BUSINESS

You have been working with your team to develop a range

of events focused on business. In your experience, what is

the subject students struggle with the most in the fields of

business and financial literacy?

I am not an expert in financial literacy. In business, I believe

some of the largest hurdles lie within one’s own courage, the

fear of failure, maintaining motivation and the search for good

partners that are able to join in on developing an idea and

persevere in that effort. Owning a startup is a great dream

that many students have, however, the clash with reality is

often a tough pill to swallow. Even just developing an idea to

the point where it can be presented to investors and other

partners is equal to months of hard work that has to be done

out of your own motivation. The risk that a project would

fail is very large, therefore those that dedicate themselves

to developing multiple ideas in a row are displaying a truly

commendable effort. Nonetheless, learning through firsthand experience is extremely valuable, so even though the

risks are great, students also stand to gain a lot through this.

In relation to what you just talked about, do you view

the topic of ‘business’ to be central to the learning

experience? Should the university perhaps dedicate itself

more to it?

Whether we like it or not, we always carry at least some

remnants of society’s opinion that a university student’s main

focus should be to study their field of choice and prepare for

the application of their knowledge at a future job. Currently,

however, we are noticing that a considerable number of

students are starting businesses during their academic

career. This was confirmed by a study conducted at VŠBTUO in the fall of last year. Around 11% of students start

businesses while still in school, while another 7% start one

within three years of graduating. These statistics are starting

to grow large enough for VŠB-TOU to strengthen activities

that support student’s efforts in business and are the reason

behind the university’s inclusion of creativity and business

themes in strategic development plans. After all, we believe—

and witness daily—that our students are brimming with ideas

that could be turned into legitimate business propositions;

they just do not realize it yet. Personally, I tell students that

there are no bad business ideas, only those that never leave

the drawing board.

You talk about creativity and business, which in the Czech

language share a root word, as two different topics, is

there a purpose behind this?

Yes, I talk about these two terms as separate topics for

a reason. We need to realize that we currently live in very

dynamic times. Society used to take decades to fully

absorb and process big changes and new trends, however,

nowadays, this is done within a single year or a couple months.

Our parents and maybe even some from my generation can

go about their entire career lives with the knowledge they

gained in school; that era has come and gone at this point.

For example, according to a prediction made by Manpower

Group, around a third of all current professions will have

their job descriptions drastically changed within the next five

years and the number of brand new positions will increase

by 15% within that same time period—and that is only the

beginning. This is the reason why it is not only important

to teach students knowledge within their fields, but also

to support so-called key competences that will help them

develop their careers as well as themselves even after they

have graduated. It is precisely this sort of ‘creativity’ that will

become a recurring theme in many activities in not only our

Career Center, but many others as well. We want to support

students in the development of their critical thinking, their

ability to spot opportunity, their ability to execute on said

opportunity, strategic thinking and planning, leadership, selfrealization, self-reflection and many other skills.

Are you therefore preparing a new programme or event?

How do you plan on developing the creativity of your

students?

We have already devoted a lot of time towards business and

creativity and we intend to continue. We have plenty of events

planned but we also already have a basis to build upon. In

2017, we launched the cross-faculty optional course ‘Startup

Business’. Originally, our plan was to teach a couple students

each year how they can develop their ideas into potential

businesses, however, over the course of the last couple years

the number of students signing up to the course climbed well

above one hundred and its popularity is increasing. We think

that one factor explaining this boom in popularity could be

the frequent inclusion of experts, successful business owners

and mentors that decide to share their know-how with the

students and inspire them with their stories.

We also heard that this year you are hosting the ninth

anniversary of your business support programme, Green

Light.

For us, Green Light is a source of experience which we can

then use long term to help us support a business culture at

the university. This programme features not only student

projects but also academic ones. Thanks to the Moravian

Silesian Region’s support, Green Light has been open to any

local party or individual for nine years now. Its uniqueness

stems from the fact that the programme helps advance ideas

with business potential under the supervision of mentors

with plenty of experience. Essentially, it helps turn an idea

into a business.

Could you give us an example of a successful attendee of

the programme?

We have helped over one hundred businesses get started.

Many of these projects received private funding from

domestic as well as foreign sources. One notable project

from last year’s Green Light is Nilmore. This group managed

to develop a circular textile that, once used, can then

be recycled back into its fibres and used to make more

clothing. The team developing the aforementioned project

is made up of current and past students of the university.

It is specifically this model of connecting students with

practically experienced people that seems the most fruitful

and gives projects the finishing push to become complete.

The courage to take risks, the desire for uniqueness

and independence, strong self-motivation and practical

experience—these aspects form the ideal cocktail for

potential success. Personally, I am very glad that these traits

are present even within our team. Maybe that is how we can

work on developing so many projects and still manage to

find ways to enjoy it.

Ms Šimoníková, thank you for the interview.

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