Young Venture Group and AFAS Young Business Award join forces for a new collaboration

A key player within the Dutch tech scene with the AFAS Young Business Award (YBA) as its flagship. Daar is de Young Business Award in de afgelopen 10 jaar naartoe gegroeid. De komende jaren sluit ook de Young Venture Group (Young.) zich als ‘main partner’ aan bij de scale-up competitie. Het doel is om samen steeds meer impact te realiseren in de wereld van startups en scale-ups.

“Wim de Jong (founder of Young Venture Group) is pleased with the collaboration: ‘This partnership is a great step for both organizations and an excellent opportunity to expand our reach and inspire young entrepreneurs. Together, we can foster innovative ideas, encourage entrepreneurship, and help a new generation of startups grow into scale-ups.’ Naturally, both parties have joined forces to support tech companies in achieving their growth ambitions. The founders already had common ground when starting their organizations, particularly in the similarity of their names. ‘It’s quite coincidental and fun that this comes together so many years later,’ says Niels Palmers (founder & CEO of Young Business Award). ‘However, the collaboration is really about substance. Our mission is to support and motivate startups and scale-ups to fully realize their growth potential. With the Young Venture Group by our side, we can help even more founders by expanding our platform and the impact of the YBA. Additionally, the Young Venture Group can also contribute to the participants as an investor.'”

Wim de Jong: “Entrepreneurship is about seeing potential, daring to take risks, and taking action.”

Due to his interest in the real estate market, Wim took his first steps in this sector in 2011. The combination of ‘creating something out of nothing,’ thinking outside the box, and creating opportunities came together during the development of new housing projects and the transformation of vacant commercial real estate into hotels and new office concepts. This path led to the founding of the versatile Young Venture Group, through which Wim and his team, with a clear vision, pragmatic approach, and a lot of enjoyment, establish and participate in promising enterprises. Wim understands better than anyone what it takes to start and scale a business as an entrepreneur and has an insight into how to navigate through different growth phases and between the highs and lows while continuing to steer the development of your company.

Start of the collaboration

The official start of the collaboration (as well as the new partnerships with AFAS, De Ondernemer and a few new partners) will be celebrated on Thursday, September 7, during a special dinner event, where the new participants in the TV program will also be announced. Wim de Jong will be seen as a jury member in the four preliminary rounds on behalf of the Young Venture Group this year. ‘I’m really looking forward to it. I’m very curious about the wonderful companies we’ll see at the Young Business Award this year. Personally, I focus on real entrepreneurship, perseverance, and shrewdness. A great business model is one thing, but it’s not everything. In my view, the success of a company mainly depends on the entrepreneur rather than the idea,’ says Wim de Jong. Behind the scenes, preparations for this TV season are already in full swing. ‘This year, significant steps are being taken with the TV production. In collaboration with a new producer, we are improving the TV program. There will also be a new presenter, who will be announced on Thursday, September 7,’ says Thomas Nauw (founder & creative director of the Young Business Award). Filming for the new TV season is scheduled for Wednesday, September 20, two weeks after the special dinner event where the 12 participants of the AFAS Young Business Award will be revealed. “The first TV episode of this season will air on Sunday, November 12, at 5:30 PM on RTL-Z, and a day later on Videoland”.