Secrets of success 2018-2019 : entrepreneurs of Europe : connecting, sharing and innovating.
Date: 2019-04-12
Institutions: Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs
Subjects: EU Member State, business start-up, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, innovation, small and medium-sized enterprises, start-up

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Secrets of Success 
2018 -2019

Entrepreneurs of Europe - Connecting, Sharing and Innovating

Internal Market, Industry, 
Entrepreneurship  
and SMEs

 
 
Manuscript completed in April 2019, first edition.

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ISBN:  978-92-79-90854-5

DOI: 10.2873/8894

ET-04-18-676-EN-N

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The Secrets of Success 2018

Foreword

Welcome to the 2018-2019  
edition of the ‘Secret of Success.’

This edition probes into the 
journeys of entrepreneurs from 
across Europe, discovering 
their motivation, and recording 
their struggles along the way. 
In ‘Secrets of Success’ we 
showcase small and medium-
sized enterprises in the 
European Members States and 
countries in COSME, Europe’s 
programme for small and 
medium-sized enterprises.

Entrepreneurship is a viable and fulfilling 
career choice, and one which we encourage. 
Reading these unique stories of people who 
took a brave leap to pursue their dreams, 
should inspire you to discover the world of 
enterprises, and even motivate you to start 
your own. We at the European Commission 
hope to support you in taking this path and 
to turn your innovative ideas into tangible 
realities and products.

The majority of the featured entrepreneurs 
are the finalists of the 2017-2018 edition 
of ‘Ideas from Europe’. This is a bi-annual 
search for the most inspiring entrepreneurs 
in Europe, and brings together the brightest 
European innovations for the problems 
faced by society. The ideas cover various 
sectors, including, but not limited to, 
healthcare, food production and  
childhood bullying. 

This year’s brochure is based on 
the concepts of Connecting, Sharing 
and Innovating. Fixing problems is a 
prime motivation that connects all 
of our entrepreneurs. Another shared 
characteristic is that they bring people 
together: connecting co-workers, co-
inventors, customers and clients. Our 
entrepreneurs leverage their connections 

to explore new ways to share. Some create 
more accessible online maths materials 
for students, others train teachers to use 
innovative technology in their classrooms, 
or investigate sustainable alternatives 
to antibiotics. This brochure highlights 
success and celebrates innovative solutions. 
The presented innovations can be highly 
technical, to optimise aluminium smelters 
for example, while others are extremely 
personal, by reconnecting dementia patients 
with their loved ones.

Entrepreneurship is not a simple bridge, 
involving many twists and turns, and it can 
be hard to become successful. Many of 
the entrepreneurs are sharing with you the 
dilemmas they have faced. They have had 
to change their course, pick themselves up 
after failure, persist and try again. 

For this year’s brochure we divide the 
entrepreneurs in two categories that 
represent two key moments in the history 
of any business. ‘Learning from failure’ 
and ‘Building your best team’ are the two 
themes that unite our entrepreneurs across 
the wide variety in age, gender and industry.

These entrepreneurs have been on their 
own journeys with obstacles, highs, lows 
and everything in between. By sharing 
their stories with you we hope that they 
can serve as an inspiration to pursue 
many entrepreneurial ventures. SMEs and 
entrepreneurs are the backbone of our 
economy and leaders in innovation. We 
will continue to support and develop the 
European ecosystem that best serves their 
needs and provides an environment in 
which they can thrive.

Elżbieta Bieńkowska

European Commissioner  
for Internal Market, Industry, 
Entrepreneurship and SMEs

Entrepreneurship  
is a viable  
and fulfilling  
career choice,  
and one which  
we encourage.

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The Secrets of Success 2018

Contents

This year, our entrepreneurs come from wide-ranging sectors, bringing a great variety  
of experiences. Nevertheless, two values they all share are ‘learning from failure’  
and ‘building your best team’.

Learning From Failure

Building Your Best Team

The theme of failure, and specifically ‘learning from failure’, 
came up consistently while profiling this year’s businesses. Defeat 
and lack of success are often seen as negative, something to be 
strictly avoided. The term undoubtedly has negative connotations, 
yet most of our entrepreneurs regard failure as something 
overwhelmingly positive and even necessary. Entrepreneurship is 
full of obstacles, frustrations, ups and downs, and wrong turns. 
However, this led most of our entrepreneurs on an unexpected and 
more positive path. For others, it helped clarify their objectives.

Some of our entrepreneurs experienced concrete failures,  
including over-developing their product, putting too much 
emphasis on certain features; and miscalculating business  
risks. Others have used failure to refine their working practice  
and reflect on their beginnings and the lessons to take with  
them for future endeavours.

By making mistakes, many of our entrepreneurs have stumbled 
upon the winning formula and improved their existing innovations. 

The second theme that emerged was teamwork and the 
importance of a good team in business and entrepreneurship. 
Teamwork allows for the pooling of ideas, distribution of workload, 
and an all-important support system. Some of our entrepreneurs 
had to fail on their own before realising that a team was essential 
for forming a strong backbone for a business.

Teams come in all shapes and sizes, but all of our entrepreneurs 
agree that each member needs a defined set of skills, lots of 
motivation, and a shared vision. Having the right team is also a 
deciding factor for success. Our entrepreneurs have been through 
negative experiences that taught them the consequences of 
working with the wrong colleagues and partners. Others fell  
on hard times during which exceptional team members  
helped keep their morale up and ensured a future for their 
entrepreneurial adventures.

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The Secrets of Success 2018

Theme Key

COUNTRY

Learning From Failure

Building Your Best Team

THEME

  Albania
  Armenia
  Austria
  Belgium
  Bulgaria
  Croatia
  Cyprus
  Czech Republic
  Denmark
  Estonia
  Finland
  France
  Republic of North Macedonia
  Germany
  Greece
  Hungary
  Iceland
  Ireland
  Italy
  Latvia
  Lithuania
  Luxembourg
  Malta
  Montenegro
  Netherlands
  Poland
  Portugal
  Romania
  Serbia
  Slovakia
  Slovenia
  Spain
  Sweden
  Turkey
  UK 

Pg 6

Pg 7

Pg 9

Pg 13

Pg 14

Pg 15

Pg 17

Pg 18

Pg 20

Pg 21

Pg 23

Pg 29

Pg 31

Pg 32

Pg 33

Pg 34

Pg 36

Pg 39

Pg 40

Pg 8

Pg 10

Pg 11

Pg 12

Pg 16

Pg 19

Pg 22

Pg 24

Pg 25

Pg 26

Pg 27

Pg 28

Pg 30

Pg 35

Pg 37

Pg 38

5

Learning From Failure

Kushtrim Shala
A new face for the  
future of Albania.

ICTSmedia

Albania

Being unsuccessful 
forces you to change 
your perspective, 
and sometimes, that 
change of perspective 
is a powerful tool.

As  an  entrepreneur,  originally  from  Kosovo  and  now  in 
Albania,  I  have  always  felt  the  need  to  excel  and  be  an 
inspiration  to  others  from  small  countries.  I  have  been 
inspired  by  national  role  models  because  they  show 
that  despite  being  far  from  hubs  like  Silicon  Valley  or 
large  European  capitals,  success  is  still  attainable  if  you 
work  hard.  I  believe  that  consistent  hard  work  defines  a 
successful person. 

Albania has long suffered from ‘brain drain’ and national expertise is often 
recruited from abroad. This made me decide to create ICTSmedia, now a 
leading ICT publishing house, research and event management company 
in the region. My goal behind the company was to create a platform for 
skilled Albanians in ICT, along with a ‘talent hunting strategy’, in order to 
export national products, knowledge, and enterprises in the ICT industry. 

Setting  up  your  own  business  today  is  different  to  what  it  was  20 
years  ago;  everybody  now  has  easier  access  to  information  and 
many  innovative  ideas.  As  a  result  of  this,  I  have  learnt  the  important 
difference  between  having  an  idea  and  truly  being  an  entrepreneur.  
An  entrepreneur  has  the  desire  and  the  courage  to  implement  the  
idea,  and  is  the  one  brave  enough  to  try  it.  My  ‘secret  of  success’  is 
having  this  desire  and  willingness  to  implement,  passion,  and,  most 
importantly, persistence. 

Persistence  is  something  that  every  entrepreneur  needs.  When  others 
retreat  you  have  to  be  stubborn  and  continue.  Mistakes  can  cause  
many  to  turn  back  or  give  up  on  their  idea,  but  this  is  where  the 
entrepreneur  must  have  passion  and  determination.  The  experiences 
of failing and succeeding have a lot in common and both have almost 
the  same  positive  attributes.  Failure  will  teach  you  the  depth  of  your 
persistence  and  may  reveal  that  you  have  more  inner  strength  and 
perseverance  than  you  thought.  Being  unsuccessful  also  forces  you  to 
change  your  perspective  and  sometimes  that  change  of  perspective  
is a powerful tool. 

As  an  entrepreneur  you  need  to  be  open  to,  and  ask  for,  knowledge. 
Surround  yourself  with  successful  and  sustainable  colleagues  and 
friends and learn, but never forget to determine your own goals. 

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Learning From Failure

Vahan Chakarian
We rise by  
lifting others.

Technology 
and Science 
Dynamics LLC

Armenia

You have to fail in 
order to learn how 
to get up a stronger 
and more experienced 
entrepreneur.

7

In  my  23  years  as  an  entrepreneur,  I  have  learnt  many 
lessons  on  how  to  continue  innovating.  My  company, 
Technology  and  Science  Dynamics  LLC,  is  a  research  
and  development  company  located  in  Yerevan,  Armenia.  
The  company  provides  services  and  solutions 
in  
the  field  of  high-tech  manufacturing  and  software 
solutions,  using  a  combination  of  specialised  computer 
hardware,  breakthrough  ideas,  and  a  young,  bright  and  
committed team. 

The future belongs to technology, and there is always a need for further 
development. Inspired by this idea, I decided that not only did I want to 
specialise in this field, I wanted to be a game-changer in the sector. 

I  inherited  my  work  ethic  and  attitude  from  my  father.  He  was  a  
hard-working man and a unique thinker. He encouraged me to become  
an  entrepreneur  and  to  innovate  by  finding  new  approaches  to  solve 
existing problems. 

