4 minute read
Afterlife, Round One
Interview with Queen Beloe
In our new series of interviews, we will from time to time bring you stories of what happened to students who graduated here. They are called alumni, which is the plural of the word alumnus; apparently when you graduate you need to be labelled with the name of a Saint Bernard dog or the title of a roman legionary.
These interviews will aim to reassure those about to leave here that there is life after university years, that there is happiness and self-realisation in the pains of Sisyphean grind. There is hope, there is light at the end of the tunnel. There is life after life.
We made our first alumn interview with Queen Beloe, former UL student from Cameroon.
Queen is a recent graduate of the Master in Entrepreneurship and Innovation programme. She is the founder of E-mpact pharma - a startup project she started during her studies here. She was kind enough to make time in her hectic schedule to give us a very inspirational interview!
How did you like your studies here?
I loved it. I had a great time, had truly great experiences, and learned a lot! Before coming here from Cameroon - where I am from - I studied pharmacy. Thanks to the skills and experiences I acquired from my studies here, I was able to come up with a startup idea that was going to add value to my pharmacy background.
Tell us something about the project!
We are called E-mpact Pharma. It will be an online marketplace where medications can conveniently be interchanged with the aim to limit the number of expired medications that end up in our ecosystem and make scarce medications more accessible.
It’s still in its early stage, and the university has given us a huge push in getting it off the ground.
How so?
After completing my studies and defending my thesis, I decided to pursue the project. Luckily, I came across the call for candidates for the ideation camp 2023, and then I knew it was an opportunity not to be missed. To be selected for the Ideation camp, we needed to write an executive summary of our business plan through the “My Big Idea” competition. We emerged winners of this competition with the best business Idea.
Moving to the Ideation camp, we worked very hard to be able to get the title as winners of the Ideation camp 2023. It was an intense one-week experience with lots of mentorships, group work, networking, and challenges. The best experience for any young founder like me. The highlight of it all was getting our very first project funding from the Univer sity of Luxembourg with access to the incu bator, mentors and training.
What are your future plans / what is the way forward?
We are working on an online platform with our entry market as Cameroon. There are two reasons for that. Firstly, since I am from Cameroon and I have a pharmacy licence there, I know the market and the pharmacists. Secondly, this project has a clear social aspect to it, and I would like to help people in my country of origin. Of course, after E-mpact Pharma has been prop erly established and running, we will extend our operation internationally!
We are getting there, and I am enjoying every bit of doing it!
The alumnus has spoketh, friends of ROUX, allies in our precious bubble. Keep well in mind: riding into sunsets and exploding cars behind nonchalant heroes are not a myth, but merciless facts of the mundane. Slay, alumni, slay - you have only just begun.
We look forward to Queen and E-mpact Pharma changing the world, of which we will definitely bring you the sweet news; along with other non-apocalyptic trajectories of post-uni life on earth (or space!).
by Zoltan Tajti
