- Stockholm School of Economics in Riga

Insider
1
Morten’s
column
minus 18%,
minus 15%,
minus 12%
That is roughly the latest growth numbers (first
quarter of 2009 over first quarter of 2008) for the
Baltic countries and the ranking is LV, EE, LT.
Minus 18%.... That says that about a fifth of Latvian GDP i.e. a fifth of
Latvian economic activity has vanished in just one year, which is not
big, not huge but ASTRONOMICAL! And yet the end of the world is not
that close. One should perhaps look at it differently: It also says that
82% of economic activity is still there; it is roughly equivalent to the first
quarter of 2005 and that was not a year of misery.
We can actually easily explain why the economic decline is so large and
most can be done by just using the ultra-simple Keynes Cross model.
With the credit boom having become a bust the marginal propensity to
save is up and thus c is down and the aggregate demand curve gets a
smaller slope. The demand curve also shifts down due to tighter fiscal
policy (All the money spent in the good years by Mr Nothing Special
has to be cut) and less investment and in an open economy version
of the model less exports. All of these result in the economy entering
a situation of excess supply. Firms will then cut production and that is
what we see right now – GDP is down.
Some will then think that these big declines in GDP will continue but
that is actually a fallacy and we know that from another macro concept,
the multiplier. For each period the impact will be smaller. A good way of
looking at that is for instance car sales – they are down by some 80%
already but that means that there is not that much more it can go down
i.e. the GDP impact can not continue to be that big. We should thus
soon see that numbers for GDP declines will not be so big as they are
right now – but there will still be decline for quite a bit of time which is
again well-explained by the multiplier: When a process has started it
tends to continue for an extended period of time.
So all in all very simple – the current economic situation can for some
90% be explained by lecture 3 in macro!
And just one more word about recession. I have many journalists
calling me these days since the numbers for Latvia are so special and
they want me to describe what the recession looks like. I then speak of
closed shops, less traffic, rising unemployment etc. but they almost get
disappointed by that since they seem to expect that there will be dead
people lying in the streets….
Unemployment, personal bankruptcies will hurt some and very badly
and one can only feel sad about that but in a macro context the Baltic
countries are still there and will survive.
Thus, have a good summer! SSE Riga is also still here, so
am I and we and the countries will be there again in the
autumn.
2 Insider
what’s new?
bigger than ever..
Editorial Word
Hello SSE Rigians,
There are three things that SSE Riga students are usually waiting
for: 1.Summer as this seems to be the least intense time during the
year (not holidays, but still… no potential overnights), 2.graduating
from SSE Riga, and 3. The Insider as it is the one and only source
to the scandalous life of SSE Riga students. Y3 should definitely be
the happiest: Graduation is a matter of hours, summer has already
started and Y3 can enjoy it at its fullest (Y1 and Y2 will have to wait
for Business Law exam and re-exam week), and the Insider is also
here! Moreover, this Insider issue focuses on Y3, so you will find some
articles written by them, a tricky question only for Year 3, etc. By the
way, we should thank Y3 Artis Krilovs for the covers of this Insider. But
we hope that others will like this issue too, as there is a story about one
particularly interesting lecturer, an interview with your selected Hero of
the Month, a little different cultural section and lots of other interesting
things.
The Insider team would also like to thank all the people who helped
in publishing this issue: wrote articles, collected information, wrote
opinions, participated in questionnaires, gossiped. We are particularly
grateful to Student Association, Martins Vaivars, Arvydas Ziobakas,
Vaidotas Lasas, Ernesta Orlovaite, Aurimas Racas, Sofija Jurceva,
Toomas Tamra, Aiste Juknaite, Raivis Kalnins, PT participants, whose
names you will find together with their opinions, and those, who
answered the tricky question.
And now… for the last time this study year we are
saying: Read and enjoy!
XOXO,
The Insiders
News
Contents
Morten’s Column
2
Editorial Word
2
What’s New
Letter From SA
Big Brothers
3-4
5
6-7
Riga’s Marathon
8
Paintball Tournament
9
News from the Administration
upcoming events
June 13 – Graduation Class of 2009
June 19 – End of the Year Ceremony
and scholarship awards for top academic
achievements
July 8 – SSE Riga Entrance tests
July 13-17 – Admissions interviews
July 22 – Admissions results published
News from the Student Association
LT from LV Victory Explained
14-15
On May 20, SA introduced new initiative and
invited everyone interested to chat about the
current issues and ideas in SA. Twenty people
came to share their opinions, among whom we
were glad to see many Y3s. A great number
of topics such as SA’s website, serving food
during overnights, projects with Alumni and
many more were discussed and the outcomes
of the meeting should be visible soon. We’re
really happy to hear your suggestions and
hope that such meetings will attract even
more students in the future!
Gossips
16-17
Sports.Com
SA Trip to Stockholm
18-19
On May 9, a hundred students experienced
fun and excitement in SSE Riga SA paintball
tournament. We’re happy to congratulate the
winners – teams “Amishit” (1st place), “Vella
Kalpi” (2nd) and “Resnie Putni”(3rd). Also, 26
SSE Riganians participated in this year’s Riga
Marathon, and achieved great results! More
about these events – in further pages.
EU Anniversary
10
International Cultural Event
10
The Insider Questionnaire
11
PeakTime 2009
12
PT Participants’ Opinions
13
Interview with Philippe Michailovich
21
So What?
