Extraordinary Entrepreneurship lessons

In April secondary school students from Cieszyn took part in the 14^th edition of National Day of Entrepreneurship. 

As every year it was under the auspices of The President of Poland Jerzy Duda. However the organisor of the event is Enterprising Youth Foundation¹ which won the first prize in a contest for The Best Civil Initiative Pro Publico Bono in the Educational Initiative Category.

For young people The Day of Entrepreneurship is often their first one-day visit in companies focused on familiarizing²with new working places. Due to the fact that students from our school study logistics and tourism they went to 10 different travel agencies, hostels, and hotels as well as 11 transport and logistics companies. Each of the students did different jobs. 

They worked as  tour operators, receptionists, maids, warehouse workers, purchase ³department workers or administrative workers.

‘The time spent in Gambit Hotel taught us a lot. We learnt that the person in charge of maintaining order and cleanliness must work really hard. We also learnt what  the duties of a receptionist are and how responsible you must be to hold the position. Although we were really exhausted we will remember the day as very pleasant one’, said Wiktoria.

‘In my opinion the job of a freight operator⁴is really hard. Each order id different, there always may occur an unexpected problem like a mistake in documents or just some delays in shipment. You must be really quick-thinking, able to solve the problems and flexible’, Szymon said.

‘I personally found out how a travel agency works. I could work with a booking system online. At first I expected it to be another boring day at work. However our mentor showed us that it can be a fascinating job because every day you can learn something new or you can meet new people with different interests. We spent nice day in Bea Travel agency’, said Michał.

Thanks to those ‘entrepreneurship lessons’ students gained their first job experience and started collaboration with local entrepreneurs. 

¹ foundation - organization set up to provide help and money for research, charity etc.
² familiarize with - acquire a thorough knowledge of sth
³ purchase - act of buying sth
⁴ freight operator - person in charge of goods transported by ship, aircrafts or trains

Business Navigator

Business Navigator is a series of trainings for entrepreneurs organized in Zamek Cieszyn. The best business couches, specialists experienced in management - like GPS navigators help show new companies the way to success.

The World Entrepreneurship Week in Cieszyn

Zamek Cieszyn – an institution promoting culture, design and entrepreneurship organized The World Entrepreneurship Week  in Cieszyn. This is an international project run since 2008 in which over 100 countries from all over the world (including Poland) are taking part. All the participants want to develop business initiatives. This year’s motto is BUSINESS IS GOOD, ENTREPRENEURHIP IS GOOD.

QUESTIONNAIRE about school companies - SOIZ TIME from Poland

1.     Are you satisfied with your cooperation between members of  your school company? Why?

We are satisfied with the relations between workers in our company. They are based on partner relations and mutual respect. We cooperate with each other by planning and taking decisions together. We try to share the tasks fairly.

2.     Did you have any problems with running your school companies? How did you cope with them?

There were minor misunderstandings which we tried to solve together by talking to each other. Sometimes we couldn’t do some tasks in our company by ourselves so we had to ask vocational subject teachers to help us.

3.     To what extend did you manage to accomplish  all plans and activities which you had set  in your business plan?

We managed to organize a few interesting events:

·       a city rally for SOiZ students

·       a city rally for Erasmus + partners

·       class trips to Warsaw and Krakow

·       conducting a game ‘Communication in a team’ in other classes by using Lego blocks

·       St Valentine’s Day contest

·       we also run a FB profile

4.     To what extend did you accomplish your business plan?

We accomplished it successfully in all points.

5.     What was the strength of your school company?

Mutual respect, acceptance, friendly relations, tourism hobbies, eagerness to work and determination in doing the tasks are our strengths.

6.     What was the weakness of your company?

Low financial possibilities and no profit earned from the events were our weaknesses. Sometimes we also lacked enough time to work together.

7.     How successful was the school company and what are you proud of?

Our biggest success was preparing and realization of the school trips to Warsaw and Krakow. We prepared the itineraries, calculated the trips and booked the hotel, all tickets and admissions. We played the roles of tour guides by ourselves.

8.     What knowledge did you acquire while running the school company

Running our company we learned how to run business. All the vocational subject classes taught us a lot. Thanks to them nothing surprised us. We learned how to prepare itineraries, organize events and prepare calculations.

