Explore and develop your own business idea with support from experienced entrepreneurs and coaches. The Building Your Own Business minor helps you kick-start your own company, especially valuable when combined with an entrepreneurship graduation project.
Come and meet us
Choosing a minor is an important decision. That's why we will help you make your choice.
Why choose this minor?
- Because it is all about your dream!
- It will help you explore your entrepreneurial ambitions
- It will kick-start your own business
- You get help from experienced entrepreneurs and coaches
About this minor
From start to finish, you will lay out your individual development as an entrepreneur (Your Drive). This will be guided by your coach. You will work on your own business idea (Your Dream) Moby attending classes, workshops and Q&As with experienced entrepreneurs, and weekly team meetings.
The minor begins with a boot camp. Working in a team, you will set up a business to explore entrepreneurship in its essence. After that, your team will work on a real business challenge. You will also attend classes on practical entrepreneurship, covering topics related to running your own business.
After the first few weeks, it is time to start your individual project. In twelve weeks’ time, you go through the design circle: inspiration, ideation and implementation.
Halfway through, Global Entrepreneurship Week takes place, featuring guest speakers and Q&As. Searching for Loeihard, Sassybot or Twirlbound on Google will give you an idea of the visiting companies.
More information:
- Language of instruction
English.
- Admission requirements
Admission requirements for BUas students:
- Personal intake interview, an entrepreneurial mindset and 3 years of a bachelor’s programme
- Propaedeutic certificate obtained
Admission requirements for external students:
- The Building Your Own Business minor is intended for students in their fourth year of the programme (CB Year 3). This minor is for motivated, proactive young professionals with an entrepreneurial mindset.
The minor is taught in English. Please bear in mind that you will be working long hours. Most weeks, you will have lectures in the morning and time to work on your projects in the afternoon. - Propaedeutic certificate obtained
- Learning outcomes & competencies
- You will develop a professional and reflective approach to entrepreneurial practice and personal skill development.
- You will learn to generate, interpret and apply relevant insights in order to identify and assess potential business directions.
- You will learn to design and critically evaluate business model scenarios, using evidence and KPIs to validate them.
- You will learn to assess the viability, desirability, feasibility and social responsibility of the developed business case.
To achieve this, you will
- conduct and reflect on a multitude of research methodologies: explore, define, and analyse trends, markets, and customers to identify and assess potential business directions;
- generate, analyse and evaluate ideas to validate business scenario’s;
- develop and assess your business case in terms of viability, desirability, feasibility, and (corporate) social responsibility;
- develop entrepreneurial competencies and creative and entrepreneurial skills such as reflective, planning, goal setting, leadership, risk-taking, networking and teamwork skills.
- Topics and structure of the minor
This minor will help you explore your entrepreneurial ambitions and even kick-start your own company, which is especially interesting when you choose to do an entrepreneurship graduation project after this minor.
From start to finish, you will lay out your individual development as an entrepreneur (Your Drive). This will be supported with guidance with your coach. Your Dream (read: My Dream) is central in the programme. You will work on your own business idea by attending classes, workshops and Q&A's with experienced entrepreneurs, and weekly team meetings. Also, you will have regular 1:1 meetings about your development with your coach.
The first weeks
The minor begins with a boot camp lasting approximately two weeks. Working in a team, you will set up a business to explore entrepreneurship in its essence. After that, your team will work on a real business challenge (approximately 3 weeks). You will also attend classes on practical entrepreneurship, covering topics related to running your own business.My Dream
After the first few weeks, it is time to start your individual project. In recent years, students came up with all kinds of business ideas, such as a vegan lunch spot, a jewellery brand and a new video game. In twelve weeks’ time, you go through the design circle: inspiration, ideation and implementation.
During the inspiration phase, you conduct various types of research. For example, you explore market trends, identify relevant markets and gain solid customer insight. The aim of all this research is to provide insight into business opportunities.
During the ideation phase, you consider alternatives and generate creative ideas. You analyse all the research data to generate several good ideas.
In the implementation phase, you work on your marketing and financial plans. Your final product is the plan that you present to your lecturers at the end of the minor.
Halfway through, Global Entrepreneurship Week takes place, featuring guest speakers and Q&As. Searching for Loeihard, Sassybot or Twirlbound on Google will give you an idea of the visiting companies. You will also attend several external workshops of your choice, for example on sales, marketing or sustainability.