22
It Has Been There Three Long Years 23-24
Alumni Experience
25-26
Cultural Section
27-28
Tricky Question
29
10 Ways How
30
SA with Alumni Board is searching for Team
of Organizers for Alumni Forum in November.
There are 8 positions available in field
managers’ and coordinators’ positions.
Hero of the Month
31
It is a great opportunity, don’t miss it!
PR.Com
For more information contact Anna Bruna
(ABruna@sseriga.edu.lv) or Forum Manager
Lelde Klavina( lelde_klavina@yahoo.com)
The Days of Opportunities 2010
Team has been elected:
Chief Organizer - Jurģis Skudra
Latvian Coordinator - Darja Maslova
Lithuanian Coordinator - Andrius Fomkinas
Estonian Coordinator - Eerik Oja
Media Coordinator - Aleksandra Volnistova
University Coordinator - Domas Andrijauskas
IT/Advertising Coordinator - Auseklis Paegle
These seven people have been chosen to take
the opportunity and responsibility to organize
the oldest and most prestigious event at SSE
Riga - the 15th Annual Career Fair, Days of
Opportunities 2010. The Team of 2009 wishes
them to capture as much new insights as we
did during last 12 months. In normal words use this opportunity to learn and develop as it
is a great step towards your future success.
Good luck, guys!
Charity Club – thanks to participants
of Cultural Event
On the 10th May the International Cultural
Event took place in the premises of Stockholm
School of Economics. It was the result of
SSE Riga exchange students, the Nautreni
Secondary school, photographer and videomaker Jānis Ekmanis collaboration.
Moreover, the event would not happen
without the support of the SSE Riga society.
Special thanks to Diana Pauna for supporting
this idea, SA for supply of beverages,
photographer and video professional Jānis
Ekmani for making a great video, exchanges
students from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Germany, Turkey and France for sharing their
cultural identity, preparing the national dishes
Insider
3
what’s new?
and telling about their countries, and Nautreni
Secondary School for introducing us to the
Latvian folk dances, and all those who lodged
their interest in the event and were involved in
the preparation of it.
So big thanks to everybody who made this
event possible to happen! Everybody who is
interested in what national dishes were eaten
and which dances taught can see the video
by Jānis Ekmani http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=fdRvG0S1m5Q.
In addition, LMS has two new issues to
inform students about. Firstly, due to severe
economic situation and lack of funds, LMS
is now contemplating slightly different policy
and will no more cover travelling and living
expenses. And secondly, we are glad to
remind Year 1 students that they still have
an opportunity to receive scholarship for
Business Law course. The scholarship was
decided to be granted as a sign of respect
to the professor of international tax law, the
founder of LMS, and the former rector of
SSER - Leif Mutén.
letter from SA
Moreover, elections of new iFUnd board took
place. The elections’ procedure was tough
and not all of applicants were able to make it to
the finish. The results are to be announced at
Handover party, the event which is supposed
to be the last and most exciting one this year.
SSE Riga & LMT Debate Society
dominates the Baltic debate arena
Peaktime –elections in progress
JeJoue –the event passed,
time to look ahead
This year Je Joue had the opportunity to host
such guests as DDB, Oriflame, one of the best
improvisation theater in Latvia “Last Premiere”,
a dancing trainer from “Dance with a star”
and many more prominent professionals. Je
Joue team wants to thank to everyone that
participated in the event and hope to see them
and many more next year. Soon there will be
the selection of new organizers and work for
the next year’s Je Joue will begin.
The Peak Time crew has been particularly
busy choosing organizers for the next
year’s event. The applications have now
been received, and we will take great care
to choose the best team possible. On a less
serious note, the crew is actively engaged
in organizing the official afterparty of Peak
Time 2009 - it will be huge!
iFund – Handover party
coming soon
Leif Mutén Society - scholarship for
Business Law
Students who for some reasons preferred
summer schools, forums and seminars to
the internship, are now searching for means
to cover their expenses on the international
activities. Leif Mutén Society is providing a
significant help in that, covering participation
fees.
Also, following the tradition, LMS supported
PeakTime in organizing annual International
Business Student Competition this year.
4 Insider
Late spring was quite a challenging time
for iFund, as contest “Investment Unlimited
2009” with a prize pool of 1500 EUR
was organized. Eleven SSE Riga teams
have applied, and after three rounds
(Investment Predictions, Financial case
and Macroeconomic Case) best team
was selected. This team is JJJ1R, which
stands for Justas Noreika, Justina Banyte,
Justas Šaltinis and Mindaugas Rapolas.
Congratulations!
The Insider brought to you by
Having shifted its focus to more regional
debate tournaments for a while the SSE Riga
& LMT Debate Society has once again proven
to be a well established powerhouse of Baltic
debating. In late April four SSE debaters,
namely Aurimas, Arvydas and Kristina (all
Y3) as well as Ervinas (Y2) achieved places
among top 5 speakers of Vilnius Baltic Cup
2009. Just 2 weeks later, this time in Baltic
Debate Championships held in Tallinn,
Mārtiņš Vaivars (Y2) won the award of the
best speaker in the Baltics, while Arvydas
Žiobakas took the second place. This sums
up a very fruitful debating season the Society
had this academic year. It will be officially
closed during a beach-forest event in June,
celebrating past achievements and already
looking forward to new challenges, European
Universities Debate Championships in
Newcastle being the first of them.
