Press Releases

Budapest, April 3, 2023 11:00

The two digit inflation may remain with us for a while, but high energy, operating and raw material costs are also making it much harder for companies to operate. Several major brands, committed to help businesses - K&H, Telekom, Samsung and Opten - joined forces and their expertise to inspire and educate startups and entrepreneurs that would like to grow, helping them to go through this challenging period. At the first Business Lab event the investors and entrepreneurs from the “Among Sharks” business TV show also gave practical advice on how to start and upgrade a successful business.

The current economic situation creates multiple challenges for companies. Increased raw material and operating costs due to high inflation and energy prices, uncertainty and lower household consumption are actual factors that make it difficult to start and grow a business.

While there is a lot of information available online for business leaders, whether it's about starting up or changing gear, it's not always easy to navigate. Recognizing the above K&H, Telekom, Samsung and Opten joined forces to organize the Business Lab event to support the successful upgrading of SMEs, where much appreciated experts and investors from the business TV show “Among Sharks” - Szabina Tomán, Péter Balogh and István Lakatos - as well as the companies presented in the show helped companies to navigate in the bulk amount of information. The organizers of the event gave practical advice on how to validate business ideas, help businesses to move forward digitally and protect their data, giving participants credible answers to their questions in today's challenging environment. The roundtable discussions gave the opportunity to learn about the factors that lead to business success and the skills they need to be inspired.

Useful advice for business leaders about to upgrade their business

Many people think that if they have a good idea, they already won. "A good idea alone is not enough to succeed. However, with conscious, up-to-date, transparent planning and continuous self-training there is a better chance of surviving challenging times like the present one. The education of enterprises is also supported on the K&H: business here! website where businesses can find articles, videos and e-learning materials on a wide range of topics, like idea validation, the importance of business and financial planning, and the financing required to get to the next level," said Zoltán Rammacher, Head of SME Marketing and Sales Support at K&H.

Telekom's aim is to support the digital progress and digital transformation of small and medium enterprises as an expert partner. "We would like to provide value to a wide range of SMEs that will help them to be more successful. They can count on us in the current changing market environment: with knowledge, by shaping mindsets, by the Telekom Hello Business platform, inspirational articles, easy to "copy" and implement D Plans, and the Digitalisation Advice program, which is free for Telekom connected enterprises, we support the digitization of businesses. The Business Lab event is a perfectly aligned to our ambitions, and together with our partners we would like to provide SMEs with extra knowledge" - said Tamás Sipos, Head of the Small and Medium Business Segment at Telekom.

"The ever changing business and economic environment is pushing us to constantly develop, to explore the latest technological solutions and opportunities. We also would like to encourage our users to adopt this attitude and offer them tools and solutions - i.e. a business ecosystem - to make the most out of their businesses," said Szabolcs Kerpen, Head of Mobile Business Solutions at Samsung Hungary, on the potential of digitalization.

"More people have elevated ideas than the number of those who can actually realize them. Risk mapping was always important in business, but in today's turbulent economic environment we may only see probabilities for almost everything," added Dr. Hajnalka Csorbai, Strategic Director of OPTEN, - whose background in physics proves that probability analysis is not alien to her. "Getting to know your competitors or target group well and the due diligence of your business partners is essential. For example, it's a great experience for a small enterprise to conclude a big deal, but it's only better to get paid in the end. Decision-making without data and information is flying blind. Besides, data also changes therefore monitoring is inevitable - both in terms of solvency and marketing potential".

A TV show that reformed business communication

The business show “Among Sharks”, launched on RTL TV in 2019 and bringing together the partners behind the Business Lab event, did not only introduce a formerly unknown type of show in Hungary, but also plays a pioneering role in developing entrepreneurial culture and attitudes.
"The program is unique, I would say a pioneering one on Hungarian television. We were actually not looking for advertisers for the show, but partners. Partners who identify with the show’s values and goals thus with whom the relationship is closer than it would be in a similar, average situation. This event is proof to this business ecosystem, where the winners are the entrepreneurs and viewers. Besides achieving the common goal of showing direction to entrepreneurs we did this in a way that the TV show is now the most popular and watched in its target group" - said Krisztina Máté, producer of the TV show.


The presentations at the Business Lab event will be available for all interested parties soon on the event’s website: https://businesslab.live/