Background: Raimonda is doing her master’s degree in MA in International Tourism and Leisure Management. In March 2021 she started her company Moto Lounge and decided to do an internship in her own company in the 3rd semester of her studies.
Q: What did you do to start your internship in your own business? And how did Pakhuset help you in that process?
R: I already had the business because I started it in March. In August I got into the Startup Station just before the 3rd semester. In order to do an internship in my own business, I had to find an organisation that was relevant to my business due to of the requirements in my curriculum. You have to work with some kind of organisation, and I was suggested to work with Pakhuset. So I got in contact with Jens Martinus Pedersen and told him about my situation and then I filled out an application and applied and now I’m here.
Q: How does it work being an intern in your own business and working with Pakhuset?
R: We meet up every two weeks or so. I don’t live here in Kolding, so I drive here from Odense – I am just here for the meetups.
We need to write a report at the end of the internship, which in my case is more research-oriented because my study program is very much based on the research. The idea behind the internship is to do something with the organisation where you do the internship, that both the student and the organisation will benefit from when doing it together. In my case, the organisation is my company, so it is naturally helpful to me as well.
I’m doing a market research on women motorcyclists and the industry of motorcycling because my business is selling motorcycling clothes for women. The activities we do here in Pakhuset are parallel to the research and supports us in the business development process. It is general support and not only for writing the report but also for my business.
All the students who are doing internships in their own business meet at Pakhuset. Here we have workshops on different topics e.g., on customers, budget and other various aspects that are a part of running a business. Flemming Bech Thøisen and Jens Martinus Pedersen from Pakhuset are facilitating these workshops, where you’ll meet other students in a similar situation as yourself. This gives you a feeling of being in this together even though we do the course individually.
Q: When you started your business, did you have any contact to Pakhuset?
R: No, I didn’t know about Pakhuset at that time. But it would have helped me a lot in the beginning when I launched my business. I am realising during these workshops so many things that I didn’t think about at the start of my business that I could have benefitted from back then, and Jens and Flemming at Pakhuset could have supported my process so much better.
Q: What would you have liked to have known earlier on about Pakhuset?
R: I think that this place is a unique opportunity for students to use. Not only do you have access to free consultancy, but you also get a work space and a place where you can have meetings with customers. You have all the facilities, printers or the internet that you need. If you had to find a working space like this elsewhere, it would be very expensive. So already there you have a huge advantage.
Another huge advantage I found being in Pakhuset is, that Jens and Flemming work with so many different startups every day. Therefore, just sharing ideas and challenges with them gives me so many new perspectives. They have so much knowledge and so many insights. They have really helped me to reflect on so many aspects on my business that have made me much stronger.
When you start a business, you lack the knowledge and the knowhow. At Pakhuset, you have access to the consultants for free. They may not be experts in a certain area (that you’re working with), but they can give you very good guidance and provide you with contacts and direction.
Moto Lounge – more than just a shop for female motorcyclists
Q: How did you start your business?
R: I am a motorcycle enthusiast and my husband is the same, so we had motorcycles as a central part of our lives for a long time. Then corona came and changed my work life and I thought “Well, maybe now is the time to do something”. Motorcycle clothing for women has been a huge challenge for years. I would get annoyed because I could find nice clothing. When you go to motorcycle shop everything is for men and only a small corner for women. I didn’t like motorcycle shops, they were too dark and didn’t engage me in shopping. So I had this idea that one day I want to have a nice motorcycle shop – a lounge! A place where people can come, they can relax and have a cup of coffee and talk to each other while shopping for motorcycle clothes.
So I decided on doing this shop just for women. We had so space in out house to set up a small boutique and I though “well maybe I should just do it!”. I think that is the entrepreneurial mindset – to just go for it and do it.
Originally the idea was to do an online shop, but I know that people want to touch and try the clothes because the fit is very important. I thought that I would make an online shop and then have a small showroom. But very quickly the showroom became more a shop than a showroom – even faster than I had imagined. So now I have an actual shop and an online shop.
Moto Lounge is the first shop where you can buy different clothing for women in one place. Not just black ones. I also started working with brands that wasn’t present in Denmark before. So the brands, the looks and the sizing I look for is just a little bit different. In that way I think I serve a marked that others were not serving.