News collected by
Lauryna Genyte
On behalf of Information Committee
interested.
SSE Stockholm SA Experience Exchange
Fancy a Chat?
Following traditions we dropped by to meet SA Board in Sweden.
Experience exchange turned out very beneficial and the parties
were off the hook. Enjoy Anna’s article and check out Lauryna’s
interview with the SA SSE President - we would be glad to share
our impressions.
Egle made a cake in addition to the cookies, and we were glad
to see twenty of you for a talk. We had some fun discussing the
Website 2.0, the Graduation 2009, The Student Profile Database
Project & our plans to simplify the work of ours and make it more
efficient and more beneficial for all of you. Many good ideas,
great people - thanks to those who joined and we hope to make
the next event bigger and see even more of you there.
April 24th-28th, 2009
Let’s Celebrate Europe Together
May 1st, 2009
Good friends are always valuable - our new friend is the
Lithuanian Embassy in Latvia, since our cooperation within the
5th year European Union Membership Anniversary Celebrations,
organized by Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Republic of Latvia.
More in Mindaugas article - he is both our new PR coordinator
and the responsible for embassy relations.
SA Paintball Tournament 2009
May 9th, 2009
We were glad to subsidize 50% of all the expenses as so many
of you loved the event. By having strengthened the tradition, we
hope to see it even better next year. Our true respect to Janis
as the organizer, he has an article around as well if you are
May 20th, 2009.
We had to dedicate our time for structure, re-framing,
paperwork and planning.
Now we can move further to simplicity, efficiency,
friendliness, flexibility and direct student benefit.
That’s where we are going and we would like you to
join.
Cheers & see you,
Kristaps Silins
President
Egle Eidukeviciute
Vice-President
Insider
5
big brothers
Interview with the President
and the Vice-President of
the Student Association
in Stockholm School of
Economics
During the exchange trip SSER SA members
had the possibility to learn a lot about the
work of our colleagues in Stockholm.
However, to share what we’ve learned
with all of you, the president Kristaps
and Business.Com Armands went
to talk about SA with its President
Beatrice Nylund and the Vice Mikael
Nyström especially for the Insider.
The outcome of the conversation is
presented here, and after reading
it you will know something more about our “big brothers” and will be able to
compare the two associations.
When and how do the elections of the
SA board take place?
The new SA board is elected by the beginning
of December, as well as the editors of the
magazine and council. Those who are
interested in candidating for positions first
apply by motivation letters. Then question
sessions for candidates are organized,
during which they are asked tricky questions
and have to show their talent to deal with
awkward situations. Finally, students vote
and the results are announced. The winners
can celebrate their victories in a specially
organized party.
How do previous members of SA
communicate their experience and
information for you after you are
elected? Is there any transition period?
There are several events that help newly
elected people get to know more about the
work of the SA. There is a conference weekend
and a dinner party of presidents in February,
during which previous presidents share their
knowledge while the new ones introduce their
ideas and viewpoints. The transition is pretty
good as everyone is open to discussion and
sharing information.
How do SA
themselves?
6 Insider
members
represent
Being a member of the organization is
very important and we like to show that we
belong to SA as a community. SA members
sometimes wear medals or T-Shirts and have
a lot of attributes which show that the person
is from SA.
How do you communicate information
to the students?
SA is a very open organization and 80 percent
of the students are involved in SA activities. But
still it is difficult to communicate and this has
always been a problem. SA has its magazine
and website, and we print out special leaflets
every week to inform about upcoming events
and news in each committee. We also
announce news on the billboard. However,
the most difficult thing is to get feedback from
students.
How open is SA for other students’
ideas?
We try to be as open as possible. Students
who have an idea just have to find a suitable
committee; and present their suggestion.
Then the idea and the budget for it are
discussed in the board meeting. If the board
decides that it adds value to the students,
the idea is realized. However, if it requires
financial expenses, it should be accepted by
the council, too.
What is the function of the council?
The council consists of 25 students, 3 of
whom are directors and they have more
responsibility. Council members are usually
former board members and they use their
experience to give advice to new board.
The council is responsible for the long term
strategy. It’s like a parlament; while SA is more
like the government. The council approves the
budget and the plans prepared by SA. If we
want to change anything later, we should also
discuss it with council.
How is the budget of SA prepared?
A new system for preparing the budget
was introduced this year. It goes like that: a
preliminary budget is made by the previous
board; then the newly elected board looks
through it; makes necessary changes and
then the council approves the budget.
How do you communicate with the
administration of the school?
The communication is pretty informal. The
relationship is really good, we can easily
approach administration if there is any need.
Sometimes there are some problems, but we
manage to keep close contact. Each year,
the new board has lunch with administration,
during which the members present themselves
and afterwards they continue collaboration.
How do you archive the things, what do
you leave for the future board?
That’s actually a problem, as we have not
found a good way of doing that. We save
e-mails; and all important documents in our
computers, but that’s not the perfect solution.
What are the main challenges for the
current SA board?
to SA. Foreign people should be involved
too, so we’re thinking of how to increase the
communication in English. SSE premises are
to be reconstructed, which is a major issue,
and we are also participating in planning
new premises, as the ground floor of the
school is used by SA. Finally, we have many
international projects; the current one is a
huge project with China.
