GUF-100 Prize for Friso Smedes

During the UG's Ceremony of Merits, on the 4^th of July, The GUF-100 prizes were presented. These prizes are awarded to the most excellent student of each faculty of the University of Groningen. This year, Friso Smedes won the prize as the most excellent student at the Faculty of Economics and Business. The GUF-100 prize, comprising a grant worth €2,500 for each student, is intended for study or research purposes.

Friso Smedes impressed the jury with his drive and the broad range of his activities. 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.

About Friso Smedes

Friso is pursuing two Bachelor's degrees: International Business and, since the start of 2025, Philosophy of Social Sciences. He also follows the Philosophy track of the Honours Programme. This combination of programmes provides him with a broad perspective on the various problems and challenges facing the world, for which he would like to seek solutions.

Friso not only broadens his perspective through his studies, but also with many extracurricular activities. 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 international level, advocating for greater student mobility to China and Hong Kong through the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. To this end, he is participating in the NAHSS (Netherlands-Asia Honours Summer School) programme. He also visited Mahidol University in Thailand as an exchange student and participated in the European start-up competition Seeds for the Future run by the Chinese company Huawei, which he and his team won with their project on biogas power stations. His team built further on this project during the global competition of Seeds for the Future in Shenzhen, China, where Huawei has its head offices. Friso would like to continue in international politics, something that the GUF-100 jury considers him highly suited for.