Investing in Progress
IEC achievements in 2017
At the beginning of their business career, entrepreneurs are usually unaware of the challenges awaiting them or the services offered by the Bank that can help them. Experts publish special articles on NLB’s websites to present to new entrepreneurs the basic rules of financial operations, and how to avoid the initial risks of doing business and other traps in financial operations. NLB d.d. possesses a lot of know-how, practical experience, and information about business subjects and the macroeconomic environment of operations. In this manner, entrepreneurs can be warned about the key information in the planning of projects, payment transactions, and project financing. Before entering major deals and making important decisions, an entrepreneur can arrange a meeting and consult their account manager.
Promoting Entrepreneurship
In 2017, the Innovative Entrepreneurship Centre organised many entrepreneurial events for the young. The most prominent were:
The “Young Entrepreneur of 2017 selection
” More than 200 participants attended the event organised by the Young Entrepreneur Institute, which the IEC hosted for the third consecutive year. The purpose of the event was to discover talents among young entrepreneurs in Slovenia, and to promote entrepreneurship. The winners of the Young Entrepreneur of 2017 selection were Anita Lozar and Matej Pelicon from Pelicon Brewery.
“3P, Pripravljeni na podjetniško pot (Ready for Entrepreneurship)”
A total of 170 students attended the event organised by the Career Centers of the University of Ljubljana, searching for an answer to the following question: What is the right idea, and how can it be implemented into a successful business?
In 2017, the Innovative Entrepreneurship Centre hosted many educational events for the young:
Summer school - Summer Economics Institute – SEI 2017
in cooperation with the US Embassy in Ljubljana, which 20 students attended.
Summer School of Cultural Management 2017
organised by the Art Council of the University of Ljubljana and the Faculty of Economics, with 40 participants.
“From Zero to Business”
organised by the Nefiks Institute, with 35 participants.
“Ustvarjalnik’s”
final conferences organised by Društvo U – Mentor Društvo za spodbujanje podjetnosti mladih (The U Society - Mentor Society for promoting Entrepreneurship among the Young) were attended by 90 young people at the end of the academic year, as the final event in the programme of entrepreneurial lessons, and a competition for the best young start-up in 2017.
“ALUO Uho”
organised by the Academy of Fine Arts and Design of the University of Ljubljana. More than 400 students participated in the workshops where they learned about the contemporary trends in fine art and design in connecting with entrepreneurship and finance.
At the end of September 2017, the Innovative Entrepreneurship Centre again organised the international workshop “Bytes of Banking – Big Data,” focusing on innovative creativeness, where students of economics and computer science take part in work groups mentored by NLB experts, and search for creative solutions for the challenges in the business world. The central topic was “Big Data.” With active help from the NLB experts, the students searched for innovative solutions for existing problems, thus co-creating trends in digital banking. The winning group of students created NLBotko, a chatbot presenting banking services to the users of Facebook in an innovative and interactive manner, supporting them and providing advice through conversation, thus creating a positive relationship between the users and the Bank and acting as a tool for obtaining new clients. Students brought fresh ideas and know-how into the area of digital banking. The company Halcom d.o.o. also participated in the project, and employed six students for an indefinite period of time in 2017 based on the results from recent years.
One of the key missions in the responsible operation of NLB d.d. is to promote the development of entrepreneurship. We cooperate with small entrepreneurs a lot, we understand their problems, and we are aware that the first steps are the most difficult and we know how to listen to them. We decided to support the project organised by the company Spar Slovenia, the TV station POP TV, and the advertising agency Formitas, with financial services and advice. NLB d.d. provided the premises for meeting and recording the show.
The project “Start-up Slovenia” was organised for the second consecutive year. In 2017, eight young innovative Slovenian companies to which NLB offered its know-how and help presented their products: Noela, which produces snail saliva cream; Junc Beef Jerky, producing a bio meat energy snack; Good4Dogs, producing raw food for dogs; Iconic Speciality Coffee, offering high quality roast coffee; Odori, which produces an ecological washing detergent; Pokica, producing pop-corn from genetically non-modified corn; Medenka, which produces natural sweets from Slovenian honey and fruits; and Viny&Greta, offering gourmet vinaigrette dressings.
In May 2017, Innovative Entrepreneurship Centre organised the NLB Hackatlon, in which the entrepreneurs and the mentors - banking experts from NLB searched for the shortcuts in the computer systems to find innovative solutions that would be useful for both entrepreneurs and the Bank.
The IEC Entrepreneurial gallery takes care of a wide selection of exhibitors who create their innovative products using natural materials, hand-made techniques, and leaning on the rich cultural heritage. The opportunity to present their own exhibitions is offered to the entrepreneurs from all over Slovenia.
Since the promotion of entrepreneurship is one of the Bank’s key missions; educational films were prepared for the entrepreneurs in 2017 with 10 pieces of advice for a successful start and growth of operations, explaining where to start a business career, what is a documentary letter of credit, what is factoring, cash flow, what can an entrepreneur do to maintain solvency, what must be considered when planning an increase in the capacities, when considering taking out a loan, entering foreign markets, and how to protect oneself when doing business with a new business partner.
We prepared 10 videos with advice for entrepreneurs: