To continue supporting new and potential entrepreneurs, the Nordea Business School “From Idea to Investor” is opening its new training season. Thanks to cooperation with more than 20 collaboration partners, including renowned experts, industry professionals and experienced businessmen, participants of the training programme will have an opportunity to study for free and benefit from practical advice and individual business consultations. An application form is available online at nordea.lv/biznesaskola; the deadline for form submission is 26 October 2015.
“Every year, after interviewing the new entrepreneurs and following their business development, we are increasingly convinced that the key motivating factor for a successful business start-up is not funding, but rather knowledge or know-how, a strong team, clearly defined business goals and a well-considered business model. Often these are the missing aspects for an entrepreneur to turn his or her business idea into a real and well-functioning business. I am really pleased that the philosophy of the Nordea Business School of “teaching a man to fish rather than giving him a fish” has proven itself, and after five training seasons we can be proud of the success stories which have grown from business ideas into popular brands both in the Latvian market and abroad. Although 60% of new entrepreneurs say that after graduating from the training programme, they continue to develop their businesses and main sources of income, in the new training season of the Nordea Business School we are committed to motivating new entrepreneurs to “think big” and set even more ambitious business goals”, says Guna Zagorska, Head of Nordea Latvia and the SME Department.
Juris Birznieks, Founder and Member of the Board of the Latvian Business Angel Network: “When analysing the market and developing new businesses, we can see that the greatest challenge for start-ups and often the reason why business development fails, is too much focus on their business ideas. Instead of meaningful work with customers, identifying the most efficient sales channels and creating added value for the customer with their product or service, the entrepreneurs start from the other end – they first create a product and then think about sales strategies. The main precondition for a new entrepreneur to successfully attract any kind of funding is a thorough customer needs analysis and selection of an appropriate target market. At the moment there are plenty of business ideas on the market that lack a business leader with the right ambition and development plan, the key factors expected by an investor.”
About the Nordea Business School
The Nordea Business School, in cooperation with the most prominent industry experts in Latvia, leading training and consulting companies and experienced businessmen, will offer new and potential entrepreneurs a free six-month training course covering a full business start-up package, which is structured based on the Business Model Canvas principles. The programme includes sharing knowledge and experience – from elaboration of a business plan, market research, team building principles and identification of sales channels to cash flow planning, sales and export consultations, marketing and brand management advice, as well as a “rendezvous with an investor” at the end of the programme. During the programme each participant has a chance to benefit from additional mentoring and coaching consultations, as well as share experience with the Nordea Business School’s Alumni community.
To date the Nordea Business School’s graduates include widely-recognised Latvian brands such as coffee production company Andrito Kafijas Grauzdētava, KUKUU children’s designer furniture, clothing brand PAIYA, biking accessory Velo sock, Zefīrs decorative concrete designer products, Latvian-made breakfast cereals Musli Grace, DUSIS multi-functional designer furniture, GIGI BLOKS giant toy building blocks and many others.
Nordea Business School Partners: The Latvian Business Angel Network, the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, the Mentor Club of the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, the Līdere Business Support Association and entrepreneur Aiva Vīksna, sales and marketing expert Kārlis Apkalns, coaching experts Lāsma Novika and Laura Kuršīte, the ZINIS knowledge and innovation society, personnel training companies Triviums Apmācība and Fontes Vadības Konsultācijas, the Latvian Packaging Association, Latvian start-up company Fastr, Kwintet production, logistics specialist and brand leader Gludināmais koks – Ilzе Baumane, intellectual property protection consulting company TriaRobit, entrepreneur and cost-benefit analysis expert Normunds Čiževskis and the company Bizpro, export consulting and market research company GatewayBaltic, accountancy service company NUMERI, the Markvarte Lexchange law firm and recruitment company CV-Online Latvia, consulting company Demarsch, LID business information service, the Young Entrepreneurs Centre, finance company Capitalia, DDB creative advertising agency, logistics expert Uldis Piekuss and the Business Efficiency Association, the Latvian Development Financial Institution Altum, and franchising consultancy company Francity.
Apply for the Nordea Business School’s training course “From Idea to Investor” by 26 October 2015 by filling in the online application form at www.nordea.lv/biznesaskola.