9.     What skills did you get while running the school company?

While running the school company we learned how to monitor organizing trips, how to run a travel agency and how to cooperate in a team which consisted  of students from our class- different personalities. We learned that in order to run a business we need to be determined and eager to do it.

10.  Can you see any opportunities for development of your company as ‘real’ entrepreneurs in the future?

There is a big opportunity for our company to become a big real company because the basis for success is our self-denial, creative people and integrated team. We believe that running the company as a big real one is a big challenge for us but also an adventure, because we all truly love tourism.

11.  What opportunities and threats can you see?

Our age, knowledge of tourism and the market, ability to speak three languages( English, German and Italian) are our big advantages. We are aware of the threats that are waiting for us in current world. Cieszyn is a small town with a lot of travel agencies competing with each other. However,  self-discipline is most important, which we know we can make it!!!

Cieszyn Castle

They are the first center of design in Silesia, they show how design can change an enterprise. 

They cooperate with public institutions and they try to find solutions which can make life easier. 

Every year Castle starts making events in January - they makes concerts, workshops, lectures, meetings for kids, teenagers and adults.

Back on track!

Iconic "Syrena" , again conquers the hearts of Polish people. 

This iconic car, was made in Poland in 1955, and the company had finished the production of the car in 1983, after releasing over 520 000 units. 

Thanks to European Union funds, in Kutno a production of a new model of Polish car „Syrena" will start gain. However, this is not gonna be a car being sold on a large scale, but only in several hundred copies annually. Amateurs of Polish "Syrena" are already getting excited.

From the production line, in the first year will come  50 copies of "Syrena S201" , which shape will be modeled on its previous model. The design of the car is made by Bartosz Andrzejewski , a student from Warsaw Academy of Art. Components for "Syrena" will be made in Kutno. The engine with the capacity of 1,4l and power of 90KM and manual gearbox will come from General Motors. 

Modern "Syrena S201" will be equipped in ABS, air bags, air conditioning, electric windows and mirrors and electrical power steering. The car has already received his homologation, of Industrial Institute of motorization. 

Photos of Syrena on:https://www.facebook.com/NowaSyrena  

Photo source: http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-news/93945/wacky-syrena-meluznya-r-is-a-394bhp-1100kg-racer-from-poland 

IIIrd Women Congress in Cieszyn Silesia

   

Women congress

Women’s everyday space’, ‘Education develops and enriches’ – these are the mottos of this year’s IIIrd  Women Congress in Cieszyn Silesia. Creative Women Club Association organized a two-day meeting which was held 16^th-17^th October 2015 in Cieszyn.
     The Congress is an event aimed at both women and men. It was prepared for the first time three years ago by Creative Women Club Association, which has been working in favour of women for seven years. The IIIrd Congress was held under auspices of the vice-marshal of Silesian Province – Aleksandra Skowronek, the member of Polish Parliament  - Miroslawa Nykiel and the rector of The university of Dąbrowa Górnicza – prof. dr. Zdzislawa Dacko-Pikiewicz.

Christmas Wishes

Dear readers! The coordinators from Belgium, Cyprus, Hungary, Italy, Portugal and Poland with their students would like to wish you all the best for the coming Christmas! We wish you the new 2016 to be filled with your dreams coming true, friends and health! 

All the best,

Project Coordinators

The brewery in Cieszyn is no longer Brackie!

     The brewery in Cieszyn will be run as an independent organization called "Browar Zamkowy Cieszyn" (Cieszyn Zamek Brewery). Despite the production line of the beer from the Żywiec Group they will introduce other special types of beer. 

1st teachers' meeting in Setubal, Portugal.

Teachers during the meeting

From 18th to 21st September the very first meeting of the project "On the road to entrepreneurship" took place. The participants that took part in this event were form the partner countries: Poland, Italy, Portugal, Hungary, Cyprus and Belgium. During the meeting the teachers managed to discuss important for the project aspects, such as: the dates of the meetings, the monitoring and the dissemination of the project, the importance of set goals, products and many more. The meeting started with enthusiasm and lots of joy towards the coming two years!