What’s in it for you?
Taking this minor will help you explore your entrepreneurial ambitions and even kick-start your own company. This is particularly interesting if you choose to complete an entrepreneurship graduation project after taking the minor.
From start to finish, you will use an entrepreneurial scan (Your Drive) to measure your progress as an entrepreneur. You will also have one-to-one conversations with your coach and an interview with an experienced entrepreneur.During the 20 weeks, you will work on your personal development in the ‘Drive’ section. You will have access to personal and business coaching. Following Brown’s design cycle, the course consists of three main parts: Inspiration, Ideation, and Implementation.
- Teaching & assessment
Interactive lectures and workshops, tutorials, coach meetings, milestone meetings and guest lectures
5 ECTS Boost Camp – presentation (pass/fail)
Team up for Business - memo + presentation (0-10 grade)
5 ECTS My Drive – Individual project (0-10 grade)
20 ECTS My Dream – portfolio + presentation (0-10 grade)- Minor coordinator
Jelmer Weijschede: [email protected]
After this minor
In recent years, students came up with all kinds of business ideas, such as a vegan lunch spot, a jewelry brand and a new video game, which they all actually realised. Will you also go for living your dream? Then choose an entrepreneurship graduation project after your minor!
Practical information
When
Monday 31 August 2026 – Friday 31 January 2027
Where
All classes and meetings will take place on the BUas campus in Breda.
Teaching method
We offer a variety of (guest) lectures, interactive tutorials, coach meetings, business simulation and milestone meetings.
How to apply?
You can choose this minor if you study at BUas, but students from other higher education institutes are also warmly invited to join. This makes for a diverse and inspiring classroom!
- How to apply: BUas students
For BUas students, the application option in Osiris opens from 23 to 27 March 2026 (fall semester) & 5 to 9 October 2026 (spring semester). When you apply in Osiris you can indicate two preferences, these can be two different minors at BUas, but you should also indicate if you prefer to take an external minor. For more detailed information please visit the Minor Desk page on the student portal.
Please note that applicants will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis or via a selection procedure as mentioned at the admission requirements on this page.
- How to apply: non-BUas students
All information regarding the minors for 2026 -2027 is available on Kies op Maat. From 2 February to 15 May, the application option and thus the download of the learning agreement will be open on Kies op Maat.
The full step-by-step plan:
- Download the learning agreement on Kies op Maat. Ask your own university of applied sciences to sign the learning agreement for approval.
- Start your application via Studielink – this is possible until 26 June. Go to the Study Programmes tab and click 'add new enrolment application'. Then click at 'Educational institution' on Breda University of Applied Sciences and enter 'Minor' or 'KOM' as search term. A list of BUas KOM minors per academy will appear. Make sure you apply for the right minor. Check the learning agreement to see where your minor belongs to. After registering in Studielink you will receive two emails: one confirming your registration with BUas and immediately afterwards an email containing the login codes for and the link to Osiris Registration from BUas. If you do not receive the second e-mail, check your spam first and otherwise send an e-mail to [email protected].
- Receive access to My Online Application. Here you can complete – and keep track of – the next steps of your application.
- Upload the signed learning agreement in My Online Application (note: the learning agreement must be signed by your own university of applied sciences and yourself before uploading it on My Online Application)
- Since you are coming to BUas temporarily for a minor, it is important that you arrange payment in a correct manner via the following steps to arrange your proof of payment, a so-called BBC (Bewijs Betaald Collegegeld).
- Arrange the payment at your own institution
- Go to Studielink and request a BBC for BUas. Click here to go to the correct webpage (search on this page for the "Request for proof of paid tuition fees") for the step by step plan.
Make sure you complete all steps on time, as mentioned there are deadlines for downloading the learning agreement and starting your application. Once you have made a start in My Online Application, you have until 1 September / the start of the minor at the latest to complete your steps. Please note:
- Some minors have limited numbers of places available. Students will be admitted in order of application.
- If you are a student of an institution affiliated to Kies op Maat, the rules and agreements of Kies op Maat apply. The costs of the minor will be settled between BUas and your home institution. As a student, you won’t notice anything about this.
- If you are a student from a government-funded institution that is not affiliated to Kies op Maat, we will make separate arrangements about financing the minor before the start of the minor.