Tag "ideas & experience"

Any budding economist would dream of rising on the career ladder to the IMF and consulting different countries’ governments on economic policy. HSE alumnus Vadim Khramov tells Success Builder how to move towards new goals, make an impact on the European economy, and put his teaching experience to use in the world of investment banking.

A degree in philosophy does not mean you have to remain a theoretician, and there’s a way to transform basic knowledge into not only a business, but money as well. HSE graduate Ilya Menzeleev, the co-founder of the hip-hop and soul label Hustle Flower, tells Success Builder how the Silver Age of Russian Poetry fits into rhythm and blues, why Russians should love ‘black’ music, and how Aristotle helps the music business.

Business is fashionable, but how do you know what your calling is? The ‘chocolate baron’ from the International College of Economics and Finance (ICEF), Oleg Guskov, told 'Success Builder' how to build a business around sweets, whether a luxurious lifestyle can motivate you to open your business, whether it’s possible to recoup investments in just a month, and why you should lure in workers from women’s magazines.

You don’t have to invent a new business model, but can simply take one and use it on an existing market with a smaller project that will work for the benefit of the Russian economy. This is what HSE alumnus Pavel Mokrushin, the owner of the café chain  Brusnika  (Lingonberry), did. He tells Success Builder why he studied at HSE after Moscow State, as well as how what he does is better than the warm chair of a clerk and how the small café is able to survive among the 66 restaurants on Maroseyka Street.

If you can explain why your project will be a success, investments in your business are guaranteed under any conditions. HSE alumnus and chairman of the board of directors at the 'R-Pharm' group, Alexey Repik, told 'Success Builder' what how to phase out of imports properly, how the government can help entrepreneurs, and how to turn extending people’s lives into a business.

Projects rarely become profitable right away, but if one learns from their mistakes and does not give up, success is sure to follow. In its six years of existence, the Timepad project has had its ups and downs, but in the end it became a market leader. Timepad’s creators – Ludmila Pavlova, Daria Ustyuzhanina, and Artem Kiselev, all HSE alumni – told Success Builder about the advantages of the Russian market, how to avoid spending money on advertising, and how to earn over 100 million rubles without selling your idea.

The Recycle project began as an online journal about living an environmentally friendly lifestyle in the city, but in less than a year it went offline into real life. Now its staff members organize recycling collection points, give lectures at large companies and battle the myth that sustainability always has a tinge of craziness. In this edition of ‘Success Builder’, Recycle cofounder Elena Barysheva tells about people’s willingness to change, Wi-Fi enabled recycling centres and inexpensive environmentally friendly products.

Is it easy being a Russian clothing designer when factories cost, China sews, and discounts on cheap foreign brands can reach 70%? Everything is in authorship. HSE alumna Luda Nukishina tells Success Builder why business must be done in Moscow, how a Russian designer is better than H&M, and how to make things that people will definitely buy.

Urban studies is a new field of study for Russia that is devoted to the sustainable development and use of city space. As part of the Success Builder project, Egor Korobeynikov, who is the creator of UrbanUrban and an HSE alumnus, talks about how he turned into an urbanist from a bank teller, and also about why Moscow should not be made into Europe and what officials need to be told.

In November, Ilya Azar, a journalist and graduate of the Higher School of Economics, won the HSE Alumni Awards in the category ‘Fourth Estate’. In this edition of Success Builder, Ilya speaks about how to get a job in the media, what journalistic ethics are, and how to survive in the hot spots without body armour.