Friso Smedes

During his pitch, Friso emphasized that even the best ideas wither if there are not sufficient funds to implement them properly. This is particularly a problem when we consider Africa’s development. For that reason, Friso has put a lot of energy into contributing to the development of a fund that can help to this end: African Giants. This student-led initiative focuses on helping start-ups in Ghana to attract funds and investors and also offers coaching to achieve sustainable development.

Friso is taking two Bachelor's degree programmes: International Business and, since the start of this year, Philosophy of Social Sciences. He is also pursuing the Philosophy track of the Honours Programme. This study package is an interesting choice and is certainly providing Friso with a broader perspective on the various problems and challenges facing the world, for which he would like to seek solutions.

Broadening his interests is not only something that Friso does through his studies, but also externally. As a member of the University Council, he dedicates himself on behalf of his fellow students. This is something he also does at the municipal level, where he is a member of the ‘Student en Stad’ think-tank. He even takes action at the national level, advocating for greater student mobility to China and Hong Kong through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. To this end, he is participating in the NAHSS (Netherlands-Asia Honours Summer School) programme, he visited Mahidol University in Thailand, and he is participating in the Seeds for Future programme run by the Chinese company Huawei, as part of which he and his team won a European start-up competition for their project on biogas power stations. He also built on this project during an international competition in Shenzhen, China, where Huawei has its head offices.

Friso is a driven and excellent student who, in addition to working on academic and societal challenges, enjoys organizing things, such as a large charity concert, where he also took to the piano stool. He would like to continue in international politics, something that the jury considers him highly suited for.