What led to your interest in business?

I have been interested in business since childhood. I was raised in a business oriented family; therefore, I have always been around business talks and teachings. When I was little, my favourite game was Monopoly, and at the age of 10 I already owned a small marketplace for selling watermelons.

Why did you decide to join BSL?

I had been studying in Switzerland for the last 4 years and I decided to continue my education here. When searching for schools, I was looking for a place where the style of education exceeds plain university lectures. I was looking for a place where I could get a real life university education, rather than a common bachelor diploma.

How has your experience been so far?

Classes at BSL make me feel like I am actually doing business. The style of education is extremely practical; most of the assignments are performed in groups; teachers are real-time businessmen and they share personal experience; instead of following the books, we look at real-life situations and think of real solutions.

The practical educational approach of BSL makes me feel like I am already working in a business environment.

What are you passionate about? How will you bring your passion to your work in the future?

My greatest passion in life is continuous self-improvement and lifelong education. I believe that interest in exploring life is one of the keys to success. People who are ready to learn, experience, and apply new knowledge to life are the people who can adapt to whatever happens to them and to keep moving towards their goals.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

When I was little, I dreamed of becoming a President of my country, Ukraine. People around me were always saying that the President was bad and that they were waiting for a better government to come. My father told me that in order to become a good President, I had to be very smart and honourable. Even though I am currently more interested in business than politics, I still value these two traits and still try to be the man I wanted to become when I was little.

Who or what inspires you?

First of all, I am inspired by my father. He started his own company at a young age having almost no money for investment. In 20 years he grew from being an owner of a small shop to a CEO of a large corporation. He is a great leader and a skilled businessman and he truly inspires me to work hard and believe in myself.

How do you see your professional future in 5 years from now? What will you be doing?

In 5 years I will have finished my master’s degree in business. I will be working in a large corporation in Europe and getting experience needed to start my own business.

If you could make one significant change to the world, what would it be?

If I could make one change to the world, I would add a class of financial literacy to every educational system. This class would teach people what to do with their money. No matter what one wants to become – an engineer, an artist, or a teacher – everybody needs to deal with money in their life. I believe that people need to be taught how to save money, what to spend them on, how to invest, and how to make sure they have enough money for retirement. Unfortunately, the current educational system does not provide such knowledge and I would like to change that.