The  most  important  lesson  that  you  can  learn  from  starting  your  own 
business is the value of people. People are definitely your most important 
asset, and you should surround yourself with the right ones to help you 
on your journey. This path will never be a single straight line, and just 
like in any business, failure is unavoidable. This is a good thing and you 
should  accept  it.  You  have  to  fail  in  order  to  learn  how  to  become  a 
stronger and more experienced entrepreneur.

My secret of success is something I will keep for myself, which is why 
it is called a secret. However what I will share is my general advice for 
entrepreneurs  or  anybody  looking  to  innovate.  It  is  simple,  really:  you 
need to work hard. It is only through hard work that you will accomplish 
what you set out to do. You need to work hard for yourself, and you need 
to work harder than your competition to get ahead.

Innovation  is  an  incredible  experience.  I  like  to  think  of  it  as  ‘tangible 
magic’, something you dream about but that you can actually see and 
experience.    In  fact,  this  is  why  I  included  a  quote  from  scientist  and 
writer Arthur C. Clarke in the company’s vision: ‘Any sufficiently advanced 
technology is indistinguishable from magic’.

Building Your Best Team

Stefan Steinberger
Do what you love – 
love what you do.

refugees{code}

Austria

Find your passion and 
a team that can help 
you realise it.

I  have  been  an  entrepreneur  since  the  summer  of  2016, 
and  have  learnt  a  great  deal  on  my  entrepreneurial 
journey. My mission from the beginning has been to help 
disadvantaged people find a job, which is what led me to 
create refugees{code}, a service that offers programming 
courses  for  refugees  with  the  clear  goal  of  integrating 
them into the mainstream job market. 

The idea for refugees{code} came when I realised two things: firstly, that 
refugees are looking for jobs, and secondly, that companies are looking 
for programmers. From there, it just continued to develop, and I realised 
that I was succeeding when there was genuine interest in our programme 
participants. In the future, I hope to expand and offer our courses to all 
unemployed people, not only refugees, so that we can become a coding 
school for everyone. 

When you are an entrepreneur you gain much experience, both positive 
and negative. Since setting up the business, I have learnt that the most 
important thing is to just keep going; you only fail if you stop trying. If 
one way doesn’t work, simply try another! You can’t give up on your idea; 
persistence  is  key  to  your  long-term  career  as  an  entrepreneur.  If  you 
have an idea, then find your passion and a team that can help you realise 
it. Once you have that, just start working on your idea regularly, even if it 
is only once a week at the beginning. Your idea should be something that 
you love and something that you love working on. 

Looking back on my own journey so far, I realise I could have worked full 
time on my idea sooner. By going full time you can fully concentrate on 
your idea and put all of your passion and energy into it. However, I can 
now say that my ‘secret of success’ is definitely down to three things:  
the team, hard work, and dedication. You can’t do it on your own, and you 
need to work hard and be motivated to succeed!

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Learning From Failure

Julien Penders
Work hard. Play 
hard. Have impact.

Bloomlife

Belgium

I’ve also learnt from 
failure, the biggest 
of which was mis-
evaluating the risks 
as a business.

I  believe  that  being  an  entrepreneur  is  a  mind-set,  a 
way  to  approach  things  in  life.  In  that  respect,  I’ve  been 
an  entrepreneur  from  very  early  on.  If  we  consider 
‘entrepreneur’ in the stricter sense of the word, it’s been 
about five years since I co-founded Bloomlife.

The  inspiration  for  Bloomlife  came  when  my  wife  was  pregnant  with 
our  first  child,  a  time  when  we  experienced  the  lack  of  information 
available to parents and the antiquated hospital technology. At the time, 
my co-founder and I were working in wearable technology, and saw the 
opportunity  to  apply  this  to  the  needs  of  pregnant  women  and  their 
doctors. With its smartphone-connected sensor and app, Bloomlife puts 
clinically validated information into the mother’s hands, and with the help 
of other mothers, we are crowdsourcing the largest dataset on maternal 
and foetal health. 

Since founding Bloomlife, I have learnt that having a clear vision of what 
you  want  to  achieve  and  sticking  to  it  is  fundamental.  Being  clear  on 
what you are doing and why will help you orientate yourself. Setting up a 
business is about bringing a grand vision to life, and building the journey 
that will get you there. On my own Bloomlife journey, I’ve also learnt from 
failure, the biggest of which was mis-evaluating the risks as a business. 
I  always  believed  that  our  main  risk  was  technical,  but  investors  and 
other stakeholders identified the market as the biggest risk. As a result 
we spent the first six months building functioning prototypes, when we 
should  have  been  de-risking  the  market  for  our  investors.  I  learnt  to 
identify risks early on and to talk to people to understand external risks. 
I’ve also learnt that everything takes much longer than expected!

In terms of success, I have not fully come to terms with ‘being successful’, 
but  the  key  thing  that  has  gotten  me  this  far  has  been  listening  to 
customers. As two males starting a women’s health business, we had no 
choice! Put your ‘product’ in the hands of your customers as soon as you 
can; you will learn an enormous amount from it and satisfy the reality of 
your customer expectations.

9

Building Your Best Team

Mark Marinov
Think big!  
Act bigger!

eCars.bg / UNEVERS.com

Bulgaria

Be smart enough to 
surround yourself with 
smarter people to 
work on your idea.

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Inspiration  comes  from  opportunity,  and  the  inspiration 
for  eCars.bg  /  UNEVERS.com  came  from  a  combination 
of  opportunity,  knowledge,  and  the  potential  of  the  idea. 
The  business  focuses  on  the  creation  of  electric  vehicle-
charging  infrastructure  and  the  production  of  premium 
charging stations for electric cars. In addition to production, 
our goal is to make electric mobility easy to understand, 
desirable and, most importantly, accessible. 

Setting up your own business teaches you a great deal, but for me, there 
are  two  things  that  are  very  important.  First,  never,  never  quit!  Keep 
working  on  your  idea  and  get  your  customers  or  audience  excited  and 
emotional.  When  explaining  or  pitching  my  idea,  I  like  to  make  people 
feel like it is really their idea and not mine. Also, building a connection 
with your customers is important, as their feedback can help determine 
your success. The second important lesson is to keep learning: always be 
humble and be smart enough to surround yourself with smarter people 
to work on your idea. It’s not just a large quantity of knowledge that you 
need, but also high-quality knowledge, so find the people that can deliver 
this and get them on your team. 

Looking back now, if I could give myself one piece of advice it would be to 
invite smart people to join my team so as to avoid wasted opportunities, 
and unnecessary costs by trying to do it on my own. Learning from failure 
is  part  of  success,  and  for  me,  the  lesson  was  that  my  idea  must  fit 
into  my  business  environment.  If  the  idea  is  not  compatible  with  the 
environment, you either need to seek another environment in which you 
can flourish, or perhaps change the idea to allow it to succeed. 

The moment I realised that I was successful was when I saw that our 
company actions, attitude, and values had led to the creation of a great 
public  image,  financial  return,  and  a  number  of  long-lasting  business 
relationships. In order to get to that point it was necessary to put in the 
hard work and invest time in acquiring that high-quality knowledge. 

Building Your Best Team

Martina Cvetković
In short – work, 
order, discipline.

Balmaris

Croatia

Having been surrounded by the sea and ships all my life, 
and now living in a port city, it seems only natural that I 
work in the maritime industry. I think that my environment 
was definitely a strong influence on my choice of graduate 
studies at the Faculty of Maritime Studies in Rijeka (Croatia), 
and my own personal beliefs and interest in ecology and 
environmental protection led me to my doctoral studies in 
environmental protection in Ljubljana (Slovenia). 

It  was  in  Slovenia  that  my  mentor  helped  me  develop  my  idea  for  a 
technology  specialising  in  ballast  water  treatment,  and  that  marked 
the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey to develop innovative and  
eco-friendly technology for the maritime sector. The technology can also 
be used for the treatment of other fluids, like waste and swimming-pool 
water, and across several industries such as the food and medical sectors. 
The  Balmaris  innovative  technology  for  treatment  of  ballast  water  on 
ships and other fluids is fully eco-friendly because it is based exclusively 
on  a  mechanical  and  physical  process  without  using  any  chemicals.  
It  is  also  very  simple,  has  a  low-energy  consumption,  is  easy  
to handle, and can be adapted to the space in which it needs to operate 
(modular principle).

Having  been  an  entrepreneur  for  three  years,  I  can  now  look  back  on 
what I have achieved, as well as what I have learned. In my experience, 
there is no ‘secret recipe for success’, just many circumstances that need 
to  happen  at  the  right  time  and  in  the  right  place.  However,  success 
only comes from much effort and great sacrifice. Ask, listen, and most 
importantly, learn – you need a great deal of knowledge and information 
on your journey to becoming a successful business owner. You will also 
need to share or pitch your idea during your journey, so try to be simple, 
clear, concise, and memorable! Finally, it is your idea, your passion, and 
something you have developed, so probably the most important piece of 
advice I can give for communicating your idea to others is to be yourself. 

Ask, listen, and most 
importantly, learn.

11

Building Your Best Team

Michalis Agapiou
There’s always at least 
one more way to get 
things done.
SyndeSeas  
Integrated  
Solutions Ltd

Cyprus

Having a strong  
team in place has 
helped overcome 
setbacks and  
disappointments.

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My  entrepreneurial  voyage  began  with  this  particular 
venture, SyndeSeas, back in 2016. As naval architects and 
maritime  professionals,  my  team  and  I  felt  that  we  had 
to be part of the global maritime industry effort to tackle 
man-made climate change. It is a global responsibility to 
act  now,  to  preserve  our  planet  for  both  ourselves  and 
future  generations.  The  SyndeSeas  Integrated  Solution 
was our response to the declared global priority to reduce 
greenhouse  gas  emissions  from  maritime  transport.  We 
designed  an  innovative  integrated  software  tool  that 
complies with ships’ fuel consumption and GHG emissions 
regulations. Ship management companies can operate this 
easy-to-use  tool  for  accurate  and  efficient  monitoring, 
reporting,  and  verification,  whilst  also  gaining  valuable 
insights  into  vessel  and  fleet  performance,  leading  to  a 
reduction in operational expenses.

