Startup School for Zaporizhzhia Students
The Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic National University has been holding the «STARTUP with Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic» Business Ideas Competition for students for several years. This year, the Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic Children’s and Youth Scientific University launched a Startup School for students in grades 8–11 to prepare younger participants for participation in the competition.
From February 18 to March 6, more than 20 participants learned the intricacies of creating their own startup project.
We learned what a business idea is, where to look for it, and what to be inspired by when forming our own unique value proposition with Anastasiia Zerkal, director of the Education for Business and Careers training center.
We got acquainted with vivid examples of successful teamwork between teachers and students with Svitlana Lapkina, the head of the startup and assistant professor of the Department of Electrical Machines.
We found answers to the questions: how to find like-minded people, how to build a dream team, how distribute roles and how to work towards a common goal under the guidance of scientists from the Department of Economics and Customs Nataliia and Andriy Karpenko.
We received useful advice on how to think outside the box and find solutions from the head of the Center for Support of Public Initiatives «Free UA» Mariia Pavlenko.
We got acquainted with modern technologies that help in the creation and development of startups, learned about innovative tools that can be the key to business success together with the vice president of the Zaporizhzhia Chamber of Commerce and Industry Andriy Kuts.
We learned about legal support and intellectual property protection from the dean of the Faculty of Law Yurii Filey.
A student of Energodar Gymnasium No. 1, a successful participant in the competition of scientific papers in economics of the Energodar Small Academy of Sciences, Artem Perederii, spoke about what grants are, what they are, where to find them and how to use them.
We planned the distribution of financial resources for the implementation of our own business ideas, studied budget management and financial strategy together with Associate Professor of the Department of Accounting and Finance Viktoriia Babenko-Levada.
We discussed options for how to draw attention to our idea and convince others that it is worth paying attention to with CEO of the Board Zaporizhzhia branch Katarina Javid.
The leading specialist of the NSC «Zaporizhzhia Regional Center of Polytechnic Education» Yuliia Semchyshyna shared practical tips, tools and secrets that will help make student projects bright and effective.
The final offline session of the Startup School is scheduled for March 15, where students will have the opportunity to practice holding themselves in front of an audience, receive individual advice and recommendations for the final speech.
On March 25, all participants of the Startup School will present their business ideas and receive feedback jury, which will determine the winner!
