Prison Entrepreneurship Program.

Thugs and thieves are some kind of entrepreneurs. I am a firm believer of people taking the faith in their own hands and creating a future for themselves. That’s why I think it’s not such a bad idea to start prison entrepreneurship programs. Dealers and healers appear to be great salesmen, others have a talent for organising logistics and distribution channels, and some others do miracles with finances… It seems to me that if these people want to get a decent chance in society after they are released and regained freedom, the best way is to take matter into own hands. No job interviews where they will be refused because of their criminal record… As founders of a company, their past doesn’t really matter. It’s all about the things they are going to do. They can prepare and start their business from prison. Maybe a prison VC fund can support this…

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A new way of education, work, life and retirement. #oipd

I was just pondering and wondering about life in general and how you get where one wants to get.

I just came across this sheep and it made me smile. so mèèèèèèèèèèèh!

Wouldn’t it be a nice idea that everyone got a general education where personal interests and talents get developed for 15 years after which, people are obliged to continue to study, learn something practical (plumbing, painting, …) or try out entrepreneurship for 5 more years. In these 5 years they can experiment between all these possibilities and thus discover what they really like to do. At 20 years, they start their first professional life that lasts till they’re 40. Between 40 and 45, they get their pension sabbatical period. After that sabbatical, their second professional life starts. You are only presented with a real retirement (pension) proposition at 70. You can however choose to continue to work for 5 more years or go straight into retirement.

The idea is just that when living fast and furiously, you need to have a perspective in which you can really enjoy life fully. For me, this could and would probably work.

Going forward. Faster.

After talking to Kris Leys, who I’ve been in touch with through Flanders DC (SOS Idee), I’ve started looking for a co-owner for ZOYOKO. I was convinced that I just needed an angel investor to lower my personal risk, but after talking to him, it sprang to mind that I mostly need someone that can grow the ideas that make the ZOYOKO business in a more pragmatic way. Funds only came last in my priorities list.

Or it works. Or we pivot.

I wrote to several institutions and realized again that institutions are not the best to talk to when you’re talking entrepreneurship. But I have to say that I am open to alter my vision a bit on that as yesterday, I met Arne Oosthuyse of BRYO (Bright Young), a program for starters and entrepreneurs by VOKA.

My five cents on entrepreneurship

Although he certainly has some standardized speech, he let me do my talk before even starting to guess whether I knew what BRYO was. It was a nice talk. He pretty much convinced me that it would be really good for me to join the program. What convinced me most is that I would get out of it what i wanted to get out of it. BRYO enables you to talk to likeminded people on entrepreneurship. Not in the free floating Open Coffee kinda way but with both starters as experienced captains of industry with whom you could challenged your ideas, discuss problems and opportunities in free and organized sessions.

Anyway I’ll do my best, and try to get into next years program. Looking forward to that!