A chocolate bar with conversation cards to help reduce loneliness among older people. That is the idea behind the student company Chocohesie. The company was started by seven HZ students during the interdisciplinary Student Startup project. Thirty percent of the profits go to the Dutch Foundation for Older People (Ouderenfonds). Business Administration student Juliëtte and Communication student Yara tell us more about it.
During the Student Startup project (this year still called Impact Studio), students from different economic programmes at HZ work together for six months on their own company with a sustainable product. Every student has their own role, such as general manager, sales manager, HR manager, financial director or communication manager.
You are in the final weeks of the project. Are these busy weeks?
Juliëtte: “Definitely. In the final weeks, we are trying to sell as many chocolate bars as possible. But we are already very happy with the results. We are going to reach the goal we set for ourselves!”
How did the idea for Chocohesie start?
Yara: “Loneliness is becoming a bigger social problem. Not only among older people, but also among other age groups. We wanted to find an easy way to start meaningful conversations. When Juliëtte told us she knew a chocolatier in Yerseke, everything came together.”
From left to right: Sidney, Marnix, Bas, Levi, Mees, Juliëtte en Yara.
What kind of questions are on the cards?
Yara: “We chose thought-provoking questions that really make you think out loud. For example: what would you have liked to learn earlier in life? What always cheers you up? Or: which superpower would you like to have?”
Juliëtte: “The goal is to start a meaningful conversation. We receive many positive reactions. One mother told us she had a really nice conversation with her son thanks to the chocolate bar.”
The chocolate is made in Zeeland. Did you consciously choose local production?
Juliëtte: “Yes, we think it is important to support local businesses, and it is also more sustainable. We also like working with companies we can easily visit. For example, we work with a company from Goes for the packaging.”
Your company consists of seven students from different programmes. How do you make that a real team?
Juliëtte: “We were very lucky with the group. We had the same mindset and working together went very smoothly. The most important thing is that everyone feels comfortable speaking up and has the chance to share ideas.”
Yara: “From the start, the roles were clear. Every week we have team meetings where we make plans and keep each other updated. If that is clear from the beginning, working together becomes much easier.”
What did you learn most from this project?
Juliëtte: “When you start a company, everything you learn during your studies comes together. You get a lot of responsibility to solve challenges yourself, together with your team of course. Looking back now, we can really be proud of the results.”
Yara: “You learn to work together with students from other programmes and you discover how differently people look at problems. Finance & Control students, for example, look much more strictly at the financial side, while I naturally do that less. We learned a lot about entrepreneurship, teamwork and taking responsibility. We will take that with us into the future.”
