By Arta Pllana

Hello and Welcome. This is UNMIK on Air,

The University of Pristina celebrated ‘9 May-Europe Day’ by bringing together a selection of 150 students from all over South-Eastern Europe. The students took part in 6 workshops on economic topics organized by the Academic Training Association with the support of the Dutch Presidency.

In this workshop of Leontien de Witt, senior manager at Heineken breweries in Holland, students learn how to create new business concepts and how to establish so called ‘added value’ to a product.

Actuality:They are a bit afraid because there are a lot of local brands and local products that have gained a lot of market share and they don’t know how to start because they think they are fighting against something too big. But it’s just a matter of being creative and create a concept that starts a hype. You can do that with free publicity. We talked about examples how you could do this and I saw it open some eyes. So that’s nice: to be able to see some opening.

Classic school systems usually do not encourage creativity. Dutch freelance trainer Mauritz Brans however believes one needs to be imaginative and resourceful in order to be successful in business. He teaches students how creativity can be used to achieve commercial results and got enthusiastic feedback from the students in his workshop.

Actuality: You need to have a free and open culture where there is room enough to generate ideas, to feel free enough to reflect your own ideas and opinions to each other.

Mira Eremiceva, a student from Bulgaria, believes this training provided her with the necessary basis on the use of creativity in business.

Actuality: What you learn here is very brief but still it is something and you can always develop the knowledge if you have the basis

How to convince a customer to buy a product and how to build up a consumer relationship was the theme of another workshop, run by consultant Hans Steensma.

Actuality: It’s the thing you as a sales person do or not do, which attracts the reaction of the customer CUT 22:22- People want to be heard. They have their feelings, their emotions: they don’t want to know the technicalities but they want to be known for what they feel.

For the participants in the seminar it’s the whole experience that counts: besides the workshops they enjoy the contact with other students from the region. Marko Kalasan from Serbia was one of them.

Actuality: This is my first time; I am delighted with the region and the hospitality mostly from students of Pristina University and other students in the dormitory.

Workshop leader Maurits Brans gave his students a collective assignment to work on as a group after the seminar finishes. Maybe it will stimulate these students to keep in touch; exchange ideas and who knows maybe one day start a business together.

This was UNMIK on air. Thank you for listening. Hope you join us again tomorrow for another edition of our program. Good day!