Our network of experts, investors, students, and coaches from various industries assist aspiring entrepreneurs with everything from concept development and becoming pitch-ready to implementing marketing strategies and scaling their businesses.
Team Coaches
Are you someone with a minimum of 2-3 years of professional experience (or completing a master’s degree) who is eager and able to navigate the team dynamics?
As a Team Coach, your main responsibility is to facilitate and manage the relationships between the newcomer entrepreneur(s) and the other team members within the Forward·Incubator.
Ideally, you have hands-on business and facilitation experience. You will play a pivotal role in facilitating, guiding, and supporting entrepreneurs as they put their business ideas to the test in real life. For the first time, we will emphasise co-founder relationships; hence, interpersonal skills are key!
This role requires your facilitation of one team, which includes the newcomer entrepreneur(s), co-founder, business coach, 2 university student consultants, and you as a team coach.
This is an unpaid volunteer position for 3 hours/week. The Team Coach role for the FI Spring’24 cohort will run between November 20, 2023– June 22, 2024.
Student Consultants
This is a great opportunity for current university students, MSc candidates, and recent graduates to impact a newcomer’s entrepreneurial journey directly.
As a Student consultant, you’ll be instrumental in supporting the founders to get their businesses off the ground and be privy to the tools and resources needed to run a successful venture.
As a student consultant, you:
- Gain practical, real-life experience on how to start a business from scratch.
- Make a positive impact and create meaningful connections.
- Access to Forward·Inc’s network of 150+ experienced professionals from the Netherlands and abroad (coaches, mentors from partner companies, successful entrepreneurs, etc.).
- Create an impact and become a part of Forward·Inc’s community of 1200+ active members, especially newcomer entrepreneurs and fellow student consultants.
- Are expected to voluntarily work hands-on between 7-8 hours/week on the business over the program duration of 5 months.
- Be a part of fun networking events, such as the Student Night, where you can explore new professional opportunities and be a valuable member of the community.
The Forward Incubator (FI) program runs twice a year during Spring & Fall.
The Student Consultant program for the FI Spring’24 cohort will run between March 4th – June 22nd, 2024.
The application deadline for FI Spring’24 is December 8th, 2023.
Please note that this is a voluntary role.
Business Coaches
Coaching newcomers in their journey to realising their entrepreneurial goals can be a fulfilling experience for both parties. Sharing industry knowledge and exchanging cultural outlooks are both instrumental in building long-lasting relationships within our community. We are looking for hands-on professionals who are interested in working with an early-stage newcomer entrepreneur. A Business Coach’s main objective is to support the entrepreneur on a strategic level by testing key assumptions, setting realistic goals, sharing their network, providing feedback, and managing overall expectations.
The coaching role is connected to the Forward Incubator Program. As a Business Coach, you are expected to commit to volunteering 2-3 hours/week during working hours, are encouraged to meet their designated entrepreneur face to face as often as possible.
The Forward Incubator (FI) program runs twice a year during Spring & Fall from our offices in Amsterdam & Rotterdam, NL.
Please note that this is a voluntary role.
EXPERT/MENTOR/TRAINER
Qualified experts from various industries, who are unable to commit to 2hrs p/w as coaches, can still make an impact on our newcomers’ journeys through workshops (1-offs or reoccurring). These intimate sessions are geared to help the entrepreneurs with their marketing strategy, boosting sales, networking, scalability, and investor pitch.
Participants in these programs are of diverse backgrounds and have startups in various sectors ranging from education and consumer goods to F&B and tech innovation.
Expert: 1 x 1hr session
Mentor: 3 x 1hr sessions
Trainer: 1 x 1hr workshop
Are you interested in giving these entrepreneurs a push toward excellence?
Please note that this is a voluntary role.
Testimonials
Mentor
It’s always a wonder to sharpen a business idea and to be involved in the early phases of an innovative business proposition. I hope that my coaching offered her more insights into the tech possibilities and options for her business proposal as well as a gentle push forward to become more confident and take her idea to the next level. Personally, I learned that behind every idea there can be a cautious entrepreneur and they could use every inch of encouragement that a mentor can offer which can be the difference between make it now or later kind of attitude, a great learning and interactive experience
MUGUR IONITA(Founder at ionita.nl)
Student consultant
Being a Student Consultant is such an inspirational role! You get to experience how the foundations for a business are built in order to succeed and flourish, while you gain knowledge through workshops.
ANASTASIA CHOLOPOULOU(Student BSc Psychology at the University of Leiden)
Student consultant
The FI program has been such an enriching experience for me. I’ve learned business skills while working with an encouraged entrepreneur as well as met so many amazing people along the way!
DHRUV GULATI(Student BSc Liberal Arts and Sciences at Amsterdam University Collage)
Student consultant
Working with Forward has been a great experience. I met a lot of interesting people, participated in some super exciting projects, and learned an incredible amount.
HENRIK REINEKE(Student BSc Philosophy, Politics & Economics at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Coach
Some would say that an Entrepreneur’s most valuable asset is his/her mindset. If that’s the case, Forward·Inc is sitting on a goldmine, as each entrepreneur has already faced adversity and come out stronger.
TJITTE JOOSTEN(Growth at Docflow)
Coach
Coaching the newcomer entrepreneurs is for me finding the right balance between business-, cultural- and entrepreneural-guidance. As a former entrepreneur starting a business not in my homecountry I know how important it is to have a “local” coach and Forward Inc give the newcomer entrepreneurs a 3 months program to launch the business idea with support of a experienced coaches.
GERT KROON(Solution Project Leader at NTT DATA)
Partners / Sponsors
Our collaborations with recognisable brands have proven to be instrumental in the development of our newcomers. Access to resources, insight, workshops, and guidance is a sure way for companies to directly impact our participants’ entrepreneurial journey. Forward · Inc wants each party to shine within their respective lanes, and therefore doesn’t adhere to a “one size fits all” approach within our partnerships.
BECOME A SPONSOR / PARTNER