Setting up the SyndeSeas business has taught me a great deal, but the 
most important is the need to have the right team in place. Having the 
right  people  around  you  and  ensuring  their  motivation  and  dedication 
to  the  project  is  necessary  for  success.  Our  ability  to  build  a  team  of 
devoted,  hard-working,  and  resourceful  people,  all  sharing  a  common 
goal and the determination to accomplish it, has been the ‘secret of our 
success’. Having a strong team in place has helped overcome setbacks 
and  disappointments,  and  inspired  me  to  approach  things  the  way  my 
grandfather,  my  greatest  inspiration,  did.  He  was  a  hard-working  and 
resourceful man with the unique ability to always find at least one more 
way to get something done.

I  have  always  believed  in  our  business  idea,  from  the  very  beginning. 
However,  I  really  began  to  feel  successful  after  interactions  with  the 
target  audience  revealed  genuine  interest  in  learning  more  about  the 
solution  and  how  it  could  be  applied  to  their  specific  business  needs. 
Believing in your idea is one thing but I have learnt that you only become 
capable  of  accomplishing  something  when  you  actually  start  doing  it, 
which is what I would pass on to other entrepreneurs. 

Looking back on my own journey, my advice would be: ‘A ship in port is 
safe, but that’s not what ships are built for’, so take the risk and just go 
for it!

Learning From Failure

Radek Hušek
Insects, the  
new normal.

SENS Foods

Czech Republic

I don’t see 
failures, but rather 
‘adjustments to 
incorrect estimates’ 
from which you  
win or learn.

Pre-historic  populations  wisely  ate  insects,  yet  current 
populations  don’t  seem  to  appreciate  these  creatures  in 
the same way. The goal behind setting up SENS Foods was 
to change that, and make insects the new norm by creating 
a  higher  demand  for  insect  food  products.  We  have  to 
think sustainably, and insect protein is perhaps the most 
sustainable protein source currently available. 

Before getting into insects and specifically cricket flour production, I was 
already an entrepreneur, and have been since the age of eight when I 
sold  toys  to  friends  in  my  village.  Unfortunately,  I  went  bankrupt,  but 
I learnt from that and later went on to make important ‘smart money’ 
decisions  for  my  business.  Despite  my  early  business  ‘failure’  I  don’t 
really see failures, but rather regard them as ‘adjustments to incorrect 
estimates’ from which you either win or learn. 

In terms of success, it comes to down to working hard and drinking lots 
of coffee! I feel successful when I actively shape the environment around 
insect products; for example, when I was part of the successful legislation 
change regarding insects as novelty foods in the Czech Republic. From 
the beginning, my mission has been to create a scalable industry demand 
for  insect  products.  Early  on,  it  became  clear  that  the  most  important 
thing  was  the  provision  of  safe  and  affordable  cricket  flour,  which  is 
a  crucial  ingredient  for  any  insect  food  start-up.  We  are  working  on 
providing large amounts of cricket flour at a great price, and hopefully in 
the future automating its production to keep prices down. The vision is 
for SENS Foods to become the number one global insect company, with 
a portfolio of known products that have improved nutritional value and 
reduce impact on natural resources.

The  development  of  the  company  has  brought  many  lessons  with  it, 
including  the  importance  of  focusing  on  your  team.  Setting  dedicated 
time  aside  to  focus  on  them  is  the  most  important  part  of  scaling  up 
your idea. If I could give myself some advice, it would be to think bigger. 
Thinking bigger makes everything easier in the end, and you will either 
win or learn. 

13

Learning From Failure

Klaus B. Pedersen
Life begins at the end 
of your comfort zone.

Too Good To Go

Denmark

You have to get 
comfortable with 
mistakes and seek 
them, since failure is 
where all the lessons 
and growth are.

14 ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/support/sme-week/

Many  great  people  have  inspired  me,  but  my  first 
inspiration  to  pursue  the  entrepreneurial  lifestyle  was 
the  spirit  of  adventure.  The  normal  life  of  ‘go  to  school, 
get good grades, get a job, go to work, and save for your 
old  age’  was  too  predictable  for  me.  I  wanted  to  build  a 
more adventurous life, and felt that I could realise that by 
creating a cool start-up.

The idea for Too Good To Go came from taking an existing problem and 
creating  an  easy-to-use  solution,  which  would  be  a  win-win  situation 
for  everybody.  We  help  restaurants  and  food  businesses  reduce  food 
waste, by selling their surplus food at a reduced price to consumers. This 
way  the  store  earns  money  on  what  was  previously  thrown  away,  the 
consumers can get a nice meal at a great price, we as a company take a 
fee per saved meal, and most importantly, it’s good for the environment.

Setting up the business has not always been easy, and in my four years 
as an entrepreneur I’ve learnt to stay focused, and keep things simple 
and easy. Being an entrepreneur has also taught me the value of failure. 
You have to get comfortable with mistakes and seek them, since failure 
is where all the lessons and growth are. Life begins at the end of your 
comfort  zone,  and  seeing  as  time  is  our  most  precious  resource,  we 
should  use  it  to  chase  our  dreams  and  desires  and  to  try  new  things 
while we can.

My ‘secret of success’ lies in failure. You need to fail early, fail often and 
fail  forward.  For  an  entrepreneur,  I  think  you  can  measure  success  by 
your sustainable growth, especially when you can pay your employees, 
your  bills,  and  still  keep  growing.  At  the  beginning,  my  team  and  I  all 
had other jobs, but it just got so much better when we went all in and 
gave it everything to focus on the business. This would be my advice for 
other  entrepreneurs:  go  all  in  and  don’t  be  afraid  of  risks  and  failure. 
Start a business; even if it doesn’t work, you will have gained invaluable 
experience and knowledge that you can use the day you have a golden 
idea or opportunity.

Learning From Failure

Margus Kullerkupp
Stay healthy, enjoy 
life, and lower your 
energy costs!
Sol Navitas OÜ

Estonia

Know your 
competitors, and 
if you are doing 
something similar, 
make it different  
and better.

15

My  entrepreneurial  career  began  with  a  local  business 
idea  competition  and  a  really  cool  bicycle.  Despite  doing 
my  own  research  on  similar  products,  the  local  business 
idea  competition  jury  claimed  my  product  was  identical 
to  another  existing  bicycle,  and  did  not  agree  on  its 
differences.  This  particular  setback  took  my  motivation 
away  for  a  while  but  taught  me  a  valuable  lesson:  know 
your competitors and if you are doing something similar, 
make it different and make it better.

The  bicycle  failure  was  my  first  professional  setback,  but  my  first 
business-related  knowledge  came  from  childhood.  At  the  age  of  12,  
I started selling popcorn made by my parents, and turned over a good 
profit! I used all the profit for sweets, and then begged my parents for 
more popcorn. They asked me for the raw material, which I did not have, 
so that ended my business. The lesson was to not use money meant for 
investment  and  only  spend  the  profits.  The  experience  also  taught  me 
about teamwork and how with the right team you can be successful. 

These early lessons served me well when I started my entrepreneurial 
career in green technology five years ago. I originally wanted to be an 
entrepreneur  because  of  the  balance  between  time  and  money,  but  I 
didn’t have a specific mission. However, my interest in green energy led 
me to green technology and my passion for solar energy led me to take 
over a company dealing with solar-based ventilation and heat devices. All 
of this started from the original need for a solution to my own household 
problems, which has now turned into a career helping others with similar 
issues.  At  Sol  Navitas  OÜ,  we  are  tackling  these  same  problems  in  a 
green and sustainable manner. 

I do not feel that I am particularly successful yet, but I am working on it! 
For now, I rely on my passion, belief, good timing, and good health. My 
advice for both myself and other entrepreneurs is simply FOCUS: Follow 
One Course Until Successful. Do what makes you smile, surround yourself 
with positive people, and recognise the opportunities in front of you. 

Building Your Best Team

Mervi Annika 
Pänkäläinen
Cheer your peer  
for mighty impact!

The Mighty United

Finland

Choosing the right 
team members and 
partners is crucial  
for how successful  
you will be.

16 ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/support/sme-week/

The  Mightifier  app  helps  children  learn  emotional  and 
social intelligence through celebrating positive psychology 
and  building  encouraging  classroom  communities.  When 
creating  and  sustaining  the  Mightifier  business,  it  was 
important to keep in mind the need to choose opportunities 
wisely,  prioritise,  and  focus.  In  my  experience  as  an 
entrepreneur, many opportunities will come your way and 
you  need  to  take  the  time  to  stop  and  think  about  what 
is  best  for  you  and  your  business.  Don’t  hesitate  to  take 
your  time  when  searching  for  the  best  possible  partners; 
be sure to pick someone who really shares your ambition 
and who will be there for the long run. Choosing the right 
team members and partners is crucial for how successful 
you will be.

Your  team  is  important,  but  so  are  your  customers.  Talk  to  potential 
customers, lots of them, and reach out to different kinds of customers as 
well. Use these customer discussions to analyse the actual need, but do 
not take every request as a new feature you absolutely need to add. This 
is where your focus, initial mission, and staying on track are important. 
Your drive and focus are also important when selling or explaining your 
idea. When pitching, you need to think about who your audience is and 
what  they  are  looking  for.  Understanding  your  specific  audience  and 
keeping your message as minimal and as clear as possible is essential 
for  a  good  pitch.  Also,  don’t  forget  to  practise  and  rehearse,  rehearse, 
rehearse your pitch to make it confident and strong! 

Part  of  your  success  is  your  passion  for  what  you  do,  which  is  why  I 
believe my ‘secret of success’ is down to how much I care about Mightifier 
as well as the hard work I have put into it. Success for Mightifier came 
after the first pilots in Finnish schools. These pilots led to schools from 
around the world getting in touch to see how to bring Mightifier to their 
students. By going global, I feel that the main mission of Mightifier, letting 
others know that they matter and that they are great as they are, is being 
accomplished and spread throughout educational systems. 

