Maastricht School of Management

Maastricht School of Management and its students made a strong contribution in this year’s annual Cross-border Dinner on Wednesday 11 October. As part of its 65thanniversary celebrations, MSM had the pleasure to kick off the day by hosting a breakfast for 140 Dutch and international students and young professionals currently living, studying or working in the cross-border region of Limburg. About 50 of them were international MSM students from the new MBA class of 2017-2018 and from the Master in Management program of 2017-2019.

“Among the 12 Dutch provinces, Limburg is a unique border region,”said Ms. Ine Cremers from Connect Limburg, the organization behind the event. “Situated between Belgium and Germany, Limburg is dominated by borders,” she explained. “It shares 351 km of borders with other countries and it is connected to the rest of the Netherlands by just 113 km. It’s not surprising therefore that the people of Limburg have traditionally looked further than their borders.”

Outlining the day’s program, Ms. Cremers continued: “Our Cross-Border Dinner aims to introduce international students living and studying in our region to leading companies and organizations in Limburg, and to make them aware of the many opportunities for future employment, personal development and business growth at hand’s reach in our region.”

Taking the floor next, Mr. Oliver Olson, Director Global Education Programs MSM, complemented Ms. Cremer’s welcome speech with valuable insights from the field of marketing: “Marketing is not about selling, it’s about making clear what already exists. In the case of Limburg, it’s about showing you that the solutions you are looking for are already here, nearby. Marketing is also about understanding your customers. What better way to do this than to start by getting to know them? When borders disappear, there is no limit.”

Following the successful editions of 2015 (in Central and South Limburg) and 2016 (in North and Central Limburg), this year’s Cross-border Dinner focused on companies in South Limburg and gathered participants from over 10 regional higher education institutes, including Maastricht School of Management, RWTH Aachen University, and Zuyd University of Applied Sciences. The participants represented 23 countries from all corners of the world, namely Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Germany, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Peru, the Philippines, the Russian Federation, Rwanda, Spain, Syria, Thailand, Vietnam and Yemen.

After the breakfast at MSM, the participants travelled by bus to visit Thomas Regout International in Maastricht, the Brightlands Chemelot Campus and DSM in Sittard-Geleen and the Brightlands Smart Services Campus in Heerlen, where they received presentations on the various companies and organizations as well as a guided tour through their facilities.

At Thomas Regout International, a leading manufacturer in high quality sliders and sliding systems, all produced in the company’s large production plant in Maastricht, the participants were presented with a list of five challenges currently facing the company’s managers and were asked for their ideas on possible solutions.This exercise enabled the participants from the various regional institutes not only to mix and mingle but also to tackle an assignment together. To the question: “How can we attract and retain young talent and employees in the future?”, the students had a very simple and straightforward answer: “Translate your job openings in English and make them available in the English section of your website.”

“It is great to discover these innovative and well performing companies in Limburg right from the beginning of our stay, because it makes us become aware of the potential of the region,” said Alain Mugabo from Rwanda, who started his one-year MBA at MSM three weeks ago. “The day was an eye-opener for me, not only in learning other ways to do business but also in seeing the differences in how we reacted to certain business practices. For example, I was surprised to see the factory employees at Thomas Regout International working with music, and to notice that the music installation was an integral part of the production plant, but my fellow student Emanuel from Ghana found this practice quite normal.”

In keeping with the tradition started three years ago, the day ended with a cross-border dinner, which took place this time in a big make-shift restaurant in the middle of the fields in the outskirts of the small village of Noorbeek near the Belgian border. The set up of the dinner, with company managers and regional stakeholders rotating among the various tables at each new course, enabled all participants to connect closer and benefit the most from the evening. There again, the atmosphere was very interactive and open, spiced up with lively interviews with international students moderated by the Limburg journalist Sander Kleikers and various short company presentations.

One of the company presentations featured the local company Boels, specialized in equipment rental. This family company, first established in Sittard in 1977, has considerably expanded over the years, growing from 20 branches in 3 countries in 1980 to almost 400 branches and 2,800 DIY outlets in 11 European countries nowadays and providing work to 3,250 employees.

Explaining that “Boels is more than rental”, two Boels corporate executives, Mr. Han van der Leeuw and Mr. Yvo Hoppers, invited the participants to join Boels’ newly established 18-month Young Management Program. The program, they explained, “allows trainees to get to know the company by working on multiple projects in an international environment with the freedom and space to be entrepreneurial and an attractive salary.”

In his closing words, Oliver Olson of MSM, warmly thanked Connect Limburg for the successful and inspiring day, and gave two final tips to the audience. Addressing the international students and young professionals, he said: “Don’t look North but look around you instead: as you have witnessed it with your own eyes today, your future can be right here in Limburg!” And winking at the company managers in the room, he said: “Hire them!”

Limburg’s business opportunities revealed during cross-border day