Laurent Huenaerts - Participant 2017-2018
I was eager to further develop my entrepreneurial skills and I was not disappointed!
Role
Laurent Huenaerts’ mission was to assess whether Unifly’s successful business model in Europe could be replicated in North America, and to initiate activities in this region.
Responsibilities
After a first phase of market analysis, Laurent concentrated on building a sales tunnel. One of the main results was the participation of Unifly in the drone Integration Pilot Program initiated by the U.S. Department of Transportation and the signing of a first major contract. These successes led the Board of Directors to approve the creation of a US subsidiary. “I had to manage very diverse aspects of a company and wear multiple hats the same day: from business development to project management, tax or marketing and communication.”
How he benefited
In Unifly Laurent found a company and a team that offered exactly what he was looking for in terms of professional objectives, including being more impactful within an organization, by significantly contributing to its development and by actively participating in its long-term strategy. ln light of the promising results, Unifly decided to set up the US subsidiary that will be led by Laurent.
The company – Unifly
Established in 2015 by aerospace experts, Unifly is a software company with a platform for the safe integration of drones in airspace. This award-winning spin-off company of VITO (the Flemish institute for technological research) specializes in aviation software development. Its main mission is to develop applications that facilitate drone traffic in the very-low-altitude airspace.
“When Laurent started out, Unifly was unknown in the United States. Those who had heard of our company wondered why we would bother trying to sell anything in the US. Today – and to a large extent thanks to Laurent’s efforts – Unifly has become a well-known name in the Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM)
community in the United States.”