Booking.com: Biggest fear – is ourselves

The conference was opened by the representatives of one of the largest and most well-known companies in the tourism sector - Booking.com. They talked with the participants about their main goal: to teach people how to dare travelling further. Booking.com have changed the standard approach to travel planning industry by making each person independent of tour groups, at the same time providing comfort, security and support.

Lamoda: Get out from the ivory tower

The next speaker was CEO and co-founder of Lamoda - Niels Tonsen. He drew attention to the fact that there is always a room for improvement, the main thing - is to do not cease to ask questions and look for the winning side in any situation.

«Starting our business in Russia was a challenge for us. We knew that Russians are not only very skeptical, but also Russian women care more about fashion. Our aim was to show how trustworthy we are. As you can see – we managed it quite well».

When participants asked, what is the secret of success in our days, Niels Tonsen, slightly paraphrased known truth: "Get out from the ivory tower and see things from customers’ perspectives”.

Delivery Club: it is not working without personal contact

Managing Director of Delivery Club - Andrey Lukashevich shared his vision of food delivery business’s perspectives and challenges.

“No control possible without integration. Every company has its own impression of a good service, so it is not working without personal contact”.

The final speaker of the first day of the conference was Bekkozha Muslimov - Investment Director of the Blue Wire capital - venture capital fund. He shared his vision of global trends on the investment firms and the most promising business strategy today.

After talking with inspiring speakers, participants were presented with several start-up projects, promotion plan which was proposed to develop. The best teams were awarded prizes from the sponsors.

CEMS White Nights is non-ordinary conference. First of all, it’s an event with main objective – to establish networks between CEMS MIM program representatives worldwide.

“Cruise along the Neva River, drawbridges, white nights and never ending networking with CEMSies” was announced for all participants. In fact, it was even better.