The Ideas Incubator: The programme to lay the foundations for your business project.

Free of charge and designed to be accessible to everyone, the Ideas Incubator consists of 8 days of training on different themes to help you refine and challenge your business idea (shop or restaurant) and lay the foundations for your project. Ready to make your project grow? Let’s get started!

Who is it for?

Do you think: “one day I’ll open my own restaurant”, “I dream of opening my own shop but I don’t know where to start” or “I have an idea for a business but I don’t know if it’s realistic”? Do you need a helping hand to structure your ideas? Then this programme is for you!

How does it work?

This programme is built around the following themes: strengthening and validating your idea, convincing and selling your project, defining your action plan, knowing who to contact if you need help and discovering the organisations that can help you and how to take action. At the end of the training, you will walk away with tangible elements to construct your first business plan and turn your retail idea into a reality!

The workshops take place in groups of no more than 15 participants and are led by professionals who will challenge your ideas. They work with the “design thinking” method, a creative, people-centred approach to solving problems and stimulating innovation.

The next Ideas incubator will take place from October 7th to October 22nd, 2024.

The 8 training days are spread over 4 weeks:

Monday 7/10, Tuesday 8/10, and Thursday 10/10: Full day (9 AM – 5 PM) in person at the hub.brussels offices (Chaussée de Charleroi 110 – 1060 Brussels)
Friday 11/10, Monday 14/10, and Tuesday 15/10: Research and individual work independently (estimated working time: 8 hours)
Wednesday 16/10: Morning only (9 AM – 1 PM) in person
Friday 18/10, Monday 21/10, and Tuesday 22/10: Full day (9 AM – 5 PM) in person

Participation in all 8 in-person training days is mandatory.

As places are limited, hub.brussels reserves the right to charge a €100 no-show fee to participants. This amount will be fully refunded if you attend the entire training.

The sole purpose of this €100 fee is to guarantee the participation of the selected candidates.

Why join this programme?

100% free face-to-face training in small groups
9 days dedicated 100% to your project to get it moving (really!)
Quick and easy to apply
One-to-one meetings with a coach and key players in the Brussels entrepreneurial scene
Access to our retail community: Facebook group, free training, conferences and experience sharing

Do you have a question about our program?

Join an online information session (in French only):

Tuesday, September 10, 2024, from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM
Thursday, September 19, 2024, from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM

The information session will include: an introduction to hub.brussels and the La Couveuse d’idées program, testimonials from former participants, a Q&A session, and more.

We are available by email to answer all your questions: couveuse@hub.brussels

Call for applications is closed.

Want to join the ideas incubator? Let us know you’re interested until 14 April 2022 (10.00 am)!

Programme

Thursday 25 November

AM: introduction of the incubator objectives, programme, participants, business ideas and guest speakers.
PM: design thinking session, customer experience and personas: concepts and implementation.

Friday 26 November

AM: ideas challenge session, in order to successfully position your project and stand out from the competition.
PM: pitching & theory session.

Monday 6 December

AM: design thinking session on customer experience and developing personas: feedback.
PM: workshop: how to optimize your shop/restaurant concept, via the customer journey.

Tuesday 7 December

AM: mapping the global ecosystem / key players in the sector.
PM: pitching & practice session.

Wednesday 8 December

AM: overview of support services available in the Brussels Capital Region.
PM: workshops and presentation of the Business Hub.

Thursday 9 December

AM: drawing up an action plan.
PM: first steps towards starting your own business, with support from our retail experts.
Networking Night: networking event.

Closing network event

The incubator programme will be concluded with an exclusive network event, on Thursday evening 9 December. You will meet the team of start-up coaches of hub.brussels, together with retail and hospitality entrepreneurs who participated in the programme in the past. Don’t miss it!

Is your concept already well-developed? Do you want to test your project?

Join our incubator:

our L’Auberge Espagnole retail incubator
our Kokotte hospitality incubator

Fields marked with * are compulsory.

Name*

First name*

ZIP Code*

E-mail*

Telephone Number

I confirm that I am available 25/11/21 to 26/11/21 and from 6/12/21 to 9/12/21:

Yes No

1- In 50 words, describe your concept in a clear and concise manner

2- Does your concept involve the opening of a physical retail outlet (offline) or a restaurant

3- Do you already have retail experience? If yes, provide a brief description.

Yes No

If yes, describe it briefly

4- At what stage is your concept?

5- Through this concept, what is the targeted problem?

What is the added value of your project? How does it fit into the Brussels commercial fabric? *

How do you see this project in 2 years? *

Would you qualify your project as ethical and sustainable? Explain briefly. *

What are your expectations regarding this training? *

In a few words, let us know your motivation to participate in this incubator week. *

Do you wish to add anything?

We place an extremely important value on the confidentiality and security of your personal data. The hub.brussels personal data protection policy informs you about how we process your data and about your rights.

Your concept is already well advanced and you want to test your project?

Your project is already well developed and you want to move on to the next stage? Test your business concept for 3 or 4 months by joining our retail or HoReCa incubator:

– our commercial incubator L’Auberge Espagnole

– our food incubator Kokotte