How do you combine working in SA and
studies?
We are very ambitious, but probably it is easier
for us as studies are not so demanding as in
SSE Riga. Actually, some people of the board
do not have to study at all. The President and
Vice-President, the Treasurer, and presidents
of Business and Education Committees do not
study and receive salary for full time work in
SA. The rest of the board study half time but
they get the allowance as if they were full-time
students. However, people are not in SA for
money, it is first of all a great challenge and
experience, and bringing benefit to community.
What are other benefits of being a
member of SA?
Well, we have free entrance to parties and
there are some free events for SA. We go
on trips to other universities abroad, attend
conferences. We also receive money for
clothes for official events as there are many
of them and we have to look representative.
What are the traditions of SA?
We have many traditional parties. In the last
week of February we have the special party
for all parties missed during the year. Those
who haven’t come to a certain party dress
in the theme of that party and come to the
event to celebrate for what was missed. Also,
the after-party called “Silis” is a tradition. We
gather on Sunday morning and continue the
previous day’s party, eat fish, play food fights
and have fun!
What Do You Think?
You are free to think. you are free to express your opinion and say whatewer you want. and we are here to note everything down. every single opinion is important for the Insider! Here are some of your answers provided
in our recent questionnaire. feel free to send us some questions if you
would like to ask other students something really important.
How Can We
Promote SSE
Riga?
More advertisements, more PR activities
organized by students to inform high-school
(potential SSER) students.
Do smthng funny though smart publicly in the
city.
Why do people
tend to blame
the government?
Because they do not want to blame
themselves. Nobody likes and is ready to
realise that he or she is one to be blamed, not
others. As they say, change yourself and the
world will change! Nasing Speshal! Maybe posters placed in schools will benefit.
Posters saying that it is not SO difficult to get
here and study here, it’s cool and funny, lots
of activities & paaartiiieees!=))) Coz we have some extremely outstanding
persons
there,
who
"represent"
the
government. As those smarties create an
image for all government
Guerilla Marketing. All the students run around
naked with big SSE logos tattooed on them.
Because they are trying so hard to get in and
they are promising so much, but when they get
in they just think how to steel more money!!!
That is why... :@ It is well promoted already.
Publish Insider outside the SSE Riga walls.
More actively paricipate in stundent events,
like the protest actions against the Latvian
government..that is not very seriously, but the
idea is that we have to have better relationship
with other students.
All other universities promote themselves in
the local press... Why not? Thank you for the conversation
Show how good we are, then people will
approach&ask themselves.
Compiled by Lauryna Genyte on
behalf of Information Committee
Arranging a deal with aldaris so they call
‘Zelta’ - ‘SSER Zelta’.
More often go to pubs. All youth can be met in
pubs. Because they are the first ones in the row,
after them comes the weather, the swineflu
and chinese guys. It's easier to criticise other's failures when you
are not obliged to propose solutions. When
elected, the government takes up the burden
of responsibility. Thus it's in a position to be
blamed They are the ones who have the authority and
means to act This is psychology related question. Give me
a blackboard, 15 minutes and I will explain you
everything. :D The ones who do, have sand in their v******.
SSE is introducing new master programme
so now we work on how to integrate masters
Insider
7
sporty economists
Riga’s Marathon
Together We Made It!
Paintball Tournament
Bruises Fade, Scars Heal, Legends Last Forever...
Beginning of May is the time when the
weather gets more and more sunny
every day, when another study year
is almost over and nobody wants to
study and just want to spend all the
free time with friends.
As well as last year one of the events marking the beginning of summer is SSE Riga SA
Paintball Tournament which took place in the
Latvian Paintball Club Park “Jugland”.
May 17, 2009. On early Sunday morning Sexy Sporty Economists gather to represent the school
in the 19th Riga Marathon. 26 participants from 6 countries – Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Austria,
and Germany – run to challenge themselves and to prove that they can do it.
Despite the rainy weather at the beginning of
the day, 100 SSE Riganians got out of their
beds early in the morning and went to the war
zone to shoot some course mates, get some
bruises and participate in the fight for the
champions title of the SSE Riga SA Paintball
Tournament 2009.
As many of participants had had previous experience last year, it could be seen that some
of them had not come just to have fun, but
had come for an aim to get better than last
year and to fight for the champions title. But
also there were some “war veterans” who had
come still to have some fun and also some
teams had thought about their outlook. Here I
would like to mention team “Achtung!Panzer!”
who had made their outfits according to the
theme of world war 2, teams like “Resnie Putni” who had put an effort to stand out in the
crowd with their funny logos and names and
also “KOMAnda” who had made nice T-shirts
to recognize themselves as well.
At the beginning of the day when the first fights
started, all the teams had equal chances of
winning the tournament, but later the leaders
Even though the day was grey, the positive atmosphere of the event
could have been felt all around. Fans on the streets, musicians and
their beats encouraging to run faster and with a smile on the face. Even
though SSER marathonists were only 0.34% of all the participants,
the team spirit and team work was excellent. Karolis J. and Egle Š.
managed to be the first Lithuanians in 5km distance. The great colourful
5 – Zane K., Karl M., Dmitrijs M., Karlis P., and R. Švede finished their
half-marathon hand in hand and smiling. The Lithuanian trio – Vytautas
L., Karolis Č., and Modestas K. crossed the line singing “Ant kalno
mūrai joja lietuviai”. Talking about results, special congratulations go
to Zane Siliņa – 9th place and Zane Kokiņa – 31st in their age group
in half-marathon.