Learning From Failure

Thibault Duchemin
Absolute clarity, 
impeccable coordination, 
relentless execution.
Ava

France

Failure is a phase 
between preparation 
and confrontation 
with real life.

17

Seek  the  true  signal,  and  say  no  to  the  noise.  I  wish  I 
had  known  that  five  years  ago,  when  I  started  Ava.  Be 
authentically  confident.  You  are  your  first  investor,  so 
believe in your idea and show that it is simply inevitable. 

Ava  is  a  California-based  company  that  lets  people  with  hearing 
disabilities  communicate  with  others,  by  using  artificial  intelligence 
software to instantly transcribe the conversation on their smartphones. 
The Ava software can handle two-way as well as group conversations, 
so 
interviews,  work  meetings,  presentations,  and 
everyday interactions. It  is the key to a  truly  autonomous  professional  
and social life. 

it  manages 

I  have  been  breaking  communication  barriers  for  the  deaf  since  I  was 
three. I grew up as the only hearing person in my family, so for my entire 
life,  I  have  wanted  to  tear  down  the  silent  wall  between  my  parents,  
my sister, and all opportunities of a normal life. 

A  source  of  inspiration  has  been  Anshu  Gupta,  founder  of  India’s 
humanitarian  aid  and  disaster  relief  organisation  GOONJ.  Gupta  asks: 
what problem is so frustrating that you could work on fixing it for the next 
10 years? This is the secret of my success: learn to question everything. 

First of all, question yourself, to know what is important, what you are 
passionate about, and how you can improve. Secondly, question others, 
to  understand  what  is  important  for  them  and  what  their  dreams  are. 
You have to pay attention and forget about yourself. Finally, question the 
world: why is reality made this way and what unknown systems are you 
part of? The answers will show you how to change the world. 

The  better  your  questions,  the  better  your  quality  of  life.  This  leads  
to  true  insights,  profound  connections,  and  new  opportunities.  You 
also  have  to  trust  your  instincts  and  dare  to  jump.  The  reward  is  far  
more than you expect. 

I did not get the idea for Ava right initially. The solution came after talking 
to 120 people. Failure is a phase between preparation and confrontation 
with  real  life.  I  now  crave  the  failure  of  my  assumptions  to  discover  
what reality is. 

Learning From Failure

Filip Ristevski
Man cannot discover 
new oceans unless he 
has the courage to 
lose sight of the shore.
Piksel LTD

Republic of North Macedonia 

Failures are part of 
our lives and help  
us to grow.

18 ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/support/sme-week/

I  have  always  thought  like  an  entrepreneur.  Even  when  I 
was  working  for  others,  my  style  was  entrepreneurial. 
However, I started my business just five years ago. I changed 
positions often and worked in both the public and private 
sectors  before  realising  that  founding  a  startup  was  the 
next obvious step for me. At the end of 2008, I enrolled in 
postgraduate  studies  for  e-business  management,  where 
I met one of my current business partners. Collaboration 
came  naturally  and  we  decided  to  go  further,  and  began 
developing a business idea. This turned into our company 
Piksel LTD.

Piksel LTD gives customers the latest products in line with digital trends. 
We  give  customers  customised  online  presences  with  creative  content 
and market them and their services innovatively. 

Setting up your own business comes with obstacles and difficulties which 
are a part of both business and life. As a business we tried to focus on 
too many aspects, and stretched our manpower to the limit. This resulted 
in us underperforming and not producing high-quality content. We learnt 
from this and scaled back to focus on our strengths and expand gradually 
with  our  developing  knowledge  of  the  sector.  Learn  from  the  negative 
aspects and concentrate on how to solve the problems in front of you. 
Never give up on your initial idea and keep in mind where you want to be 
in future.  Failures are part of our lives and help us to grow. 

My  secret  of  success  is  down  to  the  people  I  work  with  and  the 
environment we create. We make employees feel included and supported, 
both in the work environment and outside of it. It is essential that your 
team members complement one another, and that your relationship with 
your  employees  is  strong.  I  aim  to  be  the  manager  that  I  needed  and 
didn’t have in my previous career.  

Do not hesitate to take the plunge into entrepreneurship. You just need to 
come up with the right idea, motivate yourself to work towards making it 
a reality, find the right team to start, and jump in! 

Building Your Best Team

Steffen Preuß
Find a new way of 
communication, because 
communication lets us 
all be part of society.

ichó systems gmbh

Germany

Look out for a good 
team, because your 
team members will 
support you if you  
feel like you can’t 
carry on.

19

My career as an entrepreneur began in 2012 when I worked 
in advertising and design. The ichó systems start-up began 
in 2016, and in early 2018, we founded our company and 
began working full time on our idea. ichó is an interactive 
therapy  tool  for  people  with  cognitive  diseases,  the 
development of which was inspired by attempts to connect 
with our own grandparents suffering from dementia. Seeing 
my  own  grandmother  start  to  ‘glow’  when  interacting 
with an early prototype was definitely one of the biggest 
motivation boosts for me and inspired me to keep going.

Starting  your  own  business  teaches  you  a  lot,  but  mainly  that  nothing 
works as planned. My advice would be to start meeting people as early 
as  you  can  and  start  networking.  The  worst  thing  is  to  keep  your  idea 
a  secret  and  work  on  your  own.  Look  out  for  a  good  team,  because 
your team members will support you if, at some point, you feel like you 
can’t carry on. From my own experience, you will need more manpower 
much sooner than you anticipate. You should also not be afraid to talk 
about what you need in your network; let everyone know what you are 
struggling with and you will find that help is always much nearer than 
you think. 

I  like  to  think  that  I  have  not  failed;  my  mind-set  is  more  focused  on 
difficulties  and  challenges  that  have  been  overcome  through  time  and 
experience. It is really important not to lose faith in your idea, which does 
not mean that you won’t have to adjust your idea and maybe even change 
core-aspects of it, but just keep going; this is the most important part. 
Success is a big word and if you talk to the big start-ups and successful 
entrepreneurs, it seems that they achieved everything overnight, but the 
truth is that they faced the same challenges as everyone else.

My  ‘secret  of  success’  is  down  to  the  highly  motivated  team  and 
network I work with. Your team is important so make sure you celebrate  
and  acknowledge  even  the  smallest  successes  or  milestones  you  
reach together. 

Learning From Failure

Dimitris 
Gkremylogiannis
We will either find  
a way or make one.

Agrifarm

Greece

When I have failed to 
believe in myself, this 
is when I have learnt 
worthwhile lessons 
and become a stronger 
entrepreneur.

20 ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/support/sme-week/

Five  years  ago  in  2013  I  took  the  plunge  and  began 
AGRIFARM  with  the  aim  of  “Refarming  Greece”.  The 
Refarming concept challenges the existing entrepreneurial 
culture 
in  agriculture,  encourages  respect  for  the 
environment  and  prioritises  positive  social  impact.  My 
business is multifaceted, but has two main aspects. Firstly, 
we  encourage  youth  to  pursue  farming  in  rural  Greece 
to  combat  mass  migration  to  the  cities.  Through  specific 
programmes  we  ensure  that  the  young  farmers  receive 
good prices for their products and the necessary support 
to  be  self-sufficient.  Secondly,  we  export  sustainably 
produced Greek agricultural products, some of which have 
won global prizes for their quality.

AGRIFARM  was  inspired  by  my  family,  who  have  been  village  farmers 
for  four  generations.  I  wanted  to  promote  farming  careers  in  an 
environmentally friendly way and also give back to the community. Being 
environmentally friendly is something I take pride in, which is why all our 
packaging is 100% cotton and free of plastic materials. The packaging 
was inspired specifically by my grandmother, who used to store legumes 
and  pasta  in  cotton  pillowcases!  The  pillowcases  inspired  the  shape 
and  composition  of  the  packaging  in  which  we  export  our  agricultural 
products.  Giving  back  to  the  community  is  also  extremely  important, 
which is why we inject some of our profits back into rural communities 
to help them develop. 

I began the AGRIFARM journey on my own and have slowly taken on five 
employees that help me grow the business globally. Setting up my own 
business has taught me to overcome obstacles and to not be afraid to 
fight for my entrepreneurial dream. Throughout my journey I have learnt 
to  trust  myself  and  my  instincts,  which  along  with  passion  and  hard 
work is my secret of success. When I have failed to believe in myself, 
this  is  when  I  have  learnt  worthwhile  lessons  and  become  a  stronger 
entrepreneur. For me success is when you are doing something you love, 
and you can’t distinguish between what you do for leisure and your ‘job’. 
Entrepreneurship is not a job but a way of life, so don’t be afraid to fail 
and keep learning.

Learning From Failure

Tibor Somogyi
Less is more.

easyMaths

Hungary

Failures are simply 
daily lessons that 
we experience which 
allow you to continue 
and build a better 
company.

21

As a university student, I realised that I was not alone in my 
exam stress and that the only way people felt they could 
pass  their  exams  was  to  receive  external  help.  I  decided 
then that there had to be another solution, which is what 
led me to create easyMaths. EasyMaths was established in 
2011 as an online teaching service to transfer knowledge 
to  high  school  and  university  students  in  an  easy  and 
entertaining  video  format.  The  main  areas  covered  are 
mathematics  and  other  related  methodology  courses, 
such  as  statistics,  mathematical  economics,  finance  and 
accounting. Up to 100 000 students are reached annually. 

In  addition  to  my  own  problem  needing  a  solution,  I  was  inspired  by 
my father to become an entrepreneur. I was always fascinated by the 
methods  he  used  for  building  a  team  and  business,  and  wanted  to 
recreate that myself. On my own business journey, I have learnt that it 
is very important to think like your customers. Your solutions should be 
efficient and lean; less is more! If you get it wrong then you can only learn 
from it. Failures are simply daily lessons that we experience, which allow 
you to continue and build a better company as a result. 

Presenting your idea is just as important as working on it, and a strong 
pitch can make all the difference. When I give a presentation, I always 
concentrate on making direct eye contact with people in my audience and 
imagine that I am talking to a friend to establish a connection. This kind 
of positive communication will make the audience feel that they know 
you well and are trustworthy.

