MSM students discover Limburg as a 'special region full of energy'

“I thought that Venlo was a remote village and it caught me off guard to see companies like Royal Zon Fruit and Vegetables, Vekoma Rides Manufacturing, Seacon Logistics and many more thriving there. I had an awesome day! I hope that such events will be organized for many years to come.”

This comment by MBA33 student Tandin Zangmo from Bhutan at Maastricht School of Management is only one of the many enthusiastic reactions that were heard among MSM students after the Crossborder day and dinner event organized for the second time by Connect Limburg on 29 September 2016.

This year again, Maastricht School of Maastricht was strongly represented at the event by students from the MBA33 class of 2016-2017, visiting participants from the Baosteel company in China, the Master in Management class and recent graduates from the MBA32 cohort. The international group of students and alumni were grateful for the opportunity to discover the province of Limburg as a prime region for future business and employment prospects.

The event also offered them the chance to meet and spend a day with fellow participants from Fontys University of Applied Sciences, Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, Maastricht University, Business School Notenboom, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen (RWTH) and FH Aachen – University of Applied Sciences. “I enjoyed interacting with other students coming from different universities and cities,” said MBA33 student Gabor Juhasz from Hungary.

For Connie Moonen, director of Connect Limburg, this was precisely the goal of the initiative. “The most important is to showcase the fantastic companies we have here in our beautiful region and that we facilitate a beautiful connection with the excellent young professionals that we have here as well. We need to pay more attention to this and sometimes it is good to organise an event to highlight this. We live in a crossborder region and our crossborder dinner is a good way to let people experience this.”

Provincial deputy Twan Beurskens welcomed the initiative on behalf of the province of Limburg during the dinner at the historic location of Backus aan de Grens, exactly on the border between the Netherlands and Germany. “We are a very international region, our economy is developing, and it is good that international students see it as a region not only to pursue their studies but also to work.”

Listening to the comments of the students, the event succeeded in many ways in achieving this goal: “The hospitality of the region, Connect Limburg and the partner organizations and companies for this event was truly remarkable,” said MBA33 student Phoebelyn Carrera.“For a young professional coming from the Philippines who has just been in the Netherlands for seven days, it was refreshing to see and feel that there were “no borders” in connecting to the people.”

“For me it was the first time that I was invited to learn more about Limburg and its growing economy,” said MBA33 student Mercedes Marinas from Peru. MBA33 participant Zhang Lei from Baosteel China described Limburg as “a special region full of energy.”

cross-border-dinner-2016

The students were particularly impressed with the openness of the companies’ representatives in talking about their business models:“The event gave us a glimpse as well as an opportunity to get to know companies that can be our future employers,” commented MBA33 student Phoebelyn Carrera. “The company visits were hosted by no other than top executives who were all very enthusiastic in sharing information about their organizations with us.”

“My personal highlight of the event was the dinner and the networking,”she added. “I had the opportunity to personally talk to top executives like Hans Besseling, CEO of Kersten Europe and Michiel Geraedts, Business Unit Manager of Zon alongside with higher education students from the region. In that short span of time I was able to learn about their industries and their respective visions for their organizations. This can help me in planning and shaping my future career plan.”

Perhaps the morning address of Belgian trend analyst Herman Konings to the students best captured the optimistic spirit and the main take-away message of the day. “The best way to predict the future is to invent it yourself,” he advised them. “You are the first truly global connected generation. You have a wonderful network of peers throughout the world, make use of that. You are truly collaborators. Go to the next level, partner up, collaborate and make this world a better place.”