The course Doing Business in Russia, dedicated to peculiarities of running business in Russia, has been completed at the Graduate School of Management of St. Petersburg University (GSOM SPbU). Twenty students from Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland, France, Norway, Moldova, China, Belgium, and Russia studied Russian entrepreneurship in theory and practice. The program students helped real startups of the Ingria business incubator to design development strategies and reach the international level. Six projects were submitted for defense:

• AReality — where to find human resources? The course participants analyzed the market of specialists and educational resources in "augmented reality" and made recommendations for the HR company.
• E-contenta. Students estimated the competition, market size, and sales channels — everything that helps startups conquer Poland. 
• Leela game. Developers received help in creating a plan to promote the psychological online game.
• Visionero. Future managers faced a difficult task — to find the most suitable country for the successful implementation of multimedia projects in education. 
• ParkQR. A startup that simplifies the work of parking lots, will now be able to enter the US market, make a financial model for this, and understand how to promote the idea.

6tamps. Developers of digital loyalty cards intend to develop in Russia. The students of Doing Business in Russia have prepared a strategy and marketing plan for entrepreneurs.

One of the crucial features of the Doing Business in Russia course is close cooperation with business and communicating with existing entrepreneurs and top managers of corporations.  This year, students visited the offices of Gazprom Neft company, the Digital Transformation Center of St. Petersburg, and the technological space for developers in the field of industrial transformation "Zifergauz".

Andreas Bitzi, Founder of Quality Partners; Robert Mann, CEO of Alers Russia; Evgenia Hoprichenkova, Acting Commercial Excellence Manager of Coca-Cola; Thierry Cellerin, CEO of Buzz Factory; Mikhail Korolkov, Head of Digital Technology Centre Gazprom Neft, delivered lecturers to program's participants.

The list of universities that have sent their representatives to St. Petersburg despite the pandemic is also extensive. The University of Mannheim (Germany), the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland), the Rotterdam School of Business (Netherlands), the Vienna University of Economics and Business (Austria), the ESC Rennes School of Business (France), the Louvain School of Management (Belgium), the Catolica Lisbon School of Business & Economics (Portugal) and others. 

The training of foreign Master students at GSOM SPbU, who come on exchange semester to GSOM from the world's leading business schools, traditionally begins with the Doing Business in Russia course.