My  ‘secret  of  success’  is  to  stay  hungry.  If  you  feel  that  you  are 
successful, you are complacent, and no longer as ‘hungry’ as you were 
at the beginning of your journey. I don’t consider myself successful and 
make sure I stay hungry and keep working! I believe that entrepreneurs 
are like rivers: they never stop flowing and creating, but they need to be 
driven by an inner interest and motivation.

Building Your Best Team

Sveinn Hinrik 
Guðmundsson
Be curious, challenge 
accepted solutions,  
and think differently.
DTE (Dynamic 
Technology 
Equipment)

Iceland

Building a company 
takes a strong team; 
you simply can’t do 
everything on  
your own.

22 ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/support/sme-week/

The  idea  came  to  me  seven  years  ago,  when  working  as 
a consultant engineer in an aluminium smelter in Iceland, 
helping with quality control. The methods for checking the 
quality of this metal at the time were both dangerous and 
time-consuming, and I saw a way to optimise the process 
by  using  real-time  chemical  analysis  of  the  raw,  liquid 
aluminium,  reducing  the  cost  of  production  and  making 
testing much safer. 

Following two years of experimentation and development, my colleagues 
and I presented our solution for analysing aluminium in liquid form to the 
industry  and  investors.  They  were  immediately  interested,  which  gave 
us confidence and led us to found a company in Reykjavík. The company 
enabled  us  to  ready  the  product  and  bring  it  to  market:  the  first-ever 
portable element analyser for liquid aluminium to be used in a smelter’s 
production cell. 

Building a company takes a strong team; you simply can’t do everything 
on  your  own.  Your  colleagues  will  stop  you  from  getting  carried  away 
and  allowing  success  to  go  to  your  head.  Having  a  team  and  working 
within one is also a source of inspiration, especially when you have the 
same drive to bring ideas to life. You also need to be strong individually,  
to believe in yourself, and have an overview of where you want to go. It 
is incredible what you can accomplish with dedication and a never-give-
up attitude.

Not giving up was particularly important in the product-building phase, 
which took longer than expected. In a high-tech environment, every step 
and  each  development  phase  requires  a  completely  new  solution,  so 
everything takes time and a lot of patience to implement. Despite this, 
it is so much fun and rewarding to take on new challenges and create 
something new. 

My ‘secret of success’ is a combination of resources and characteristics. 
You  need  a  strong  team  and  support  from  the  business  ecosystem  in 
which you find yourself, but characteristics are almost more important. 
For me it comes down to be being curious, connecting with customers, 
being  analytical,  believing  in  your  idea,  and  always  being  prepared  for 
alternative outcomes. 

Learning From Failure

Fiona Edwards 
Murphy
Science Driven, 
Healthy Bees.

ApisProtect

Ireland

You have to be good 
at planning ahead, 
make sure you know 
how to take maximum 
advantage.

23

I started my entrepreneurial journey just two years ago in 
2016,  with  the  mission  of  using  the  latest  technologies, 
the  Internet  of  Things  and  Big  Data,  to  solve  one  of  the 
most  important  challenges  in  the  agricultural  technology 
industry:  the  maintenance  of  the  global  bee  population. 
Through  helping  beekeepers  reduce  losses  and  increase 
productivity in their hives in the face of mounting diseases, 
pests,  and  hive  problems,  ApisProtect  helps  protect  one 
third of the global human food supply.

Setting up a business means being organised, and I quickly learnt that 
it is important to be able to multitask. As an entrepreneur, you need to 
keep a lot of balls in the air! In particular, you have to be good at planning 
ahead for events. Identifying who will be attending, how they can help 
you reach your goals, and making sure you know how to take maximum 
advantage are all important factors in being successful. 

My ‘secret of success’ is to always have a well-rehearsed pitch deck ready 
to go on short notice! It’s important to keep your message crystal clear, 
especially if you have a complex proposition. It might take a lot of work 
to get to that stage where you can express your idea in a single sentence, 
but  it  will  absolutely  be  worth  it!  A  short,  clear  pitch  will  always  work 
better than a complex one. For me, I knew that I had started to become 
known and successful when people started to know what I did before I 
told them. Now when I introduce myself at events people respond with 
“Oh, you’re the bee lady!”. 

In entrepreneurship there is always risk, but my advice is to not be afraid 
to take those risks! I would also tell other entrepreneurs to make sure 
to  take  the  time  to  work  on  those  parts  of  your  business  that  you’re 
avoiding, as these are usually the important bits to get right. It is also 
important to keep your mission clear for yourself when making decisions. 
For ApisProtect, it has always been very clear: to use the latest science 
and technology to help improve the health and condition of honeybees. 
We ensure we evaluate every decision we make through this lens!

Building Your Best Team

Andrea Civra
Do one thing at a time, 
and do it well.

Panoxyvir

Italy

You must be 
surrounded by the 
right team; it is 
impossible to do 
everything, and  
you can’t manage  
by yourself.

24 ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/support/sme-week/

At the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey, I was such 
a novice; I guess this was the main source of my failures. 
I was too focused on the scientific aspects of my project, 
which  deals  specifically  with  antiviral  research  into  the 
development of drugs to fight rhinovirus infections. 

Despite only being an entrepreneur for two years, I have changed and 
grown so much in that time. At the beginning I was truly a ‘fish out of 
water’; I was a scientist, not an entrepreneur! I still remember my anxiety 
when I had to deliver a five minute pitch at my first start-up competition. 
If I could say something to my ‘past’ self, it would be: take it easy, have 
fun, and be focused on your objectives. This is also the advice I would 
give  to  other  entrepreneurs.  It  is  very  important  to  be  polite,  but  you  
must  maintain  a  firm  belief  in  your  idea  and  projects,  and  focus  on  a 
successful execution. 

However,  the  most  important  lesson  I  learnt  is  that  you  must  be 
surrounded by the right team. It is impossible to do everything, and an 
entrepreneur  can’t  manage  an  entire  project  by  themselves.  Panoxyvir 
wouldn’t have grown so much in these years without the other founding 
associates, namely Professor Giuseppe Poli (President and CEO), Professor 
David  Lembo  (CEO),  and  Valeria  Cagno.  In  addition  to  your  team,  you 
also need to think about your customers and build your business model 
around them and their needs rather than your own. Market positioning is 
fundamental and you must be flexible in order to change your business 
model when necessary.

I do not believe that there is a ‘secret of success’; you have to assemble 
the right team, work hard, and learn as quickly as possible. Personally, I 
see myself as successful every time I get back up after failing. I hope that 
I will continue to see my business grow and that Panoxyvir can provide a 
significant social impact. My objective has and always will be to convert 
breakthrough  scientific  discoveries  into  innovative  antiviral  therapies, 
which can ultimately improve the quality of life for suffering patients.

Building Your Best Team

Anna Ramata-
Stunda
Persistence is the 
way to success.

Alternative Plants Ltd

Latvia

Running and 
sustaining a business 
depends heavily on 
the team you build.

25

My  life  as  an  entrepreneur  began  four  years  ago  when  I 
co-founded my first biotech company, InCell. The company 
is still operating, although I am no longer actively involved. 
Founding  and  running  this  company  was  an  important 
and  valuable  experience,  from  winning  several  grants 
and  launching  a  product  to  disagreements  and  changes 
in  company  strategy.  The  whole  experience  greatly 
contributed  to  developing  my  skillset  for  successfully 
running a company and leading a team, which I relied upon 
when setting up my next business, Alternative Plants Ltd. 

Running  and  sustaining  a  business  depends  heavily  on  the  team  you 
build. Mutual trust, respect, effective exchanges of opinion, and everyone 
being aware of their role and responsibilities are the secrets to success. A 
strong team is comprised of individuals, each with specific responsibilities 
and competencies who have a shared mission and vision. A great team 
believes in the idea and trusts each other to make a great company and 
products. A team also needs to be passionate, and this has to come from 
a strong leader. I feel that strong leaders who are able to turn passion 
into product and maintain the passion in their teams through both good 
and bad times, without losing the goal and vision, are the most inspiring 
and are what I aspire to be.

A  strong  team  also  relies  on  honesty,  as  does  the  company,  which  is 
important in terms of failures. I think it is important to identify failures 
and mistakes as soon as possible – and admit them! Never be too shy to 
ask for advice and help from more experienced partners or advisors. I also 
believe that seeing a frankness and willingness to overcome obstacles 
makes people both trust you and be more willing to help. Obstacles are 
part of entrepreneurship, and having faced them myself, my advice is to 
be persistent and not worry about regular changes in plans at the early 
stages of the company. Persistence is the way to success, so just keep 
working on ideas that you fully believe in, surround yourself with bright, 
smart people that you trust, and keep moving forward. 

Building Your Best Team

Violeta Masteikiene
Do it with a smile!

NGO GMM Projektai – 
Friends’ Jam

Lithuania

I quickly learnt that 
working alone is not 
sustainable and my 
biggest failure has 
been trying to  
do everything.

26 ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/support/sme-week/

Social  entrepreneurship  is  a  business  philosophy  based 
on  personal  experiences  and  values.  Through  meaningful 
activities, one can make significant changes in our world. 
This  is  my  biggest  inspiration  and  what  drives  me.  I  first 
began  working  for  myself  in  2006,  and  I  still  remember 
that scary feeling! I was afraid to make mistakes, but still 
decided  to  try  and  make  it  happen,  and  as  a  result  have 
learnt so much along the way.

The  inspiration  for  Friends’  Jam  came  from  my  own  childhood  and 
growing  up  in  a  large  family.  As  a  family  we  would  pick  berries  and 
fruits from abandoned gardens in order to save money for food, without 
depending  on  government  donations.  Through  this,  my  parents  taught 
me how to identify resources where others may see a ‘rotten apple’ and 
how to become self-sufficient. Taking care of myself has been important 
for  me  as  an  entrepreneur,  because  I  am  impatient  and  love  to  work  
non-stop.  I  quickly  learnt  that  working  alone  is  not  sustainable  and 
my  biggest  failure  has  been  trying  to  do  everything.  I  found  myself 
in  a  period  where  I  was  completely  burnt  out  –  and  frustrated.  This 
experience, however, helped me understand the importance of teamwork 
and the meaning of leadership. I’m now focused on building a team and 
empowering  people  to  reach  sustainable  goals  together,  something  I 
should have done from the beginning. 

