Clever ideas can bring a lot of success

And heaven knows, I wish I'd ever had one!

Sometimes you see something launched - an idea, so simple, so clever - and you think: why haven't I thought of that???

Examples galore. One of my former colleagues invented a football game and won a lot of money by marketing it. Of course, he's a computer geek. I don't have such skills.

A few years ago, there was a show on tv where people could present an idea and the winner's was marketed. The winner was a woman who invented 'speculaaspasta' - a bread spread made of what we call speculaas (and is some sort of gingerbread). Most people put their piece of speculaas into their coffee before eating it, so this woman thought 'why not make a spread out of it'? She won the competition, but soon afterwards a big holding company (Lotus) bought the idea from her and is now marketing it worldwide. I would have asked for a percentage...

A ex-student of mine, Rembert Van Cauwenbergh, has launched a company with a friend. They have created AddMyBerry. The idea is also quite simple: they sell t-shirts and whatever with a print. But you can scan the QR-code of the print with your smartphone. For instance, when you buy a t-shirt from The Jane (2star restaurant of Sergio Herman in Antwerp) you scan the print and then you'll see a film where Sergio is preparing a meal, you can see sphere images from the restaurant, etc. They started out quite small, but now they are expanding. They also have selling points in the US and are now conquering New York.

All of this is quite clever, right?