Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO)‘s Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (EO GSEA) encourage “studentpreneurs” to grow their businesses with support from mentors and fellow entrepreneurs. With 2018 EO GSEA global finals rapidly approaching, we are reaching out to previous participants and finalists to find out how the program changed their lives.

Meet 26-year-old Lotte Leufkens, the 2017 GSEA global finalist from the Netherlands and founder of CloudCuddle.

Tell us about your company. CloudCuddle designs and produces transportable bed tents to enable families with handicapped children to sleep away from home.

What’s been happening since GSEA? Two months after the awards, we were able to launch our first product onto the market! Our product has gotten a great response from the market, enabling us to start start new projects and grow even more.

In November 2017,  I won the TEDx Amsterdam Women Startup Award. (Here’s my Ted Talk.) And in January 2018, I was named one of the Top 50 Entrepreneurs Under 35 by the Financieel Dagblad (Financial Newspaper) in the Netherlands.

What were the top lessons you learned at GSEA? My favorite moment from GSEA was the forum session with the group. This is where we learned about the Gestalt attitude and how it can enrich your life and business. I learned how the EO community communicates with each other and the value that their Gestalt mindsight brings them every day. As soon as we reach US$250k revenue, I am determined to join the EO Accelerator program!

Read more on EO GSEA from the Octane blog.

What’s on the horizon today? I am graduating in the coming months. We’ve made a start with a second CloudCuddle project and I am looking for a new co-founder. So much exciting stuff happening at the moment.

Pushing through all the lows gives the biggest highs when you achieve new goals!

EO GSEA is the premier global competition for students who own and operate a business while attending college or university. Nominees compete against their peers from around the world in a series of local and/or national competitions in hopes to qualify for GSEA Finals. Founded in 1998 by Saint Louis University, GSEA is now an Entrepreneurs’ Organization program. Meet the 2018 finalists and check the GSEA site often for news about 2019 applications!