A  strong  team  that  you  can  depend  on  will  make  all  the  difference  to 
your success. Being an entrepreneur is hard, almost like a battle, and by 
yourself you will never be able to win. The success of Friends’ Jam has 
largely  been  down  to  the  incredible  volunteers  who  started  by  joining 
initiatives but ended up staying and turning them into lasting projects. 
With  social  entrepreneurship  my  ‘secret  of  success’  is  knowing  that  
I can make a difference and that by putting my passion into my work I 
can  make  something  happen.  If  you  have  passion  you  just  need  to  go 
for it! The entrepreneurial journey is worthwhile and will take you to a  
different dimension. 

Building Your Best Team

Aida Nazarikhorram
Valuable things  
cannot be achieved  
easily or quickly.
LuxAI S.A.

Luxembourg

It is critical to have 
an interdisciplinary 
team of people with 
different backgrounds 
and different abilities, 
but they should all 
share your vision.

27

I have always admired innovative people who can dedicate 
themselves to a goal that can change lives. For me, there 
is  nothing  more  fascinating  than  building  something 
that  can  be  used  to  make  people  happier,  healthier,  or 
more  empowered.  With  this  in  mind,  I  embarked  on  my 
entrepreneurial journey with my business LuxAI S.A., which 
uses the latest advancements in Artificial Intelligence and 
robot-therapy  to  build  social  robots  for  autistic  children. 
I was inspired when I visited autism centres and saw the 
challenges that therapists and educators were facing and 
the lack of tools at their disposal. I was also inspired by the 
parents  of  these  children,  and  how  painful  it  is  for  them  
to  see  their  child  developing,  but  without  all  of  the 
necessary skills.

This ‘pain’ is also important if you want people to hear your message. 
Without a clear, understandable pain, there is no need for a cure! Your 
pitch  should  be  short  and  simple;  five  minutes  is  more  than  enough. 
You  should  also  not  be  shy  to  talk  about  your  prototype  or  to  show  it 
to  people.  Never  wait  to  reach  a  ‘perfect  product’,  and  work  with  your 
customers as soon as possible to continue development based on their 
feedback. Working with customers is valuable, but you also need to have 
a co-founder that shares your vision and passion. For me this was my 
‘secret of success’. Be careful about whom you bring in as a shareholder, 
co-founder or investor. It is critical to have an interdisciplinary team of 
people with different backgrounds and different abilities, but they should 
all share your vision.

For an entrepreneur, being able to fail fast and learn fast is extremely 
important. It is not possible to build something new and innovative without 
being  open  to  negative  feedback  and  failing  many  times.  Innovation 
always starts with trial and error. What makes an entrepreneur different 
is  a  mindset  open  to  failure,  yet  strong  enough  to  fix  and  learn  from 
errors.  The  most  important  thing  I  have  learnt  has  been  that  valuable 
things cannot be achieved easily and quickly, and that an entrepreneur 
needs  a  motivation  bigger  than  money  to  be  able  to  survive  the  
hard times. 

Building Your Best Team

Nikolaus Conrad
Transformative Technology 
– Innovative Education

Headstart Technology 
Limited

Malta

Building a good team 
is critically important; 
find the right people 
and hold on to them.

28 ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/support/sme-week/

My business was inspired by my children, and a desire to 
give  them  the  best  possible  preparation  for  the  future. 
Three  years  ago,  I  became  an  entrepreneur  and  began 
developing  my  educational  technology  company,  which 
focuses on technology education and resources for children, 
teachers, and parents. 

Having been active in IT and related technologies all my life, I am convinced 
that schools are lagging behind when preparing children with the skills 
they need for the future. This is due not (only) to a lack of resources, but 
more  often  a  lack  of  training  and  preparation  of  teachers.  My  mission 
is  to  empower  teachers  to  become  comfortable  with  technology,  to  in 
fact  become  entrepreneurs,  change  their  local  communities,  and  be 
rewarded for doing so. By building a strong base of technologically savvy  
teachers, we are laying a solid foundation to prepare students and give 
them the skills they need in the future. Innovation is not always driven 
by a new product, but also by new knowledge, new ways of thinking, or 
combining existing things in new ways. 

My passion and genuine belief in what I do has definitely been my ‘secret 
of success’. Believing in what you do does not mean being blind to advice 
or criticism – it should, however, sustain you through difficult times. Be 
realistically optimistic! Initially, I had designed a very well laid out plan 
and intended to stick to it. However, I have occasionally been sidetracked 
by short-term opportunities, which has sometimes caused bigger goals 
to shift. Looking forward, I have a greater appreciation for focusing on 
core activities.  Plan ahead, be ready to seize new opportunities as they 
arise,  but  always  remember  your  core  mission  and  stay  true  to  what 
you are passionate about. Building a good team around you is critically 
important. Find the right people and hold on to them. Delegate to and 
trust others – they may surprise you. Entrepreneurship is hard, which is 
why, in order to succeed, you need to make a business out of something 
you really enjoy doing and wholeheartedly believe in. 

Learning From Failure

Nenad Novovic
Everything will be OK,  
as soon as we finish this.

Amplitudo

Montenegro

Small  and  medium  businesses  need  support  for  the 
numerous  problems  they  encounter,  but  this  can  be 
expensive. I was inspired by SMEs’ needs to find solutions 
for them through the use of modern ICT tools. 

The year 2012 marked the start of my career as an entrepreneur, and 
during my career I have failed many times, been inspired by people I have 
met, and learnt many lessons along the way. The most important lesson 
is probably that nothing is as it seems when you first see it. My failures, 
of which there have been many, have come from different sources. One 
in particular is not paying attention to detail, particularly in the planning 
phase. For this you need support so as not to miss anything, which means 
having  a  good  team  around  you.  Looking  back,  if  I  could  give  myself 
one piece of advice, it would be to plan everything ahead of time. Pay 
attention to every single partnership and make sure that every deal is put 
on paper and into a contract to protect it. I have also learnt that patience 
really is a virtue! Good things take time. 

As  an  entrepreneur,  you  need  to  stand  out  and  make  your  product 
different and valuable, which is why, for me, creating value is my ‘secret 
of  success’.  Failure  is  also  very  important  for  success  later  on,  which 
is  why  my  advice  to  anyone  thinking  about  becoming  an  entrepreneur 
would be to pursue your dream, find the huge opportunities that are out 
there, and fail as many times as you can. It is from failure that we learn 
for the future. 

I felt that my work was really recognised as successful when young people 
began  approaching  me  and  my  company  for  internship  opportunities. 
Perhaps,  being  asked  to  represent  Montenegro  in  this  brochure  is  also 
a  sign  of  success!  I  hope  to  continue  to  be  successful.  My  team  and  I 
are  currently  looking  at  how  to  keep  our  reputation  as  an  ‘innovative 
company’ and take ourselves beyond the Montenegrin market and onto 
the international stage. 

It is from failure  
that we learn for  
the future.

29

Building Your Best Team

Mark Offerhaus
Think, dare, and act.

Micreos

Netherlands

You need to work 
with top class people, 
both in terms of their 
character and the 
quality that they bring 
to your team.

Having  been  an  entrepreneur  for  more  than  12  years,  I 
have built up a great deal of experience and learnt from 
the failures I have encountered. The inspiration for Micreos 
came from the fact that I love to give, and that I wanted 
to give something back. The mission of Micreos was  –  and 
still is  –  to develop a sustainable alternative to antibiotics. 
Micreos works on endolysin technology, which enables the 
targeted killing of unwanted bacteria, regardless of their 
resistance, whilst preserving the good bacteria. 

During  my  career,  the  most  important  thing  I  have  learnt  is  to  really 
assess  the  quality  of  the  people  you  work  with.  I  believe  that  as  the 
entrepreneur,  you  should  always  make  the  final  decision  yourself,  but 
that  in  order  to  achieve  your  goals  you  need  to  work  with  top  class 
people, both in terms of their character and the quality that they bring 
to your team. Working with the wrong people can be costly. It can have 
a  negative  impact  on  team  morale  (which  is  important  if  you  want 
motivated people to share your vision) cause delays, and result in extra 
unnecessary risks. Having the right people around you can really define 
your success. For any potential entrepreneurs, my advice would be to get 
yourself a coach who has gone through the motions, (successfully!), and 
use that extra valuable support. 

Throughout the last 12 years, I have learnt about both the financial and 
planning  aspects  of  being  an  entrepreneur.  If  I  could  go  back,  I  would 
tell myself to raise more money than needed and plan with more room 
for  delays  so  as  to  be  able  to  spend  money  on  the  best  resources. 
Frugality is not a bad thing, but working on a shoestring for years does 
cause  delays  too.  Throughout  all  of  this,  my  ‘secret  of  success’  has 
been  my  aspiration  to  accomplish  my  goals  combined  with  the  desire 
to  help  people  while  doing  so.  Success  for  me  was  defined  by  people 
telling us that our products had had a life-changing impact on them. By 
now, thousands have experienced this, which in my opinion is the most 
gratifying measure of success.

30 ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/support/sme-week/

Building Your Best Team

Tomasz WoŹniak
Citius-Altius-Fortius, 
Faster-Higher-Tougher.

Allbag

Poland

I learnt to moderate 
and share my 
responsibilities in 
order to allow my 
company to grow,  
and to trust that 
others would  
complete tasks to  
my high standards.

31

I became an entrepreneur in 2009 when I started Allbag, 
which  manufactures  and  distributes  eco-bags  with  print 
and  advertising  slogans.  We  have  also  developed  a  bag 
with an integrated solar panel, allowing you to charge your 
mobile  devices  or  store  energy  for  later.  My  inspiration 
came from my vision to create an eco-friendly environment 
and through Allbag I saw a way to contribute to reducing 
the pollution and waste that society produces. I also value 
social  responsibility,  which  is  why  Allbag  also  focuses 
on  public  environmental  education  that  teaches  about 
recycling and the advantages of ecological bags. 

