Team of the month 06/23: Entrepreneurship Center

30/05/2023

Since 2015, the WU Entrepreneurship Center team, headed by Rudolf Dömötör, has been the first point of contact that WU students and employees can turn to for all things entrepreneurship. The Entrepreneurship Center has also become a networking hub for the Austrian start-up scene, and its reports track the development of the national start-up ecosystem (Austrian Startup Monitor, Austrian Investing Report, Female Startups and Investing Report, European Capital Map, ...). The Entrepreneurship Center team, consisting of Rina Gjana, Riheb Hassan, Stephan Jung, Lisa Mader, Monique Schlömmer, Johanna Wiesner, and Isabel Zagler have been selected as our latest Team of the Month, in recognition of their great achievements.

“Entrepreneurship means taking a 360-degree perspective!” says Rudolf Dömötör. With its programs, the WU Entrepreneurship Center provides support tailored to the different stages of its clients’ individual entrepreneurial journeys. “For us, it’s all about creating awareness. We are the ‘home of changemakers’ because we are a contact point for everyone who wants to become active and use their skills to contribute to the economy and society,” says Monique Schlömmer. The team sees entrepreneurship as a very broad concept – it not only means starting a business but also refers to entrepreneurial ways of thinking and acting, which can provide a whole new perspective on work and life.

The motivated team is pursuing its mission by turning the WU Entrepreneurship Center next to the Mensa cafeteria into an open space for everyone interested in entrepreneurial thinking and action. This is done by hosting regular meeting formats, but also by organizing various special events. The team’s programs range from impact projects involving work with elementary school children, cross-university networking (ECN and JointForces), and skill development to personalized one-on-one support for student start-up projects (FoundersAdvice and StartupLeague). The ENGAGE.EU Expedition, which brings together students from all ENGAGE.EU partner universities, adds an additional international dimension to the center’s activities.

The center’s core team, which consists of eight people, is complemented by a group called the WUnderteam: These are up to 10 students who join for one or more semesters and independently organize and implement events or projects in teams. They are key ambassadors of the student entrepreneurship spirit. “Working with young students who have a strong get-up-and-go attitude is a great motivation for us!” says Riheb Hassan.

More information and event details are available at:

Activities of the WU Entrepreneurship Center:

  • Changemaker Market Day: An extra-curricular academic impact program (2 ECTS credits) for WU students who accompany elementary school children on their first entrepreneurial journey

  • SkillsAcademy: A workshop program that teaches a broad range of essential life and soft skills

  • EntrepreneursTALK: Entrepreneurs share their personal career stories with students

  • Joint Forces: Networking event for WU, TU Wien, and BOKU students, where they can meet potential co-founders and get inspired by other projects

  • Entrepreneurship Avenue: Europe’s largest student start-up event series, where participants get to try out entrepreneurship first hand and build interdisciplinary networks

  • FoundersADVICE: Students receive individual, personalized feedback on their business ideas

  • StartupLeague: A mentor provides personalized supervision of a start-up project for one semester, supported by experts from the start-up scene

  • ENGAGE.EU: International university networking and student exchange opportunities during the ENGAGE.EU Expedition Weeks

Photo: Team of the WU Entrepreneurship Center (Copyright: olivialaura.at)

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