Therefore, the 30 nominated companies gathered on Monday, April 14, for a pitch training at the provincial house. “I am here to practice pitching because I will naturally be on stage with the last 3,” jokes Natalie Bogtman from ORO Wolkorrel. “Just kidding, we don’t know that yet. But it’s good to learn how to deliver a pitch in a playful, fun way. Because the competition is fierce. That is incredibly exciting.”

First, the finalists are prepared for the final evening they are all looking forward to. When deputy Esther Rommel speaks to the entrepreneurs in a video message about ‘full vases of flowers and kilos of cake,’ the entrepreneurs get excited. It is also the intention that they come in gala attire. “I still know a place where you can get your tuxedo,” refers Sied Vlietstra (regional director Randstad and partner of the Entrepreneurship Award) jokingly to a nominated clothing company. 

A fiery speech

Then André Knol from Innomics takes the entrepreneurs through the art of pitching. In a 45-second pitch, you can say quite a few sentences, he explains. But on stage, it gets exciting: “In the background, you hear the clock ticking: ‘Tick, tock, tick, tock.’ And it gets louder. Eventually, your story gets cut off if it takes too long.” “A fiery speech can be approached in various ways,” Knol continues. “You can, for example, talk about the journey your company has taken. Or you solve a problem. Who among you solves a particular problem?” Entrepreneur Bas Assink immediately has an answer ready: “We are going to combat skin cancer.”

After the theory, the entrepreneurs break off to write their stories based on a pitch model and make choices for their short pitch. In between writing, Jan-Willem Spanjaart from INTOS says: “We have been around for almost 35 years, you do your thing and grow in the meantime. But getting to the core of your work is not something you think about every day. So it’s really fun to be challenged in that way.”

Entrepreneurs create an experience

The entrepreneurs get the chance to practice their pitch, including a countdown clock, in front of an audience and gather some feedback. Exciting, but ultimately the nominees are enthusiastic enough to take the microphone. They manage to create a wonderful experience with sentences like “you make new memories and forget your worries,” “we reduce the waste material from 80 percent to just 3 percent,” and “we create 11 billion moments of happiness per year.” Their efforts today are important, Vlietstra explains, “Because if companies score well during a business visit, the pitch can make the difference.”

Top 5 audience award

At the end of the meeting, a surprise follows: An interim result of the top 5 of the audience award Opens an external link on which votes can still be cast until May 21. Holland Staal is in the lead, followed by Smeerkees, ORO Wolkorrel, Boon Edam, and Geef een Boompje.nl. Vlietstra emphasizes that the entrepreneurship award is more than just winning, as they are already in the top 10 per category. All companies also receive a certificate that proves that. 

Bas Assink from Smeerkees also found the meeting useful for meeting other entrepreneurs: “That is always educational in the phase we are in. We are just starting out as a company. And here you see all layers: SMEs, large companies, the promise. All entrepreneurs with their own story. So that is really cool.”

Noord-Holland Entrepreneurship Award 

The Noord-Holland Entrepreneurship Award Opens an external link is an annual recurring award that stimulates innovation and puts entrepreneurs in the province in the spotlight. This is the 18th time the Noord-Holland Entrepreneurship Award is being held. The province is one of the partners of the award.