October 4-8th #VUBS students participated in the first Erasmus BIP – Blended Intensive Programme, where they spent a week in Rotterdam! #VUBS Team consisted of 7 members who come from Lithuania, Australia, India and Belarus!
One of the participants Iryna Pranovich shares her experience with us:
"Have you ever considered switching to plant-based meat or simply being a flexitarian?
Reduction of consumption of animal-based meat is good for sustainability, animals, and even your health, but what does stop you from it?
Availability? Price? Your meat-eating friends?
Students of 29 nationalities from 3 Universities, including representatives of Vilnius university Business School, spent 5 days in Rotterdam, taking part in lectures and workshops, practicing design thinking and formulating Jobs To Be Done, to help Unilever team and their The Vegetarian Butcher product to gain more attention and trust.
During the first days, students got familiar with the brand and their business problem via meetings with team members of Unilever, gained background about the food industry, and got ready to propose a solution to discovered problems. In the middle of the week, the whole activity moved to Rotterdam city, where participants ran rounds of human research interviews to uncover pain and gains of current or prospective customers, using knowledge gained during corresponding workshops.
10 teams were brainstorming ideas and preparing media materials for the final day of the programme. Each team had a business coach, who helped to take a step from idea to the solution. The goal was to develop and justify a solution together with a poster and video presentation to be ready to present and pitch it to members of Unilever team on Friday. During final day of the programme teams presented posters and pitch it to jury members form Unilever & The Vegetarian Butcher. Only 4 out of 10 teams made it to the finals, where video presentations and another round of pitches and Q&A took place.
Overall it was valuable experience in terms of practical knowledge in multunational environment, building international connections, woking under real-life problem within very short time. Hopefully these solutions will help to bring more and more people into more sustainable way of living, including their food preferences, care more about animals and health."
Thanks to Iryna for sharing!
The second part of the project will be held in the near future.