22 March 2017 : Erasmus School of Economics Alumni Day
On Wednesday 22 March 2017 the Erasmus School of Economics Alumni Day took place at Campus Woudestein in combination with the World of Business, the opening congress of the EFR Business Week. This year’s theme was play to win, in which every speaker shared their personal experience of going forward in the tumultuous world we live in.
The World of Business was opened by its host, Eelco Bosch van Rosenthal, known for his appearances on the Dutch News as a Journalist. Eelco asked the first speaker of the day on stage, Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chair of the State Bank of India, one of the world’s most powerful women. She spiraled around the idea that ‘Women have been listening for years, while men still need to learn how to listen’, make an art of listening. It is not about the words, it’s about the underlying message.
Princess Laurentien, another influential woman, founder of the Missing Children Foundation was awarded the EFR Business Week award. She pointed out that when you’re doing something that’s never been done before, there’s no way to know how to do it, you simply have to build the bridge as you walk on it.
During the intermezzo a very talented harpist, Mechteld Karlien de Jongh, shared an amazing story about how she fell in love with the harp. She didn’t find the harp, but the harp found her through its vibrations. It was wonderful to see her passion and dedication to doing what she loves.
After the intermezzo Bouwewijn van Eenennaam, a Dutch diplomat quoted Socrates “the only true wisdom is to know that you know nothing”. Your appearance matters with a ‘be like a swan, being beautiful, majestic, at rest above the water, but below the water trampling with your feet’.
During the closing keynote, Michael van Praag, Chairman of the KNVB talked about team building, and stressed that all players matter. As a person you should never change your values. As a last, but definitely not least, a woman who touched all of our hearts, Elissar H. Eliwi, a Syrian refugee shed a light on the acceptance of refugees. She had been in the position where Iraqi refugees entered Syria and people weren’t accepting them as equals. Now that she has experienced it herself, she understands that it is extremely important to build bridges between ‘them’ and ‘us’. She is on a nationwide tour to reach out to students and inform them about how we can help refugees.
After the World of Business, alumni were invited to join us at the Paviljoen for the Alumni dinner. With a record breaking number of registrations, and many younger alumni, this year has set an example of how we would like to continue in the following years. It was very nice to see how the younger and the older alumni connected with each other. Daniel Sikkens (chairman of the EAV) hosted the dinner, and our Dean Philip Hans Franses also spoke to our alumni about the importance of coming back to your faculty.
Many thanks to the EFR Business Week and the EFR External Affairs Committee, but of course we want to thank you, our alumni, for your presence and enthusiasm. We hope to see you at our next event!
Please find the pictures in our gallery and the Alumni Day video.