“Above the Dream”: students of GSOM SPbU became winners of the “Skolkovo” winter business school

16 February 2017

“Above the Dream”: students of GSOM SPbU became winners of the “Skolkovo” winter business school

Five students of GSOM SPbU as part of the team “Above the waterline” became winners of “Above the Dream” winter school held in “Skolkovo” from January 29 to February 4, 2017:

• Anna Petrova (Bachelor, 3 year, Logistics);
• Balihanova Lyudmila (Bachelor, 4 year, financial management);
• Maxim Vishnevsky (Bachelor, 4 year, Logistics);
• Nurullayev Ceyhun (Masters, 1 year, MCF);
• Andrey Zinchenko (Masters, 2 year, MCF).

The team, which also included students of HSE St Petersburg and the Economic Department of St. Petersburg State University, presented the investment strategy for the PJSC “KAMAZ” until 2025. The jury headed by the Deputy Chairman of the Board of PJSC “KAMAZ” Akhmat Urmanov and CEO of the Foundation “Vardanyan, Broytman and Partners” Michael Broytman awarded prizes to the winners. The team will also visit the company's plant in Naberezhnye Chelny, where the students will take a tour, will provide an opportunity to communicate with the management, as well as get acquainted with the famous Russian auto-racing team “KAMAZ-master”, participating in the rally-raids.

The winter school “Above the dream” is youth scholarship program, which was founded by an investment company “Troika Dialog”.

Representatives of bank VTB were part of the expert council of the jury, and the HR of bank awarded certificates to the best participants.

The total number of finalists of winter school “Above dreams” was 50 people. The number of applications was about 2,500.

Jeyhun Nurullayev, 1st year master student

"Above the Dream" is a one week program in business school during which I could revise the approach to solving problems. We had time to engage into the solution of the case with a new fresh look and with the support of the mentors.

The School held interesting lectures by well-known representatives of business and scientific community, from which you can learn a lot about the contemporary world trends.

As a result of working in a team, which consisted of nine people, six days later we got a completely updated solution with a new approach. The most interesting thing was that in the first moments it seemed impossible to work in such a big team. However, we coped with it by competent division of responsibilities between team members.
Thanks to the skills that we received in GSOM SPbU, such as the ability to solve problems strategically, to analyze every important detail, as well as the correct presentation of ideas, we helped our team become winners.

Yes, this week was an unforgettable experience for us. And, of course, in the end, each participant can be invited to the final selection round for internships to the top companies and it is not matter what result your team had. To anyone who has not yet participated, I can only advice to take advantage of this unique opportunity.

Andrey Zinchenko, 2nd year master student

"Above the Dream" is a youth and successful educational project. The most interesting thing about it is that all the guest speakers, including the founder of the Winter School Ruben Vardanyan, are former partners of "Troika Dialog" (now Sberbank CIB). Before the 2008 crisis, it was the investment bank №1 in Russia, so for me, as for a student of financial specialization, it was very interesting to hear personal stories and expert advice.

Both lectures and master classes and group work during the school were useful: in our team we needed to develop an investment strategy for the PAO "KAMAZ" until 2025. Our team included 9 people (everyone who came from St. Petersburg became a member of our team) and we worked effectively decided to divide into "strategic" and "finance" departments. Our mentor Pavel Surkov helped us and I would like to thank to him!

As a result of all the effort, we shared the first place with another team and collect all the possible certificates for internships from partner companies! The main thing that I have learned and what I want to share with future participants, is necessity to love and respect your team.