Braving the Odds: How To Sell Internships With Fredrik van Huynh, Co-Founder of Absolute Internship

Fredrik van Huynh is a Swedish-Cambodian entrepreneur and the Co-founder and CEO of Absolute Internship, a leading global internship program matching university students with internships for in-person and remote positions in top companies all around the globe. 

Since 2009, Absolute Internship has helped thousands of students join more than 800 corporate partners in cities including Barcelona, Beijing, Hong Kong, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Paris. Interns develop marketable skills for future employment, and the program empowers them to step outside of their comfort zones. 

In 2019, Fredrik was ranked among the top 25 Swedish entrepreneurs of the year for disrupting industries and breaking boundaries.

In this episode…

When Fredrik van Huynh started his company and decided to charge students for internship placements in companies worldwide, he got a lot of negative feedback. Some people even called his business model exploitative. 

But Fredrik’s position was simple: students could get internship placements in their city through friends and family, but not many people have access to placement in companies abroad. More importantly, if students can pay high tuition fees to schools, they can afford to access quality internship experiences. 

However, Fredrik didn’t envision three years of living on instant coffee, pasta, and tomato sauce, with two pairs of trousers, and facing every reason to throw in the towel. Now universities are reaching out, and thousands of students gladly pay and come on board. How Fredrik turned things around is a story you don’t want to miss. 

Listen to this episode of the Inspired Insider with Dr. Jeremy Weisz featuring the Co-founder and CEO of Absolute Internship, Fredrik van Huynh. They discuss why Fredrik decided to sell internships, how he sold them to students, got companies on board, and built a thriving business from the ground up.