That 54 hour is enough for getting to know each other, exchanging ideas, developing business ideas and having fun was proved by five teams that participated in the fifth edition of Techstars Startup Weekend Mostar last weekend, which took place at the INTERA Technology Park. From Friday, May 6 until Sunday, May 8, 2022 teams made up of young people from Mostar, Sarajevo and Banja Luka worked hard to develop their ideas by solving problems they saw in the market.
The Startup Weekend program began with an introduction to the rules of this global event, presented on Friday night by facilitator Ondrej Cejka, and a motivational lecture by Hasib Alic, founder of the Alviral media house and sponsor of the event.
“We are extremely pleased to support this event, which is an excellent opportunity to meet, network and validate ideas. It is very important to encourage young people to think proactively and work on innovative ideas. The Startup Weekend program certainly helped them in that, and cooperation with experienced mentors contributes to solving challenges at a very early stage of ideas,” says Hasib Alic.
Friday was a great opportunity to present the ideas of the participants themselves, but also to meet the team behind the German startup company Sportana. The formed teams worked on selected ideas throughout the weekend, and they also had experienced mentors at their disposal. Haris Custo from Markeza, Haris Hadziahmetovic from MSS, Edin Junuzovic, graphic designer, Ivona Coric from Mistral, Iva Djikic from Rolla App and Altaira Veledar from Alviral with their advice removed the challenges that teams faced in developing their idea. The program of the event included lectures by Martina Djordjevska, who is from the Tegla brand, and Kenan Nazdrajic, co-founder of Motus Health, but also a presentation skills workshop by Goran Dodig, who prepared the teams for the most important moment – presenting ideas to an expert commission consisting of Hasib Alic, Vedran Simunovic and Zeljko Juranovic. The three-member commission estimated that the first prize in the amount of 2,500.00 BAM deserves the Palleon team, which consisted of Nikola Krsticevic, Matej Peric and Azer Hadzic, who want to introduce the rental of electric scooters in Mostar and the surrounding area.
“New acquaintances of creative and talented people, interesting experiences and messages of guest speakers, great organization and hospitality. I am sorry that more than half of the registered participants dropped out of the program, because they really had a unique opportunity to develop skills used in the business world, such as: time management, team working, presentation skills, etc. Really great experience.”, said Nikola Krsticevic.
The second prize valued 1,500.00 BAM was won by the Air Ghosts team, whose members Emir Berbic, Medina Odobasic and Matea Peric solve the problem of state border control with an innovative solution. The third prize in the amount of 1,000.00 BAM went to the Spiglo team, which consisted of Esmin Sabljic, Adna Puce and Ajla Djuliman, and who solved the problem of booking appointments in beauty salons with a mobile application. There was no lack of fun during the weekend, so the participants had the opportunity to win symbolic prizes through relaxed joint games, and celebrate the whole experience at the evening party.
In addition to the company Alviral, the organization of the fifth edition of Startup Weekend Mostar was supported by Red Bull, which provided energy refreshment for all participants. All participants also received prizes provided for them by Techstars, the owner of the event license.
Source: akta.ba