Running a business is not always easy, and the most important thing I 
have learnt is moderation. I have imposed fast paced development, yet 
I  have  learnt  when  I  need  to  stop  and  settle  for  a  little  less.  This  also 
relates to what I have learnt from failure, that I need to delegate and not 
do everything myself. I learnt to moderate and share my responsibilities 
in  order  to  allow  my  company  to  grow,  and  to  trust  that  others  would 
complete tasks to my high standards. Delegating showed me that I had 
been unnecessarily rushing most of the time and working at the expense 
of my private life. My advice is be consistent in your actions and do not 
be discouraged by mistakes but rather learn from them. 

In addition to mistakes, you need to accept that not everything is under 
your control. Difficult situations, like a client not receiving their goods, can 
make you think the worst. However, sometimes things happen and 90% 
of the time situations can be resolved with a sincere explanation, so do 
not worry about every little thing that you could not foresee. 

In order to be successful an entrepreneur must be patient, so don’t rush, 
learn and innovate through change. Like Albert Einstein I believe that you 
need to change something if you want to see different results, which is 
why I change things when I am not satisfied with the outcomes. In my 
business I try to dictate the pace of change, constantly improve overall 
quality, and expand the range and possibilities of my production facilities.

My  goals  remain  the  same,  to  produce  an  ecological  product  and 
simultaneously educate our customer base about environmentalism and 
the  benefits  of  sustainability  and  renewables.  I  aim  to  continue  doing 
this, spread our message globally, and make Allbag a recognised brand 
across foreign markets. 

Learning From Failure

Francisco João 
Anastácio Duarte
Action without vision 
is only passing time, 
vision without action is 
merely daydreaming, 
but vision with action 
can change the world. 
(Nelson Mandela)
Pavnext

Portugal

By failing early,  
you gain experience 
and reach better 
results sooner.

32 ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/support/sme-week/

In  2010,  I  had  just  turned  26.  I  left  my  comfortable  job  
with a large company and followed my desire to innovate. 
Along with a colleague, I started my company Pavnext.

We  have  found  a  way  to  slow  down  traffic  without  the  use  of  speed 
bumps.  Our  device,  an  unobtrusive  part  of  the  road  surface,  simply 
extracts kinetic energy and so slows down cars and other vehicles without 
causing discomfort to drivers and passengers. It also does not cause any 
damage to vehicles, and does not rely on the drivers’ reaction time.

In addition, the harvested energy can be reused to supply local electrical 
devices, like traffic lights, or be injected into the general electrical grid. 
Pavnext contributes to the real-time monitoring of traffic and helps local 
authorities manage their road infrastructure.

Making  the  jump  was  scary,  and  starting  a  company  was  harder  than  
I thought. I’m an engineer, and realised early on that there was plenty 
I needed to know about business management, finance, and marketing. 
Even in a small start-up, it is impossible to do everything on your own. You 
need a good team and you must divide tasks. A team helps to overcome 
the bad moments and celebrate the successes.

Of course, what really drives the business is your customers and their 
needs,  something  I  discovered  after  naively  assuming  that  it  was  all 
about the product and technology. We failed multiple times developing 
our product, but that is a good thing and was the best way to learn. The 
team-building process, the product launch; every step has its challenges 
and  I  made  mistakes  throughout,  but  it  allowed  me  to  improve  and 
change the way I work. Despite the mistakes and challenges, I prevailed, 
and that is my secret of success. Persistence combined with a belief in 
my skills and the team have allowed the company to succeed. This is also 
the advice I give to other would-be entrepreneurs: hang in there!

Looking back, I would have told myself not to strive for perfection but 
to try and develop faster. By failing early, you gain experience and reach 
better results sooner.

Learning From Failure

Flavia Oprea
Be brave. Take risks. 
Nothing can  
substitute experience.
ENTy

Romania

I underestimated 
the amount of time 
needed and learnt 
to wisely evaluate 
resources and do a 
lot of research before 
promising anything.

33

I  have  been  inspired  by  every  entrepreneur  I’ve  met,  in 
Romania and abroad, but particularly at the beginning of 
my entrepreneurial journey, which began nearly three years 
ago.  Their  stories,  their  goals,  their  success,  their  failure 
and their struggles have been everything that I needed to 
hear to realise that I wanted to be an entrepreneur myself.

The inspiration for ENTy came from two doctors who suggested that we 
could  improve  current  medical  practices  by  combining  our  passion  for 
technology with their expertise in the neurology and ear domain. From 
there we began developing ENTy, a medical solution used for diagnosing 
and  monitoring  people  with  movement  disorders,  such  as  Parkinson’s 
disease or essential tremor. 

As an entrepreneur, I have learnt that I can always do more. I think that 
being an entrepreneur seems like the coolest job on the outside, but it’s 
actually  one  of  the  toughest.  You  have  the  liberty  to  do  anything  you 
want with your business, you can take lots of risks, but in the end, only 
self-discipline and self-teaching will help you. I don’t believe there is a 
‘secret of success’, but what helps me the most is believing in my dreams 
and ideas, never giving up, and knowing when to stop. Knowing when to 
stop is important because time is your only valuable resource that really 
counts. Use it wisely, because nobody can give it back to you. A failure 
that I have since learnt from was about time, and specifically how much 
is  needed.  I  underestimated  the  amount  of  time  that  it  took  to  get  a 
medical product on the market; as a result, we had a lack of motivation 
in our team. Since then, I have learnt that the best thing to do as a start-
up is to wisely evaluate your resources and do a lot of research before 
promising anything.

My advice for anyone thinking about entrepreneurship is to try it at least 
once  in  your  life.  You’ll  know  for  sure  if  you’re  made  for  it,  then  you’ll 
never regret not trying it.

Learning From Failure

Jasmina Knežević
Courage makes  
the difference.

Bel Medic  
General Hospital

Serbia

As an entrepreneur 
you need to turn 
your mistakes and 
weaknesses into 
things that will help 
you succeed.

34 ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/support/sme-week/

I have been an entrepreneur for 24 years, and have always 
fought for a better healthcare system and patient care in 
my  home  country  of  Serbia.  I  believe  that  every  patient 
deserves  both  quality  care  and  attention  when  they  are 
in a hospital, and so our mission has been to improve the 
system based on patients’ needs and wishes. 

Risks  are  an  inevitable  part  of  entrepreneurship,  and  over  time,  I’ve 
learned  to  look  through  each  and  every  risk  carefully  and  manage 
it  appropriately.  I  have  had  some  failures  in  the  past  due  to  incorrect 
judgement, which taught me to quickly identify problems, find out their 
cause,  and  adapt  to  the  resulting  situations.  As  an  entrepreneur,  you 
need to turn your mistakes and weaknesses into things that will help you 
succeed. My ‘secret of success’ consists of many aspects, including being 
innovative, taking the initiative and, above all, listening to and defending 
my customers, in this case patients. I have always strived to use honesty 
and defend patient interests throughout my career, but I still don’t feel 
as  if  I  am  entirely  successful  and  accomplished.  My  path  to  success 
is  ongoing,  and  my  journey  continues.  The  vision  I  have  had  from  the 
beginning has yet to be completely implemented and realised.

Something that I have learnt from my personal experiences is to be less 
emotional  and  more  rational  with  my  decision-making.  I  believe  that 
when you are so passionate, it is easy to let your emotions take over, but 
you need to make good and responsible decisions. As an entrepreneur, 
you need to follow your idea, visualise it, be persistent and keep getting 
up every time you fail or fall. 

As a pioneer of the private Serbian healthcare system, I still think there 
is more to be done. I want to continue improving and digitising existing 
processes,  and  applying  global  trends  to  Serbia’s  needs.  I  also  haven’t 
fulfilled all of my goals, one of which is to increase the Serbian presence 
on the medical tourism market and promote what we have to offer.  

Building Your Best Team

Tomáš Brngál
To believe, to love,  
to work. (M.R. Štefánik)

VIRTUAL MEDICINE

Slovakia

As an entrepreneur 
you need to be aware 
of your strengths 
and weaknesses, 
and replace your 
weaknesses with 
skilled people that 
can help you.

35

Four  years  ago  my  start-up,  VIRTUAL  MEDICINE,  started 
developing a unique medical virtual reality (VR) application  
– Human Anatomy VR, which was inspired by the difficulties 
I had faced when preparing for my anatomy exam during 
my medical studies. The VR application had only been live 
for six weeks when we realised it had been downloaded by 
thousands  of  people  in  122  countries!  It  was  even  more 
amazing  when  Google  chose  to  include  it  among  the  top 
three apps in their store!

I think I was born with an entrepreneurial passion. Ever since my university 
studies I have officially been an active entrepreneur, during which time 
the most basic though important thing has been to surround myself with 
a great team. I am working with people who are better than me, where 
each team member has their own specific abilities and qualities. As an 
entrepreneur you need to be aware of your strengths and weaknesses, 
and replace your weaknesses with skilled people who can help you. It is 
necessary to have a goal, know where you want to go, what you can do 
and who can help you. Then you just have to believe in yourself!

You  don’t  have  to  succeed  in  everything  you  do,  but  if  you  put  in  the 
maximum effort and still fail you will have learnt a lot. Before I started 
VIRTUAL  MEDICINE  I  had  failed  in  launching  a  different  project,  which 
taught me to better organise my team and led me to discover my ‘secret 
of success‘ – surrounding myself with a great team of people. I measure 
my success by how I feel, meaning that every day when I wake up healthy 
and get to do what I love is a success. 

Entrepreneurship  is  about  finding  a  problem  and  then  surrounding 
yourself  with  a  strong  team  of  people  to  solve  it.  There  will  be  hard 
times, so you just have to keep going and believe in what you are doing. 
Love what you do, love the people around you and put in the hard work. 
Without the hard work you will not be able to do it.

Learning From Failure

Jernej Vidmar
If you have two options 
available, go for the 
harder one. You will 
learn more and  
the results will be 
more rewarding.
AgiliCity d.o.o

Slovenia

Our biggest mistake 
was waiting too 
long to release a 
commercial version. 
Start selling as  
soon as possible.

