Testimonials

I consider New Enterprises for Engineers the lost treasure of ETH Zurich. It is entrepreneurship course hidden among the courses of Department of Mechanical Engineering.

It’s amazing and unique experience because it’s the only way for student:

to present your business idea in awesome and the most important auditorium of ETHZ
to be judged not only by your professor but a jury of professional investors
to have students in your team from all ETHZ departments and many different countries
to go on a quest for customers far beyond the borders of ETHZ
to be surprised how things are approached in business (e.g. presentation order)
to have alumni group based on just the single course
and most importantly -
to move forward with bringing your smart idea into fruition!

But it’s not an easy work – half a day for the lecture and external guest, few nights to work with your team – and it’s every week because you have to be ready for Aula presentation You leave the course not only with plenty of new and diverse knowledge but with full scale business plan. The NEFE probably has the highest ratio of work to credits – but that’s right because you end up better prepared for the challenges of entrepreneurship.

Some other "nice things" of the course – professor who is himself successful serial entrepreneur (always keeps his doors open to advise on ways to develop your idea) and plenty of opportunities to meet experienced businessmen.

Very recommended! I would be very disappointed if I missed this course.

Eugene Filimon

The amazing thing that happened was for me to take up a course on Enterprise here in Zurich, where I found my strengths and my passion to be an entrepreneur.
Over the course of 14 weeks, we were required to form a team and come up with a business plan, and at the end make a presentation to a Venture Capitalist from Switzerland. I will never forget that feeling of euphoria and great sense of achievement my team and I felt at that point in time when the Venture Capitalist approved our business plan. This imagery has become so firmly etched in my mind that it has become my personal mantra for living; to live with purpose, to live with passion and to live like an entrepreneur.
To work with people of such diverse backgrounds was a big eye-opener for me. I remember having to go through the biographies of students: Engineers, Architects, Entrepreneurs, mundane people like me! The most amazing thing for me was to have a team from four corners of the world in which I discovered that I had a knack for marketing and strategy as I was tasked to handle this aspect of the business plan.
I also thought it was very inspiring to have Entrepreneurs share how they took a leap of faith when they started up their business. I was very inspired by Marc Vollenwieder’s story as it questions the very fact of what drives a true Entrepreneur to take such brave moves.

In the words of Professor Abhari I quote: “ know your customers’ pain”, get to know what it takes to be an Entrepreneur, take up NEFE!

With Great Thanks!,
Kenneth Chiu Wei Rong