The international virtual exchange of business knowledge and experience of successful entrepreneurs is being carried out at the Faculty of Management and Business Design as part of the Erasmus+ project "INTERNATIONAL NETWORK OF VIRTUAL YOUTH BUSINESS HUBS" VEHUB4YOU, co-funded by the European Union and implemented by the project teams of Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design, Mingachevir State University (Azerbaijan), University of Foggia (Italy), RISEBA University of Applied Sciences (Latvia), Kyiv Youth Education and Training Centre KETY (Ukraine), and the International NGO Institute for Social and Economic Initiatives (ISEI) (Ukraine).
The grant project focuses on the transfer of business knowledge from the EU to young people in the Eastern Partnership countries of Ukraine and Azerbaijan through virtual exchange technologies. Under Goal 9 of the EU Youth Strategy for 2019-2027 "Space and participation for all", the consortium members of the grant project will make joint efforts to organise a network of international virtual business hubs and business training for high school students, college and university students of Ukraine majoring in economics and non-economics.
The main goal is an open exchange of information between experienced business representatives and young people from different countries to present best practices and insights from the world of international business.
The first meeting with representatives of Ukrainian business took place on 13 September 2023, attended by more than 100 students, teachers and practitioners from Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Italy and Latvia. Ukrainian business was represented by Taliat Belialov and Eyvaz Bekir, co-founders and owners of D-STOUN, TAKAVA, OkShina, YUG-Trading, Family Welfare and Choizy, who revealed their secrets of success through personal business stories.
It is worth noting that Taliat Belialov is the Head of the Department of Entrepreneurship and Business of KNUTD, Doctor of Economics, Professor, author of more than 100 scientific and methodological works, as well as a successful entrepreneur with experience in setting up his own business since 2002.
The speech of successful Ukrainian entrepreneurs aroused great interest among students and teachers, and many questions were asked, in particular, about the launch and promotion of business ideas and their successful implementation.
The second meeting, which was attended by almost 100 participants, took place on Wednesday, 20 September 2023, with a successful Azerbaijani entrepreneur Zafar Mammadov, founder of the construction company Zaferoğlu. Since 2021, Zafar Mammadov has been the Chairman of the Public Union of Businessmen of Ganja and a member of the Public Council under the executive branch of the city of Ganja, a member of the Board of Directors of the Kapez Football Club and a member of the Supervisory Board of the Mediation Council. At the end of 2006, he founded and headed the Hamigaya-ZMH real estate agency. In 2007, he became the founder and 50% shareholder of a construction company. In 2010, he founded the construction company Zaferoglu and has been its CEO ever since. Zaferoglu has received 3 international awards under the leadership of Zafar Mammadov.
On 4 October 2023, a very interesting meeting was held with the Italian businessman and entrepreneur Salvatore Pepe, founder and owner of Mosaico Digitale and Graffiti for Smart City. Almost 150 students, teachers and practitioners joined the meeting with the businessman.
Mosaico Digitale combines traditional mosaic techniques with an innovative system based on the latest digital technology to create endless solutions for scanning shapes and colours.
The company creates 100% customisable mosaics of any size, starting from a digital image selected by the customer and processed by Pepe&Con's proprietary software, which allows for the enhancement, modification and creation of any type of environment. Salvatore Pepe said, "Promoting development in times of economic downturn is a way to improve the condition of our territory".
Graffiti for Smart City was founded on the concept of installing smart mosaics in major cities around the world. The result is smart walls consisting of ultra-thin, revolutionary biomosaic tiles that allow you to connect to smartphones and provide a variety of services. The company applies proximity technology to the digital mosaic wall made of biological tiles to connect the wall with a smartphone and other devices nearby using our 5G connection system.
On 25 October 2023, as part of the Business Wednesday, a meeting was held with Latvian businessman and entrepreneur Karlis Straumbergs, founder and owner of the hat company Straumbergs, which was attended by almost 100 participants from partner institutions.
Karlis Straubergs tells us about herself and her business, "My name is Karlis and here's my story: until the summer of 2018, I had absolutely nothing to do with making hats or any kind of clothing. It's hard to pinpoint the exact moment or reason, but I had an idea - how is a hat made? So I started looking and researching, watching and reading. But there was not much information, so I just collected fragments and tried to fill in the gaps myself. It was 18th of June when I ordered my first hat and a piece of thread to make its shape. Can you guess where I made my very first hat? It was on a flower pot!!! But despite the strange shape, it still resembled a hat. After that, I tried to solve this problem - I tried different flower pots, but I also knew that it was just a hobby, so I couldn't invest a lot of money, so I came up with the idea of just making hat blocks myself - out of polystyrene foam.
Now, a year and a half later, I'm still just at the beginning of my journey. But I am extremely grateful for what I have learnt and for the emotions that hat making has given me. I love the feeling when you first come into contact with the hat body, at that moment I feel its personality and can vaguely imagine how I want it to look in the end. The most important thing for me is to understand the person who will wear the hat, and during this process I feel a connection with their personality".
It should be noted that Karlis Straumbergs' story aroused great interest among the participants of the meeting, and many interesting questions were asked, including those related to the specifics of doing business in Latvia.
We sincerely thank our project partners, involved businessmen and entrepreneurs for an interesting and intense series of meetings, presentations of best practices and insights from the world of international business! The Business Wednesday pilot project has proved to be relevant, in demand, and aroused great interest among all participants.
09.11.2023
