5-Euro Business Competition

What would you do if someone gave you five euros? Buy an ice cream? Make a donation? Participants in the "5-Euro Business Competition" use their five euros as starting capital for the foundation of their own company.

The aim of the competition is to enable students from all subject areas to learn how to quickly set up a functioning start-up in interdisciplinary teams within one semester with very limited financial resources. Especially in interdisciplinary teams, students are able to optimally contribute their specific expertise in practice and learn that they complement each other, thus greatly enriching their team as a whole.

In the very first weeks of the semester, the students had to decide on their own innovative and promising business idea as part of the "Entrepreneurial Thinking and Business Design" course. After some introductory seminars on topics such as marketing, project management, and intellectual property rights, the participating teams were given five euros by the bbw as starting capital. The teams then had time to try out their idea on the market with the goal of achieving the highest possible real sales by the end of the semester. At the end of the semester, the most successful teams were awarded prizes. This semester, "success" was also assessed based on the criterion of "sustainability" for the first time ever. This change was particularly welcome, as the University of Bayreuth now offers three courses on social and sustainable entrepreneurship: the Social Entrepreneurship Camp, the Social Entrepreneurship Lecture, and the Social Entrepreneurship Practice Project.

Courses in Winter Semester 2020/21

The lecture "Social Entrepreneurship", which is open to students of all degree programmes, will also be held in Winter Semester 2020/21. In addition, planning for the next 5-Euro Business Competition is already underway.