Entrepreneurship: These are the first Swiss champions

Can you learn entrepreneurship? At the latest since the SwissSkills 2022 we know the answer: Yes, it can be done. Because for the first time in history, the competition in the discipline of entrepreneurship was held at the Swiss Professional Championships from September 7 to 10. Raymond Tea and Ralf Boltshauser were crowned the first Swiss champions on September 10, 2022. They recently completed vocational training as application developers. Ralf Boltshauser comes from Fehraltorf and Raymond Tea from Gundetswil. Second place went to Julia Koch and Maria Näf from Thurgau, and the bronze medal went to Gian Wyss from Willisau and Yannick Tschuor from Adligenswil. The winning team will represent Switzerland at the EuroSkills in Gdansk in 2023 and at the WorldSkills in Lyon in 2024.

Great interest and ideas with potential

Around 150 young people from vocational education and training applied for the first championship in entrepreneurship last winter. Eight teams from the different language regions of Switzerland, 19 people in total, made it to the finals at SwissSkills 2022. Over four days, they put their entrepreneurial skills to the test. At the beginning of SwissSkills, they were given the task: Within three days, the finalists had to develop a business idea that would contribute to achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 3. This goal aims to ensure a healthy life for all people of all ages and to promote their well-being. The winning team's business idea was an app that promotes habits that strengthen physical and mental health.

During the preparations, the teams were accompanied by seven coaches from the startup scene. These evaluated their performance during the process. The final presentations on Saturday were evaluated by three external jury members (Michael Koch, Sandra Schnyder and Matthias Peterhans). In total, the final score was made up of 24 criteria. Among other things, the feasibility and financing had to be guaranteed and the business idea had to be presented convincingly.

"We learned an incredible amount during the competition".

"It was very inspiring to work with seven other innovative, motivated teams on SDG 3, which is about global health. And it was an incredible feeling to win a discipline that is being done for the first time," says winner Ralf Boltshauser. His teammate Raymond Tea adds, "We learned an incredible amount during the competition. Winning is great, but taking part and getting to know the coaches was the very best thing." Thomas Heimann, Executive Director of IG EntrepreneurSkills, is very satisfied with the first EntrepreneurSkills: "I am proud that we were able to hold the first Swiss Championships in Entrepreneurship at SwissSkills 2022". National Councilor and entrepreneur Andri Silberschmidt is the president of IG EntrepreneurSkills. For him, entrepreneurial thinking and action are key competencies for actively shaping the future of Switzerland in a responsible and innovative way: "The first-time staging of EntrepreneurSkills is a complete success. At last, young professionals have been able to compete in entrepreneurship and we have created a discipline of the future that will compete for medals at the Euro- and Worldskills".

The emergence of EntrepreneurSkills

A year and a half ago, various organizations - including the Swiss Conference of Directors of Vocational Schools, which is responsible for the UDH project (which aims to systematically anchor entrepreneurial thinking and action in basic vocational education), and FH Schweiz, the umbrella organization for FH graduates - decided to organize the Entrepreneurship competition. All participating organizations want to use EntrepreneurSkills to promote and make visible entrepreneurial thinking and action in vocational education and training.

Source and further information: www.entrepreneurskills.ch/