17 Mar 2017

CEMSies sharing their experience with running own business

Dear CEMSies,

we are glad that our 2nd CEMS Alumni professional event this time related to Entrepreneurship attracted a wider audience of both CEMS students and alumni.

The event that took place on 16th March 2017. We got three speakers, who shared their stories and experience from running their own businesses.

It was highly inspirational to learn about different business concepts varying as much as: photo-voltaic distribution, VIP travel agency, pet food, fresh organic food, young coconuts and running courses for women. Below you can find a few key notes from the evening.

Key messages for new entrepreneurs: 

  • There are thousands of ideas, only the execution makes the difference
  • Consider all three parts: IDEA - RELATIONSHIPS - SYSTEM (in business and also in life)
  • Don't try to reinvent the wheel, get inspiration the new trends, from abroad 
  • Consult with a senior expert, pay for specialists' advice 
  • Prepare a higher budget 
  • Do the things professionally since the beginning
  • Focus on people, don't try to do everything on your own
  • Be yourself, honest and authentic :-)

Mindset change from a corporate world to own business:
  • In your own business: You are the work. Work doesn't come, you need to create it.  
  • Corporate systems and processes work in own business only after reaching a certain size 
  • Use the great opportunity in corporations to learn from senior colleagues. Build your network


Key challenge as seen by all speakers: 

  • People - i.e. finding the right business partner, co-worker or employee. Running a business with friend can be very tricky, though can work, if everyone is completely open, honest and able to make a difference between friendship and business relationship


We would like to thank to all speakers as well as to all participants of the this event.  



We are looking forward to seeing you on our next professional event that take place on 29th May 2017 this time related to the the topic Burnout and how to avoid it.  

Kind regards from the CEMS Alumni Board,
Pavlina

3 Mar 2017

CEMS Mentoring Programme 2017 kicked off

We are proud to share that the 2017 CEMS Mentoring Programme has been kicked off. The mentoring programme has been relaunched after a few years break as a joint initiative of the CEMS Alumni Association Czech Republic and CEMS Club Prague. Big thank you goes to Ulyana Makarava, who stood at the beginning of this idea.

We are happy that 25 alumni signed up as mentors and almost the same number of students want to become mentees. We are glad to see that also exchange students as well as CEMS alumni living abroad signed up for the programme.

Students are primarily interested in the start-up area and entrepreneurship, modern technologies, international career and living abroad. This is combined with the traditional fields such as consulting, marketing or finance. It is great to see that new as well as senior alumni are part of the programme.

In order to get to know each other, both students and alumni were invited for the CEMS Mentoring kick-off event that took place on 23rd February 2017 in the restaurant Nola in Prague 4. The main purpose of this event was to get to know each other and the whole evening was prepared in an informal atmosphere.


Michaela Novakov shared her experience with mentoring and thereby introduced the concept to students. All participating alumni said a few words about themselves.

Students and alumni then got a chance to mingle and enjoy the networking part. The evening was further followed by a dinner. During the evening, students could have also read through the profiles of alumni, who were not able to come to this event. You can check photos from this event HERE


After receiving students’ preferences, the CEMS Alumni Association Czech Republic together with CEMS Club Prague did the matching process. Once the assigned students were confirmed by alumni, the mentoring itself could have started.

Mentees and mentors have the complete freedom to agree on time, frequency and topic of their discussion. In order to share best practise, we will do a half term experience sharing. The final evaluation is going to be done on 8th June 2017 during the CEMS Soiree at the University of Economics in Prague.

The mentoring programme is currently prepared as a semester initiative, though we hope that mentors and mentees wil stay in touch also in the future. As also Michaela Novakov mentioned, the important element of successful mentoring is on one side good match between mentor and mentee and on the other side long-term collaboration.

Thank you all for your support to make the 2017 CEMS Mentoring Programme happen.
Kind regards,

Pavlina
CEMS Alumni Board Czech Republic

1 Mar 2017

CEMS Students and Alumni Event on the topic Business Owners


Following the successful tradition of Meet up... evenings, we are thrilled to invite you for the CEMS Meeting on the topic Running own business with the headline: Entrepreneurial mindset
  • Which skills are needed to start and run own business? 
  • What are the first three steps when starting own business?
  • Which areas do our speakers recommend to start own business in?
You can look forward to following speakers: Filip RihaZdenek FousMichal Adrian and Helena SuchomelovaThis event is designed for CEMS business owners as well as for CEMS students or alumni interested in starting own business. 
Location: VSE Prague, RB 210, 7pm
Registration: via email at: cemsalumni@seznam.cz

Pavlina,
Your CEMS Alumni Board