36 ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/support/sme-week/

The  idea  for  Modelur  first  came  to  me  when  I  was  stuck 
with a dull task whilst working in my field of urban design. 
Instead  of  allowing  myself  to  be  bored  with  the  task,  I 
simply thought about it and ended up developing a way to 
make the task interesting, which then turned into a problem 
solver for other issues I encountered during my work. 

I  have  now  been  an  entrepreneur  for  10  years,  and  have  learnt  a 
great  deal  about  both  entrepreneurship  and  what  is  best  for  me  and 
my company. When you have a clear goal in mind, it is easy to create 
something, but it is hard to sell your idea when there are so many options 
available and you don’t know which one is best. Try and stay focused and 
work towards your goal. 

Up until now, we have not really failed during our journey, but we have 
made a few mistakes. Probably the worst one was when we waited too 
long to release a commercial version of our solution. For a few years, we 
gave it away free of charge in our Pre-Beta program. But the feedback 
we received wasn’t really useful and did not help us develop our product 
further. However, all of that changed once we started selling it! From this, 
I learnt that you really need to start selling as soon as possible and that 
your customers are not as picky as you think.  

The ‘secret to success’ is simply to work hard, work a lot, and work with 
passion. As an entrepreneur you need to prepare yourself to work almost 
24/7 to get to where you want to be. In my case, success came when after 
seven years of research and development we founded a start-up, which 
instantly gained recognition and won a few awards. In entrepreneurship, 
the  most  important  thing  is  to  explain  the  core  of  your  idea  in  a  way 
that everybody understands. You should also tailor your explanations to 
your audience and tell them about the part of the idea they are most 
interested in.

Building Your Best Team

Alejandro Badolato
Make autonomous 
driving happen.

Autodrive Solutions

Spain

I know that we make a 
good team – after all, 
we’ve been friends for 
over 35 years!

37

What  a  mistake!  Three  years  ago,  my  co-founder  and  I 
assumed that our technological advantage was a guarantee 
for success. However, we quickly learned that in order to 
survive,  we  needed  to  reach  the  market;  and  getting  the 
attention of the right people took a lot of effort, especially 
in large companies and complex public services. 

In  2015,  my  entrepreneurial  journey  began  with  the  founding  of  our 
start-up, Autodrive Solutions. The original idea came when I was doing 
my PhD research on high precision radars and saw a chance to use a new 
millimetre-wave radar sensor. It was after this that I began conducting 
experiments  together  with  my  long-time  friend  and  transportation 
engineer, Jesus Antonio del Castillo. Together, we have successfully built 
a next-generation, highly accurate transport guidance system that could 
make autonomous transport a reality in the near future. 

The solution is similar to braille, but one that can be read by cars, trucks, 
trains  –  both  mainline  and  underground  –  and  boats.  Sensors  read 
positioning  information  patterns,  which  are  printed  using  tiny  drops  of 
plastic on road surfaces, railway tracks, metro platforms or on poles at 
ports. The result is an incredibly precise vehicle location system: up to 1 
cm at velocities above 360 km/h. The 3D plastic drops are durable and 
cheap to deploy. The sensors measure height differences of as little as 
a tenth of a millimetre on the road, and do so 20 000 times per second. 

Our mission is two-fold. Our first aim is to save lives, as the Autodrive 
Solutions guidance system greatly improves safety. Our second goal is to 
build one of the world’s key transportation companies.

Our  ‘secret  of  success’  is  just  knowing  that  it  will  work.  Both  my  
co-founder and I know that our solution is reliable, that we have the skills 
to build it, and that we have learned how to successfully bring it to the 
market. I also know that we make a good team – after all, we’ve been 
friends for over 35 years!

Innovating is fun, and this keeps both of us motivated. Our best advice 
is  to  develop  your  minimum  basic  viable  product  as  soon  as  possible, 
because selling your product allows you to finance your plans.

Building Your Best Team

Tobias Wernius
Never give up.

Go Speak UP 
International AB

Sweden

You cannot be an 
expert at everything, 
so partner up with 
other companies  
and people who  
can help.

38 ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/support/sme-week/

My father has been an entrepreneur all his life and inspired 
me to become one too. I myself have been an entrepreneur 
almost  my  whole  life,  but  founded  Speak  UP  four  years 
ago. My father’s inspiration gave me the right tools to start 
on my journey to fight against bullying and harassment.

As I was growing up, I encountered a great deal of bullying, but today, 
the bullying has moved from the schoolyard to the internet. As this was 
something  I  was  not  very  familiar  with,  I  asked  young  people  to  tell 
me about online bullying and harassment, and how they work with the 
new  technology  and  smartphones.  After  their  valuable  input,  I  decided 
to create an app called Speak UP so that every student throughout the 
world can make their voice heard and speak out against bullying.

Being  an  entrepreneur  is  hard  work,  and  meeting  new  people  and 
creating new contacts is a very important part of allowing your business 
to thrive. At the beginning, it may be difficult to make these contacts, but 
it is necessary in order to build partnerships and teams. One of the most 
valuable things I learned is that you cannot be an expert at everything, 
so I have learned to partner up with other companies and people who 
can help out in fields where I’m not so knowledgeable. Part of my ‘secret 
of success’ is collaboration, specifically being around other people who 
can help you to reach your goal. You also need to be persistent and never 
give up!

Creating a good team around you and making sure you surround yourself 
with good people that believe in you and your idea is crucial. Make sure 
you  find  things  and  people  that  inspire  you,  or  help  you  to  grow  your 
business.  From  my  own  experience,  I  would  also  strongly  recommend 
making a plan on how to approach investors to support the business at 
an early stage. 

The Speak UP app has now been successfully launched in five countries, 
and we hope to keep expanding globally to give more children a voice. As 
for the future of Speak UP, we have plans of course, but we’ll keep them 
a secret for the moment!

Learning From Failure

Aslı Elif  
Tanuğur Samancı
Never give up.

SBS Scientific Bio 
Solutions Inc

Turkey

I could not afford to 
fail, and my secret of 
success is down to a 
strong mentality  
and attitude.

39

My  journey  as  an  entrepreneur  began  as  a  result  of  my 
young  son’s  deteriorating  health  and  my  determination 
to find a natural cure for him. After visiting many doctors 
following his development of an antibiotic allergy I began 
doing my own research into alternatives. It was then that 
I  came  across  some  research  on  propolis  and  royal  jelly, 
honey  products  which,  with  some  additional  processing, 
can be used to fortify the human immune system. 

Seeing  as  I  was  already  in  the  honey  industry  and  a  food  scientist  by 
training, I contacted honey producers from my network for their ‘waste’ 
propolis, and developed an extraction process in my lab. I began giving my 
son the propolis extract and saw significant improvements in his health 
and wellbeing. His successful response to the extract inspired me to take 
my extraction process further and found my company - SBS Scientific Bio 
Solutions  Inc.  -  which  produces  bee  products  including  propolis,  honey, 
royal  jelly,  pollen,  bee  bread  and  bee  product  mixtures.  Since  then  the 
company has grown and we now export our products globally and work 
with 500 contracted beekeepers and 100 000 hives around Turkey. 

As  a  female  entrepreneur  in  a  male  dominated  environment  I  had  to 
demonstrate  that  I  was  more  than  capable  of  running  a  business  and 
work hard to be respected for my technical knowledge. At the beginning 
of my entrepreneurial journey I struggled to find support. This made me 
realise  that,  as  a  woman,  I  could  not  afford  to  fail.  The  secret  of  my 
success is down to a strong mentality and attitude; I refuse to give up until 
I succeed. As a result, I have become a respected female entrepreneur 
in Turkey, and hopefully have paved the way for other women to follow 
in my footsteps. Attaining this respect is what makes me feel personally 
successful, and I believe the success of my company is attested to by the 
19 different awards that we have won over the past four years. 

I  would  advise  any  potential  entrepreneur  to  just  take  that  first  step 
towards your goal. Be a risk taker, follow your desires and work hard. 

Learning From Failure

Louise Rogerson
You can always do 
more than you think 
you are capable of.
Howz

UK

We also need to learn 
from failure, so don’t 
be afraid to test 
something before  
it is ‘perfect’.

40 ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/support/sme-week/

I  set  up  my  first  business  in  2002  and  have  continued 
with  entrepreneurial  activities  ever  since.  My  current 
business,  Howz,  which  I  co-founded,  is  a  smart  home 
analytics  service  for  older  people,  which  allows  for  
non-intrusive  well-being  monitoring  to  notice  changes 
in  a  daily  routine.  The  inspiration  for  Howz  came  from 
working  as  a  physiotherapist  and  the  lack  of  technology 
at  my  disposal  to  help  my  patients  to  stay  well.  
My co-founder had explored the use of energy monitoring 
as  a  way  of  tracking  daily  routines  and  that  was  the 
moment of inspiration! 

As  an  entrepreneur,  I  have  been  inspired  by  Rowena  Burns,  Chief 
Executive Officer of Manchester Science Park. Rowena is a well-respected, 
successful business leader in the North West of England, who taught me 
about business transactions, including how not to be intimidated in an  
all-male environment, how not to undersell yourself, and how to negotiate. 

Setting  up  your  own  business  teaches  you  a  lot,  specifically  about 
understanding the value of what you do and learning how to communicate 
this clearly. Relationships really matter, so take the time to nurture new 
contacts and make the right impression. Impressions are also important 
when pitching your idea. Don’t just repeat the same pitch regardless of 
the audience; take the time to think of how they will view the problem 
you are trying to solve, as well as how they will understand your solution.

We also need to learn from failure, so don’t be afraid to test something 
before  it  is  ‘perfect’.  Bring  your  potential  customers  in  early  and  hear 
their brutal criticism – you will build a better business because of it! Your 
business will also be stronger if you make time to learn new skills that 
will help with your overall business management. Recruiting staff is a big 
challenge for small businesses, so understanding what to expect and the 
required skillset can help recruit and retain staff. 

My ‘secret of success’ is three-fold, and is all about bringing enthusiasm 
to  most  tasks,  logical  problem  solving,  and  effective  communication 
skills. As a physiotherapist, you need these qualities to get the best for 
your patient and it’s the same for business.

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http://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/support/sme-week/

ISBN: 978-92-79-90854-5
DOI: 10.2873/8894
version: EN PDF