Everyone agrees that participation in Riga Marathon brings good
emotions and self-confidence. It definitely stays longer than the pain
in legs.
Therefore, we encourage everyone to join us next year!
by Egle Saltinyte
started to “show up” and already speculations
about the potential winners. If in the beginning
it was different, then later the most potential
winners for everybody was the team “Amishit”
who showed a spectacular play and eliminated all the opposing teams one by one.
When the long waited moment of the announcement of teams who have advanced to
playoffs had come, then some teams where
relaxed cause they knew that they are in,
some had gone already home, but some had
to feel the tension because they did not really
know what to expect. But the 8 top performing
teams were:
Group A
Amishit
90
Kennyz
72
Vella Kalpi
59
KOMAnda
55
Group B
Resnie Putni
74
Einana
65
Krāsotāji(Painters)
58
Brainiacs
54
And then came the hardest part for the teams
– the playoffs. Where the teams had to fight
against the top performing teams of the other
group, to find out who is better and who will
advance to semi-finals and finals.
In a very interesting fight teams “Amishit” and
“Vella Kalpi” advanced to the fight for the 1st
place, but teams “Resnie Putni” and “Kennyz”
had to bear the loss against the above mentioned teams and still put all the efforts to fight
for the bronze.
After a very interesting and tensional game,
the standings were as follows:
“Resnie Putni” with having a great play during all the day with some minor mistakes took
the 3rd place, “Vella Kalpi” consisting of our
graduates with earlier having the tension of
not getting into the playoffs earned the 2nd
place, and the team “Amishit” with having a
perfect day, winning all the games with the
maximum score, eliminating each and every
opponent and leaving completely no hope in
the finals, they take home the 1st place and
the champions title of SSE Riga SA Paintball
Tournament 2009.
In the end let’s thank our Student Association for sponsoring the event so it could come
true this year as well, additionally I personally
would like to thank you all for participating in
this wonderful event and thanks to everybody
who helped with some organizational things, it
was really nice to see last years veterans and
I hope to see you in SSE Riga SA Paintball
Tournament 2010 as well.
by Janis Upenieks
8 Insider
Insider
9
events
European Union
Anniversary with
SSE Riga
The Insider
Pass
or
Fail?
On the 1st of May the Baltic countries
were celebrating a 5 year anniversary in
the European Union. Latvia commemorated
the anniversary by organizing an event
in Vermanes park, where all the EU
countries’ embassies were presenting
themselves. The enthusiastic SSE Riga
students did not miss a chance to put
their hands on this as well.
The SSE Riga Student Association with the help of a
few other students offered their support for the Lithuanian Embassy in
Latvia. Our students contributed both with their ideas and their devotion.
The whole concept of the tent, activities and looks was developed in
collaboration with the embassy and a few members of “Latvia Lithuania
– Bringing Neighbors Closer” project. Moreover we were responsible for
much important stuff, which involved such crucial things as connecting
the multimedia projector to a computer or choosing some sweet gigs
which would be played during the event.
The day of the event started for us at 7:30 and already fun – the
Lithuanian flag was put the other way around, but with help of great
organizational skills of our students the problem was fixed immediately.
The tent was decorated nicely with loads of balloons symbolizing
the national colors of Lithuania (and later appeared blue and white
balloons as well, don’t ask why). It really made the tent extraordinary,
while most of the others were not distinguishable from the crowd. Even
from the first hours the interest was huge. Children were very keen on
drawing, the adults were congratulating Lithuania with its millennium
anniversary and the elderly was just trying to take whatever was free.
The event went really smoothly and it really seemed that we attracted
much more attention than even the Italians who were offering free food!
The event was indeed well made, and it was acknowledged by the
Ambassador. All the students who contributed got personal thank you
diplomas and some small lithuanian souvenirs. The most important
thing is that he is really looking forward to further cooperation with SSE
Riga and we will be happy to involve.
by Mindaugas Cekauskas
During the first week of May I believe a lot of students
received spam letters about an international cultural event
which happened on the 10th of May. School children
from Nautreni Secondary school, which is situated in the
countryside, were invited. They prepared some national
Latvian folk dances and games which we all enjoyed.
Children were able to practice English and find out more
about different countries as well as get know our school
better. Exchange students on the other hand were able to
spend some good time while getting better insight to Latvian
culture as well as other countries where they have friends.
After our lunch and small talk we proceeded the event with PowerPoint
presentations and movies about Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkey,
France and Germany. Viktoriya and Karlygash prepared interesting quiz
about Kazakhstan and Berna prepared a belly dance contest. What is
more, children were rewarded with presents. It was both entertaining
and extremely interesting to find out more about different countries.
10 Insider
it’s clear that the editing team possess only
a basic understanding what is a design of a
journal.
The SA letters are useless bullshit. The News
from Info.Com section serves the purpose of
informing us what’s happening there.
International
Cultural Event
Children were well prepared. They played accordions and involved us
in interesting games, which were so active that took our breaths away.
After that, we were a bit hungry so we decided to try traditional Latvian
hem pastries and peas, German potato salad, Turkish sweet cake and
interesting food prepared by Kirgiz and Kazakh girls and some other
food which were brought by participants.
