With the opening event that took place on 30 September in the Cankarjev dom club, CEED’s entrepreneurial network has started its 4^th season of CEED programmes. The introductory address at the event entitled “The Boldness of Leadership – During Growth, the Crisis and While Having Coffee with Co-Workers” was delivered by the world-renowned expert in the management of change, Dr Ichak Adizes. Afterwards, two generations of entrepreneurs (veteran and young) shared their views on current issues. As pointed out by the Director of CEED Slovenija, Barbara Bregar Mrzlikar, this event has again proven that “the experience of veteran entrepreneurs is the best school for young entrepreneurs.”

Participating in the lively debate and supported by their own experience were: Branko Drobnak, Chairman of the Management Board of Poteza, Tomaž Berločnik, entrepreneur and member of supervisory boards of several Slovenian companies, Robert Ličen, crisis manager and advisor to numerous Slovenian entrepreneurs – all three are mentors in the CEED Top Class programme – as well as the following young entrepreneurs: Ronald Pintar, Director and co-founder of Fibernet, Matej Feguš, Director and co-founder of Donar, and Barbara Humar Gerbec, co-owner and Director of Linea Snella.

From the challenges he is facing in this economically unfavourable situation, Ronald Pintar pointed out cash flow management and business streamlining. “The first important thing you have to do is to stop your company’s bleeding,” advised Drobnak, whose company underwent an 80% market share drop in the last year. He also noted the importance of the macroeconomic perspective when having to make difficult decisions.

The veteran entrepreneurs, joined by Simobil’s Chairman of the Management Board and CEED programme mentor, Dejan Turk, highlighted the importance of communicating with your employees during the crisis, in addition to knowing which employees represent the central core of the company. “If you don’t know who your key employees are, how will you know who to let go during a crisis?” asked Robert Ličen straightforwardly. Turk then went on to describe what his work schedule over the past six months has been like: “Most of my work schedule is spent dealing with internal communication, visiting our sellers and talking to our clients.”

As the third topic of discussion, Barbara Humar Gerbec posed to the mentors the question of how to decide on international expansion during the recession. The answer was provided by Tomaž Berločnik, who explained the internationalisation model, but as is tradition in the CEED environment, members of the public joined in, providing concrete information and advice, a testament to the CEED network’s successful endeavours in entrepreneurial growth and development.