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New Business Development

Turn your business idea into a sound business plan

#1

FT ranked logo colour

in Open Executive Education in Belgium and #24 worldwide

324

former participants

4.6/5

for Learning Impact

Growing a business means constantly looking for new opportunities. But the chances of a new lead working out can be small. So how do you increase the success rate of new business activity? 

Over five days, you’ll live and learn strategies for growth, create an elevator pitch, assess the strengths and weaknesses of your business idea – and find out how to convince stakeholders. You’ll write a business plan that will create real impact for your business – and get feedback from faculty and peers. 

Detailed programme

Over five game-changing days, you’ll develop a sound business plan – and gain the confidence to pitch your idea internally and to investors. You’ll learn to structure your proposal and build the right team to move it forward. Then you’ll present your ideas and get feedback from faculty and peers. 

Lectures, real-life cases, guest speakers and coaching are all focused on entrepreneurialism. Which means you’ll get the knowledge and skills you need to take your business development management to the next level. At the end of the programme, you’ll develop a robust plan to implement your new business idea. And you’ll get detailed feedback from faculty and peers. You’ll leave with an action plan in order to gather new revenue streams.

The New Business Development programme covers four modules:  

Module 1: Defining roads for growth 

  • Define business development and why you need to invest in it 
  • Learn from intrapreneurs and entrepreneurs 
  • Discover the tools that help you identify opportunities for growth 
  • Dig deeper into new products/services/markets, exploring new channels, innovating at business model level and shaping partnerships  

Module 2: Analysing and validating your growth opportunities  

  • Learn how to conduct market research, assess competitive advantage and evaluate feasibility 
  • Discover how to test new business ideas more efficiently and effectively 

Module 3: Writing your business plan and delivering your elevator pitch 

  • Understand how to deliver a confident elevator pitch 
  • Discover the building blocks of a good business plan 
  • Learn to convince others to back your idea 
  • Uncover the dos and don’ts of writing a business plan 
  • Know how to map the financials of your new business idea  

Module 4: Stakeholder management 

  • Discover how to create internal buy-in for your idea 
  • Learn to manage a team and move your idea forward successfully 

Sounding-board: A half-day session to take your business plan to the next level

  • Present your own business case a couple of weeks after the modules. You’ll get detailed feedback from faculty and peers on how you can grow your business and gather new revenue streams.
  • Discover how other professionals and organisations tackle similar questions/challenges.

Why this programme

  • Develop a robust business development plan - and gain the confidence to pitch it
  • Become an expert in evaluating and explaining the potential of an idea
  • Cultivate a more entrepreneurial mindset in mature organisations
  • Connect with entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs from various industries 

Who should attend

  • Intrapreneurs, middle or senior-level business managers in mature organisations who are responsible for developing new business opportunities  
  • Entrepreneurs who are developing or refining their business plan and growing their business 
  • Managers of university spin-offs who want to bring inventions to the market 

In previous editions, we had the pleasure of welcoming participants from companies like:

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Drukwerk

Success stories

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You learn how to work with very practical tools which you can apply to real life cases and to your own company. They help you deal with uncertainty and guide you through the various steps necessary in launching new products or services, or starting a new company. Based on practical evidence, you learn that to be successful, managers also need to be entrepreneurs. New Business Development is a programme that succeeds in linking theory to practice! 

Faculty

Miguel Meuleman

Miguel Meuleman

Professor of Entrepreneurship

Miguel Meuleman is passionate about the process, people and investors behind new venture ideas.

Veroniek Collewaert

Veroniek Collewaert

Professor of Entrepreneurship

Veroniek Collewaert explores – and improves – relationship dynamics between investors and entrepreneurs.

Cedric Donck

Cedric Donck

Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship

Internet investor and independent board member Cedric Donck supports companies that combine profit and purpose.

Mark Vandecruys

Mark Vandecruys

Entrepreneur in Residence

Chairman at Fedrus International, Mark Vandecruys provides a valuable sounding board for our entrepreneurship students and alumni.

Get in touch!

Marjolein Van der Weerden

Marjolein Van der Weerden