Comments From
Your Side to Us
Since the beginning of our, so to say, Insider editors’ “career” we had been planning to
launch a massive survey in order to find out
what YOU expect from us and the Insider itself. And finally we did this. We were surprised
how willing you were to express your opinion
about the editorial team and our job as we got
120 responses. Of course we received both
excessive criticism and encouraging words.
We accept them all.
So what has the survey shown?
• Best article/column in general. The best
article/column in the Insider appeared to be
Morten’s column which was ranked with 5.75
points (out of 7) on average. The second most
popular part of the Insider is, surprise surprise, gossips! It was ranked with 5.5 points
proving that gossips are still one of the main
attributes of our school and it is not necessarily bad.
• Best cover. There was a dramatic competition between the pink teddy-bear and springspirited tree, which finally resulted in the victory of the Spring (DoO) issue’s cover.
Problems you see
All in all, the event was successful. Exchange students liked it as well as
school children. All aims which were set with this event were achieved.
Besides, children admitted, that such events should be organised more
often because this is an opportunity not only to meet new people, but
this is like a journey where you want to find out more about different
countries, even without crossing Latvian border. Moreover, this is a
wonderful opportunity to practice English as schools situated in the
countryside cannot offer it very often.
Special thanks to our Student Association and those who helped this
event happen.
by Ieva Strupisa
• Some students complained that the Insider
is becoming “too Lithuanian”. Well, it depends
on what exactly you bear in mind. Regarding
the nationalities, yes, we have to agree that
nearly half of our writers are Lithuanians.
Why? The main reason is that to our mind
such people as Marius R., Aurimas R. and
Ernesta O. write articles that are really worth
publishing. Also, most of you would agree that
their articles are important as well as interesting for the whole SSE Riga society, so we do
not consider it as a problem. Finally, Lithuanians themselves demonstrate willingness
to contribute and it would be unreasonable
to reject them. On the other hand, we have
some loyal Latvians, Raivis K., Liene G., Sofija J. and others, who help a lot. Surely, we
would be happy if more Latvians and especially Estonians would be eager to help us as
we always welcome fresh ideas! And the easiest way to do that is to come to our meetings
(gossipers say that we always bring a tasty
chocolate pie)!
• Gossips… yeah, some of you argue that
gossips are lame, offensive and definitely lack
censorship. First of all, dears, if you wanna
read gossips, you have to write them! If you
write a lot of gossips, we will be able to select and publish only high quality ones. If we
publish only good quality gossips, you will be
happy, right? So the only solution to the problem is WRITE GOSSIPS.
Suggestions
Luckily, we got many valuable suggestions for
the further issues. You came up with such proposals as including various tests, sports and/
or love column in the Insider. Also, you offered
us focusing more on school’s life (discussing
Advisory Board’s issues, little scandals inside
the school, etc.). Some of these suggestions
have been already implemented in this issue,
others will wait for the next academic year.
Final remarks
Most importantly: no matter what you have
heard, we can assure that the Insider is still
independent and nobody is allowed to limit
our mission of spreading free word.
Respect,
The Insiders
p.s. sorry for disappointing some of you, but
we are not going to resign :)
The column “Culture” should include local culture, e.g. a calendar of upcoming events in the
Baltic States.
There could be some innovations in every Insider, for instance, in every new issue some
new column- something unique! :)
Hero of the month should be somehow explained, not just random person.
SA is interfering with The Insider too much.
I mean, you are the fourth power. Do not let
them take over your independent idea spread.
Beware not to lose your power of information
spreading.
Nice that you have come up with new columns.. good job! P.S.: There should be some
censorship on Gossips, otherwise, it’s used
more for private jokes that are not understood
by the majority of student.
Saltinis recipes - nice photo! :) Hero of the
month would be interesting if we knew how it
was selected and for what reasons.
Could be more Raugalas’ articles.
some educational, the one about cv was nice,
ask business professionals to share some
tricks of their field, not just advertise internships.
It has become ride, stupid and cheap. I am
ashamed to give it to my friends outside the
school. The editor and advisor should be
changed.
In my opinion Gossips are a bad habit that
grows in 3 years in SSER. Were there no column the gossiping level might be lower.
Keep going!
Insider
11
Peak Time 2009
competition
Challenge, Education, Friendship
For four crazy days SSE Riga turned into a destination
for 80 of the most talented business students in the
world. If you were not there, or if you just want to
inform yourself about everything that happened in Peak
Time 2009, dig in and read further.
Let’s remind ourselves of the basics. Starting
from February more than 2000 determined
students from all over the world started
participating in our competition. After a
challenging selection process the 20 best
performing teams were invited to take part in
the final stage of Peak Time in Riga.
When designing the preliminary tasks, the
overarching aim was very simple – get
the most talented, creative, analytical and
energetic individuals through. It was our belief
that such students would most benefit from
four days in SSE Riga packed with competitive
atmosphere, cross-cultural integration and
insightful guest lectures.
And a competition it was. I guess it would
not be an exaggeration to say that Peak
Time 2009 had gathered the strongest pool
of finalists in the history of the competition.
Brilliant students from places like Cambridge,
Moscow, Stanford, Riga, Berkeley or Shanghai
brought out their “Class A” performance.
The first challenge was provided by our longterm partner CESIM, as students had to put
their technical and analytical prowess to the
test in the demanding computer simulation.
