HSE Business Club Holds Its First Entrepreneurial Forum
This event was timed to coincide with Russian Entrepreneurship Day, which is celebrated on May 26. Forum attendees included not only students of HSE University, but also students from other Moscow universities. They were able to learn about internships in forum partner companies, as well as interacting in person with successful Russian business businesses.
Business start-ups, ‘black swans’, delegating authority, social impact, time management, personal qualities that contribute to success, own production — these and other topics were covered during lectures by speakers at the forum. They were Russian entrepreneurs who had founded their own companies, and among them was Evgeny Demin, CEO and co-founder of Splat. He told participants how and why his team moved from distribution to in-house production.
‘We then realised intuitively that the quality of the product had to be impeccable. And you shouldn't sacrifice that to cut costs, because that won't end well,’ he says. — I mean, you have to make cool things, and make them technologically efficient so they are not expensive, but you mustn’t sacrifice the perfect combination of factors for the sake of making them cheaper. Details mean a lot, so we’ve said that we will definitely make cool things that we and our loved ones like’.
The world is full of mediocre things, let's make something beautiful and cool
The Q&A session with Ascona founder Vladimir Sedov was equally interesting. He reminded the students once again that time is an entrepreneur's most precious resource, so time management should be given special attention. The businessman also pointed out why a company needs to be vertically integrated: ‘We always seek to enter a business if we see an opportunity to be vertically integrated, because otherwise it is difficult to compete, this allows us to feel much more flexible in the market. It also gives you a 1000% level of knowledge of the industry you are in. With just one niche, you only know your product from that niche position and you have no in-depth wider knowledge, which means the company becomes vulnerable — and so does your business’.
In addition to lectures from businessmen, guests were also introduced to the forum's partners. Representatives of OZON, Changellenge, KPMG, VkusVill, Ancor, HeadHunter, Center for Youth Initiatives of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI CMI), Puma, Sber, MTS and Netology told students about career opportunities with these companies.
‘VkusVill is a young, actively developing company, ready for cooperation, experimentation, and open to new ideas, and HSE students can provide just that, they are young, active, creative specialists. As a result, we could have an some interesting collaborations’, explained Olga Kravchenko, a representative from VkusVill.
The participants commented on the usefulness of the forum. ‘I have never been to a business event like this before, because I am a first-year student. But the event is good: very cool guests, lots of insights’, Daniil Morozov, a first-year student at the HSE Tikhonov Moscow Institute of Electronics and Mathematics (MIEM) shared his impressions. — One that particularly stood out to me was an insight into delegating: about letting people make mistakes. Usually, when you outsource something, you try to get involved in the work and help with something, but here they said that you have to give people the right to make mistakes, and I believe that this is the correct thing to do’. Daniil also confessed that it was because of such events that he entered HSE University.
Margarita Lazorenko, chief coordinator of the HSE Business Club, emphasised that the student organisation is always happy to see fellow entrepreneurs from other universities at its events.
Margarita Lazarenko, Chief Coordinator, HSE Business Club
‘The most important goal of our forum is to create a dialogue platform where big business ‘whales’ can share their experience with young entrepreneurs who are still at the very beginning of their journey. We have been choosing our speakers for a long time and with great care: this work has been going on for over a year. Most of them are very interested in events of this kind: they are all willing to share their experience.
See also:
Equality in Business: How Support from Loved Ones Can Reduce the Gender Gap
Galina Shirokova, Professor at the Department of Management at HSE University-St Petersburg, has worked alongside international researchers to identify the role of social circles and cultural values in the success of young businesswomen. They found that support within a group increases the chances of women engaging in entrepreneurship.
‘The Future Is Already Here, but It Is Not Evenly Distributed’
On May 27, the Day of Russian Entrepreneurship, HSE University’s Cultural Centre hosted HSE Business Club, an annual student entrepreneurial forum. Three years ago, the HSE Business Club initiative group opened the forum as a platform for entrepreneurs to exchange experiences. Now it is the largest student business forum in the CIS. This year, a record number of 1,900 guests registered for the event.
Faculty of Computer Science Holds its First Entrepreneurship School
At the end of August, the Centre for Internships, Projects and Entrepreneurship of the Faculty of Computer Science, with support from the HSE University Business Incubator, held the first summer school on entrepreneurship. More than 40 HSE University bachelor’s and master’s students participated in it. The school was aimed at developing the students’ entrepreneurial skills and introducing them to the art of presenting ideas and products.
Applications Now Open for New Educational Robotics Accelerator
Over the course of 12 weeks, participants of the HSE Business Incubator’s programme will finalise their startups under the leadership of renowned market experts and attract grant funding for their projects. The programme will be held both online and in person. Applications for the accelerator are open until May 28, 2022.
Gifts under the Christmas Tree: How Student Startups Can Surprise You
One of the most popular minors that HSE University students can choose in their second and third years is 'Startup from Scratch'. With the teachers’ support, students launch their own business projects, including startups for the production and sale of souvenirs and cosmetics, which can serve as unique New Year gifts.
‘If You Don’t Try, You for Sure Will Not Succeed’: Eugene Kaspersky Visits HSE
At the invitation of the HSE Student Business Club, CEO, Russian cybersecurity expert, and Forbes-ranking billionaire Eugene Kaspersky visited HSE University to meet with students. Kaspersky discussed the founding of his renowned Kaspersky Lab, his experience entering the international market, and the role of all things digital in the world.
Ghost of Recession: Why It Is Haunting Russia's Economy
This year, a slowdown is expected in the Russian economy. According to some forecasts, the country will enter recession in 2021 or possibly even earlier. However, according to the HSE Centre for Business Tendencies Studies (CBTS), there are no noticeable signs of recession at the moment. This article looks at what keeps Russia's economy from picking up pace and why slowdowns are a possibility, according to the HSE CBTS.
‘We Want the Students to Experience Real Project Work’
Contemporary universities are becoming not only centres for education and research, but also hubs for entrepreneurship. Igor Agamirzian, HSE Vice President, Head of the Department for Management of Innovation, spoke about the development of the HSE’s innovation infrastructure, about attracting students to technological business projects, and about the master’s programme ‘Corporate Research, Development and Innovation Management’.
Logic of Ignorance: Why Russian Oil Companies Are not Responsive to Environmental Concerns
Senior management of Russian oil companies lack environmental awareness and refuse to invest in environmental safety, according to Sofia Villo, who has examined the operations of Russia's major oil producer from an ecological perspective.
HSE to Help Develop Legislature to Boost Technology Entrepreneurship
Artem Kritsyn, Manager of regional programmes and projects at the HSE Business Incubator, now heads the Working Group to Involve Secondary and Higher School Students in Entrepreneurship. The Working Group was created in October 2017 by the Expert Council on the Development of Civil Education and Student Socialization under the State Duma Committee for Education and Science. The Working Group also includes Tatyana Stroganova, Head of the HSE Innovation and Enterprise Office.