Brainstorming Ideas

After an incredible Independence Day, the participants of SUSI are ready to learn with new forces. A new day on the program began with a delicious breakfast, in which everyone shared impressions of the captured balls, formidable sharks, a meeting with Merri Mai and, of course, photos with the brilliant Miss Tennessee. Nevertheless, everybody was in time for class on social entrepreneurship with Dr. Roundy.

At first, we were waiting for a surprise, one of the participants, namely Marika from Sweden, told us about her business and about the specifics of entrepreneurship in her country. Even the professor listened with great interest. Afterwards, the professor told us where we can get ideas for our future projects and different kinds of ideas. It turned out that a real social entrepreneur should focus on the client, not on the product. In general, the focus on customers is very important in business. This is part of the so-called design thinking. The entrepreneur must necessarily talk with people, get a feedback, create a prototype of the product first, check it and only then start active production.

Did you know that homeless people need clean socks more than food? At the end of the lesson, the professor gave us the task to think about the problems in society in connection with the population growth and to think about some ideas for projects that can solve these problems. It was a real brainstorm. It's amazing how easy it is to create ideas for projects!

The lunch was amazing! We talked with real American students, compared the workload of their schedules and saw how they conduct their notes. At the end of this business day, we visited the company EPB, which supplies electricity to the whole of Chattanooga. We learned about their everyday activities, competitors, and how difficult it is to cope with local storms, especially when your business supplies the entire city with electricity. Christopher and Martin, as always, diluted the serious business presentation with interesting questions.

And so, one more day passed on the SUSI program! We are all enthusiastic and look forward to new knowledge and discoveries in the United States.