Overview:
1.
2.
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4.
5.
About me and my company
Entrepreneurial skills & character
Education for business
How to push young businesses forward
Problems I encountered at start-up
for CEDEFOP Nov. 2010
1. About me and my company
- Cosmin Malureanu – age 29
- Second business – 100%
owned
- First business at age of 22, 25%
owned – initiator – sold
- 2 years stocks market trader
living & passion
- Economy & IT studies
- Like seawater diving
www.ascendia.ro
cosmin.malureanu@ascendia.ro
- Ascendia Design – started in
2007
- Outsourcing eLearning
materials – simulations,
applications, educational
games, interactive 3d
- 17 employees, 500k approx.
turnover for 2010
- First own branded product – to
be launched – EduTeca – The
Seasons - 8CD eLearning series
for kindergarten pupils
2. Entrepreneurial skills & character
- Self-confidence, self-control
- Leadership – ready to take action
- Communicative – socialy connected
- Solution oriented as opposed to problem oriented
- Free thinker – think out of the box – be creative
- Risk-taker
- Visionary
- Long life learner and especially able to learn from mistakes
Not all people will become entrepreneurs, but all can learn to be more
entrepreneurial in the way they work, regardless of what they do.
www.ascendia.ro
cosmin.malureanu@ascendia.ro
3. Education for business
- General economic studies – able to understand any business model
and how economy works in general
- Economic applied studies – hands-on approach – see and
understand that theory is good to know but practice is good to do
- Management studies – must manage time, money, team and
material resources
- Cross-disciplinary studies – focus on math, statistics, informatics
- Communication studies - the most important bridge in any aspect
of life, though in business too
The most important aspect when teaching business related subjects is
to bring reality into the classroom!
www.ascendia.ro
cosmin.malureanu@ascendia.ro
4. How to push young businesses forward
Guides for young people:
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Get exposed to new cultures&ways of life. Learn to think outside the box.
Learn other languages, travell and live in another country for a period if
possible (studies?)
Take your life into your own hands
Listen to other's oppinions and advice (family, friends), but take your own
decisions!
Get a job first and learn to work, not to simulate working
Get involved in competitions, whatever the field of activity. For a business
should be rather economy related (stock market, management, virtual
companies, etc.)
Search the programs of NGOs like Junior Achievement
www.ascendia.ro
cosmin.malureanu@ascendia.ro
4. How to push young businesses forward
Policy Makers:
- Easy capital access – business angels/loans
- University incentives or prices for young achievers
- EU/National incentives for promising businesses owned by young
people – tax reduction
- Easy access to consultancy
www.ascendia.ro
cosmin.malureanu@ascendia.ro
5. Problems I encountered at start-up
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
First thing - you need an accountant from day 1
You got a project, you need a lawyer when making papers
What I need from my programmers is not learned in any school
Software is expensive – lack of leasing/rates option
Money flux – must always be prepared to sustain the business,
even if is profitable (salarys, VAT…). Never know for sure when
money will come.
6) Being young is often wrongly seen as equivalent to unprofessional
www.ascendia.ro
cosmin.malureanu@ascendia.ro
Be inspired!
www.ascendia.ro
cosmin.malureanu@ascendia.ro