Design Business Advisor

MAD Brussels

MAD Brussels, the Brussels Center for Fashion & Design, is a non-profit organization with an innovative, sustainable and inclusive vision of Brussels, built by and for the creative people of the fashion and the design sector. Those are the actors of a positive development for us and for the rest of the world.

The mission of MAD Brussels therefore includes the economic support, encouragement and promotion of creative entrepreneurs in Brussels and actors in the fashion and design sector on a national and international scale.

MAD Brussels has its head office Place du Nouveau Marché aux Grains, 10 in 1000 Brussels, where activities and exhibitions are organized regularly. MAD Brussels also has an incubator located at Rue du Vautour 4, 1000 Brussels, which offers incubated creatives a workspace and a production workshop.

About business department

The Business Department is composed like this :

Managing Director and Business Director : within the business department, overseeing the business activities and strategy ;
Fashion Business Advisor : in charge of the fashion profiles advise ;
Design Business Advisor (profile seeked) ;
Business Events & Communication Officer : in charge of the organization of seminars and workhops for all programs, the communication and invitations of those different events, innovation & sustainable conferences, communication of open-calls and business communication in general ;
International & B2B officer : in charge of the international representations & events of MAD (and in co-collaboration with Flanders DC & WBDM) of the belgiums is design events, as well as matchmaker and in charge of made-on-measure projects.

In its globality, MAD Brussels represents 15 people, and within a small structure like it, the transversality and collaboration within teams is asked. All additional tasks will be co-ordinated together during the business and communication meetings.

Job description

Who : Design Business Advisor
When : September 2025
Type of contract : Indeterminated contract, for part time contract (3 days a week)
Where : MAD Brussels, Place du Nouveau Marché aux Grains 4, 1000 Bruxelles

The Design Business Advisor will report directly to the Managing Director, and will be asked to work really closely with the Fashion Business Advisor.

The Design Business Advisor is part of the MAD Business team, which focuses on economic support for aspiring entrepreneurs and established entrepreneurs in the Brussels fashion and design sector. This guidance is manifested through various business programs ranging from start-up projects to established companies, all coordinated and monitored by the Fashion Business Advisor & the Design Business Advisor. Both Business Advisors also aim to optimize existing programs and ensures the quality of the support processes in close collaboration with the Business Events & Communication officer, as well as the external experts. MAD Business teams aims to contribute to both business develoments, as well as direct and indirect employment, in the Brussels-Capital Region for both sectors.

Tasks

The Design Business Advisor tasks are the following ones :

1. Program Strategy & Organization : together with the Business Fashion Advisor and the Business Events & Communication Officer, the strategy and pertinence of each program is requestioned every year in order to optimize the guidance for designers & companies of both sectors, from emerging companies & designers to established ones. Within those programs (Starter, Take Off, Incubator, Fly, Cherry-on-the-cake), specific operational tasks will be asked, equally split, in co-collaboration or as back-up of the Fashion Business Advisor.

Within those programs, the support focuses on informing and sharing expertise in the following areas: product development, production and sourcing, brand building, distribution & sales, communication, pitching, internationalization (in co-collaboration with the International Project Officer), pricing, funding, etc. The MAD support is complementary to the specific guidance provided by local agencies such as Local Economic Desk (GEL), ILES & hub.brussels, which focuses on administrative and financial support, however, it is asked from the Design Business Advisor to have an understanding and competences in financial plans.

2. Recruitement of design profiles and individual sessions with design profiles : the Design Business Advisor will have the task to get to know interesting design profiles in Brussels Region-Capital and offer them support if needed, as well as cover-up all individual one-to-one’s of the entrepreneurs, according to the hour limits set-up in all programs. Currently, the amount of design projets followed each year are circa 50, knowing that the hiring of a specific Business Design Advisor will bring more profiles to MAD ;

3. Incubator : the Business Design Advisor will need to :

Propose an updated strategy or action plan for the incubator residents (together with the fashion business advisor) ;
Add infomation on the weekly news to communicate to all residents ;
Follow-up on the design profiles tasks and goals ;
Assist to the meetings with the experts and the design profiles ;
Organize the jury’s, mid-term evaluations, get-together drinks, trips ansd other activities (together with the Fashion Business Advisor) ;
Follow-up on the budget and the incubator needs such as new machinery, open days activities, … (together with the Fashion Business Advisor)
Follow-up with the building officer in case of needed repatations, big cleanings, etc (together with the Fashion Business Advisor) ;
Co-collaborate with the International & B2B advisor for the made-on-measure calls and the international action plans for the design profiles.

4. Budget, Internal programs & KPI’s : the Design Business Advisor will be asked to encode all the follow-ups of the individual sessions, make sure the external experts did as well, follow-up on the hours and the budget for the experts, encode the yearly kpi’s and propose a budget split of the following year according to the disposed budget together with the fashion business advisor.

5. Seminars & workshops : The Design Business Advisor will be, if workload allows it, assist to the seminars and especially the workshops organized by the Business Events & Communication Officer, in order :

To notify if some seminars & workshops should be updated ;
If all experts are relevant ;
To spot new profiles, understand the needs or follow-up with the growth of the design profiles.

6. International Activities : the Design Business Advisor will be update yearly by the international & B2B officer regarding any international activities relevant for the design profiles as well as the international activities organized by MAD. In exchange, the Design Business Advisor will invite some design profiles to reply to the open-calls regarding international acitivites, if relevant for the profiles and for the open-call.;

7. Open-calls & Matchmakings : the international and B2B officer will share with the Design Business Advisor the current open-calls and the matchmaking needs, so that the business design advisor, knowing well the design profiles, can propose pertinent profiles ;

SEARCHED PROFILE

At least 10 years of experience ;
Organized and independent in his/her tasks, both from a strategic point of view, as an operationnal point of view ;
French or Dutch speaking, and fluent in English ;
Proactive and a source of propositions ;
Love for the creative industry ;
Experience is the design industry, industrial design, collectible design and/or set design ;
Having its own company or having launched a company is a big plus ;
Having at least a basic understanding of business tools such as BMC, price calculation, customer segmentation, etc… ;
Versatile or flexible.