Most participants admitted that they found
the simulation very intellectually stimulating.
Looking at the prodigious amount of snacks
consumed, it is hard to disagree with that
claim.
The simulation was followed by the first case
study that required participants to come up
with a new organisational structure for an
IT company. This was the task that really
separated men from the boys, since it required
students to make use of a very wide range of
skills, especially the ability to meaningfully
present their solutions in front of a jury panel
of business professionals. Some where good,
some where better, and the Top 5 teams could
start preparing for the final case study.
As our jury member, representative of the
INSEAD business school Peter Woolsey
12 Insider
put it, “It was a stellar final to watch”. Even
though McKinsey & Company had prepared
a tough case about a retail chain in Russia,
finalists came up with solutions that would not
embarrass a real business consultant. All the
SSE Riga people out there will be happy to
hear that the first place was captured by the
home team “LT from LV”. They were closely
followed by the Stanford/Berkeley team and
the Cambridge team. Our guys were rewarded
for their great business sense and outstanding
presentation skills with a cheque of 3000 Euro
and a recommendation letter for INSEAD.
This article would not do justice to Peak Time
2009 if it would fail to mention our guest
lectures. One of the most important ideas that
Peak Time initiative stands for is showing that
education, instead of dull and predictable,
can be fun and inspirational. It is our glimmer
of hope that participants left Riga better
equipped for whatever they want to do in life.
Two speakers are particularly worth
mentioning. Marcus Lindkvist, a “trendspotter”
from Sweden, talked about noticing the
most important societal trends of the 21st
century. Equipped with a Scandinavian
sense of humour, he gave a great head start
for the competition. Our closing speaker
Marcus Orlovsky, an entrepreneur from UK,
emphasized the importance of believing in
oneself and wrapped up the competition for
the participants.
Peak Time 2009 teams were highly responsive
to the lectures. Magnus Lindkvist said that he
“could feel the great energy in the audience”.
Despite the workload, the participants were
enthusiastic about the lectures and did not
hesitate to ask penetrating questions.
If you want an easy way how to distinguish
Peak Time from most business competitions in
the world, do not forget about the international
atmosphere. Exchange of ideas and cultural
experience is highly valued in the Peak Time
community. With teams from 5 different
continents, Peak Time 2009 took great care of
using this situation to its full.
A cultural evening was an opportunity for the
participants to present their national food and
traditions. Whether it meant getting wasted
with Polish vodka or trying out real Colombian
coffee – everyone could find something
for himself. The feeling of seeing so many
different cultures and ideas represented in
one place was a truly remarkable one.
Peak Time 2009 really was a place to find new
friends that will last forever. Starting with great
parties and ending with ice-breaking activities,
the participants got to know each other in
these four days. This is an achievement that
we are most proud of – the ability to keep
Peak Time as friendly and sincere as it has
always been.
So what now? Well, look out for Peak Time
next year, since our successors will start their
work soon. They hopefully will continue to
show that students are capable of creating
something truly remarkable.
The feeling is that we have managed to do a
sufficient job to keep Peak Time on the right track.
It should become bigger and more recognizable.
And if you still haven’t, spread the word. Peak
Time is over, but not for long – there will be
more to come.
by Martins Vaivars
Participants’ Opinions
Evan Foo
National University of Singapore,
Singapore
Matthias Kunz
University of Southampton,
United Kingdom
Peaktime 2009 was indeed an event to
remember and everything the organizers had
set it up to be. Riga was indeed a beautiful city,
filled with exquisite architecture and friendly
people…
Working 10 hours on the first day of university
vacation, compressing clothes for four days,
including a suit, into carry-on-luggage,
handing in hastily scribbled coursework just
before departure, sleeping at the Airport two
nights in one week... And still thinking it was
all amazing - that’s what Peak Time makes you do.
…My biggest take away and achievement was found outside the
competition, among fellow competitors. The international aspect of
the competition promoted cultural integration and gave participants
the opportunity to expand their networks and exchange ideas with
the most talented students, consisting of future thought leaders, each
representing their schools, culture and country. We were all able to mix
and mingle, sharing our various world perspectives and backgrounds,
making the Peaktime experience all the more enriching and worthwhile.
We began as competitors but finished as friends, they were my
newfound compadres whom I had established common ground with.
Ricardo Escobar Rua
EAFIT Univesity,
Colombia
The same day we knew that we passed to
Peaktime finals in Riga, the challenge began
for us. We didn’t have money to go there, we
didn’t have enough time to get the Visa and we
didn’t know what was going to happen in Riga.
I have always been a positive person but during
those 4 weeks before the competition I lost my mind a couple of times,
and I felt really worried because it seemed to be impossible
The most amazing thing was that I made a lot of friends; and that is the
most valuable thing that I have from this experience. To dance salsa,
to sing “La camisa negra” while I was a little bit drunk, to pawn my
house inviting everyone who wants to go to my country, to admire the
beautiful smile of somebody (guess who); to share with my team love in
all senses. All in all, to enjoy the competition and the travel would have
been impossible without them.
Even with some distance, it was more than worth it. The best thing
about Peak Time finals is that you become friends with all those people
you’re supposed to be competing against. Everybody is interesting,
everyone has got their own exciting story to tell and everyone is
enjoying the event just as much as you are. The most difficult thing is
deciding what was best: the competition, the people, the talks or the
parties? I’d say it’s the combination that makes Peak Time so special.
