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Bilal Naanough (10) was watching television at home when he decided he wanted to be the Business Development Director of High Tech Campus in Eindhoven. He picked up a pen and started writing: ‘Dear mister Director, I want your job’, and got it. At least for a day.

The letter ended up at the desk of the ‘real’ Business Development Director at High Tech Campus: Cees Admiraal. The two of them looked into an available date and agreed that Bilal would be a ‘Guest-Director’, to see if this job would really suit him.

Bilal met zijn brief, zijn vader (links) en Cees Admiraal (rechts)
Bilal with his letter, his father (Left) and Cees Admiraal (Right)

Pilot, Doctor, Director
And so it happened that the young entrepeneur and his driver (also father) got in their car at 6.30 in the morning on the 3d of march to drive from Heemskerk to Eindhoven. It was a day of firsts for young Bilal. “I have taken part in a meeting with Chinese entrepeneurs, negotiated on the price for office space, and I’ve had my first meeting with the press. This is the first time I have been interviewed, ever.”

At first he wanted to become a Pilot, after that he wanted to be a Doctor. “But I soon discovered my real passion: owning a business”, he says. “Today I have completed my first internship.” It has been a good experience, being the head of High Tech Campus for a day. “Everything we did was really fun, to be honest.” He can’t pick one moment as his best. “But it sure  was interesting to be able to walk around in a real lab.”

Ups and Downs
As soon as his father arrived to drive his son home again, he officially resigned as the head of High Tech Campus. When school begins on Monday, he will have to go back to class and tell his friends about being Director for a day. The ins and outs, the ups-and-downs. “Because it’s been really great, but I’m also a little tired right now.”