards, the team has been officially called "The Port of Antwerp Solarboat Team".
In spite of the economic crisis, creative problem solving has done the job.
Kim Segers and Jessy Siemons are second-year students at Karel de Grote University College, Antwerp, Belgium. They are pursuing a bachelor degree in Office Management (International Management Assistant).
Kim Segers Jessy Siemons