The best of luck to the organizers and hoping to be there again 2010!
Vytautas Galdikas
Vilnius University,
Lithuania
This competition has proved to be one of the
most fascinating events in our team‘s life. Not
only because we happened to solve various
economic tasks, but also because of the
creative part of the competition that consisted
of the team movie, team photo and its description.
We are extremely happy that we succeeded to qualify for the finals and
were able to spend a really memorable week in Riga. We put much
value into new friends that we made during the finals and we will keep
in touch with them for a long time.
We hope that Peak Time will continue to be held every year and more
and more students from around the world will be able to experience the
benefits of this competition.
Qianwen Gu
Shanghai Jiao Tong University,
China
Yavuz Selim Torbaoglu
Moscow State Technical University
Russia
Peak Time is actually the most impressive
event I have ever experienced in my life. Top
students from all over the world just gather
together to learn, to compete and to make
friends with each other. The competition
is tough, challenging and just so exciting, and I really like it. Work
hard, play hard. It is also so fun to go to parties with friends there, to
experience a wholly different culture from mine. I had my 20th birthday
on the plane to Riga, and Peak Time is the best ever gift for my 20th
birthday, because I came to see and know what real excellence is,
and found out how far I can go in the future. I really miss all the friends
there, best wishes to you all :)
When I first heard about Peaktime from my
teammates, I was like “Mmmm, what is that?”
But later, as we started making decisions
and solving cases in the elimination round
I understood how great it will be in Riga,
which means I was so sure that we were
going to be in the finals :) So we were. It was a great 5 days in Riga,
including everything.
Peaktime is one of the best business games I have ever participated
in. It is a combination of case study, simulation, unlimited parties and
beautiful Latvian girls :)”
Insider
13
peaktime 2009
LT from LV Victory Explained
After many years SSE Riga team winning Peak Time competition, this time involving more than 500 teams from some of
the world’s best universities, may seem an unexpected result. Yet actually, it shouldn’t surprise at all. It wasn’t
achieved just during the four days of Peak Time 2009 final, but rather emerged as a result of a complicated three
year process involving hard deliberate and subconscious choices, dreadful failures, glimpses of luck, dedicated
work, tough lessons and much more. All of this is now revealed for your judgement.
How It All Started: the Team Profile
In the late autumn of 2006 a public e-mail
showed up advertising a business case
competition taking place in Vilnius, Lithuania,
and requesting teams made up of 4 people.
The formation of LT from LV followed some
kind of natural subconscious process of
making picks just trusting a gut feeling. After
all, we couldn’t know too much about each
other after just several months of studies
together. And what an interesting bunch
gathered…
Justas – a blond from Lithuanian seaside.
Nobody could expect that he will develop into
an Excel and Power Point guru surprising
spectators with his legendary flying animations
while at the same time possessing sharp and
down-to-earth business thinking. Always
speaking too fast though…
Arvydas, who has never dropped his laidback working style, even when writing this
article, turned out to be very useful with his not
rushed, well though off insights. Presenting
has been his thing from the early days…
Indeed, according to his mother, Arvydas
started talking earlier than walking.
Aurimas – wasn’t that famous then although
already demonstrated distinct analytical
skills and extremely good quality/time ratio.
One could always trust him with a seemingly
big problem and observe him adorably
disentangling it into manageable pieces and
dealing with them one by one.
Vaidotas has always needed to be taken
under supervision when unleashing his
creative powers, so that he wouldn’t go to
extremes. Yet, this is exactly how he delivered
the biggest value – making all the rest look
from totally different perspective, refreshing
everybody’s thinking with his unique ideas
and initial push for their implementation.
Right then and there we turned out to have
strong opinions on everything. Probably, this
equal weight of personalities made us not
only express ourselves but listen to what each
14 Insider
member says and value it with equal concern.
For a team made up of four Lithuanians
the name LT from LV seemed to be a very
straightforward choice. Being fresh students
of SSE Riga, we were very much inclined to
look for fun, parties, rather than the awards
(we though we had little chances to get them
anyway). But luck turned on us and after
kickin’ some bottoms of Y3 students (quite
unexpectedly) we came first in the case
competition in Vilnius.
We did grow up since then. It’s interesting to
look at our team descriptions in retrospect
and see that the more real experience we got,
the less serious they became. The one we
sent to our first competition back in 2006 was
particularly funny– written in an overly serious
style, vastly exaggerating our strengths and
experience, which actually was negligible
at that time. The thing is, the older you get
the more you understand how ridiculously
small and unimportant your experiences
are in the perspective of the outside world.
Such understanding led us to Simpsonizing
ourselves in our team picture and “bragging”
about our weaknesses rather than strengths
in the team description, which we put in Peak
Time 2009 application. And… we got among
the top 20 teams selected for the finals!
Professional
Attitude Needed
Having at least some
debating experience
each of us felt much
stronger
in
case
studies rather than
computer
business
simulations
such
as CESIM. Partially
due to such attitude,
partially due to some
kind of unexplainable
factor, that may be
called ‘a curse of
computer simulations’
we experienced some
harsh failures.
Twice the majority of LT from LV members
participated in a business competition
Rubicon, taking place in Iselrohn, Germany.
German hospitality with its lavish social
events was indeed tempting to come back.
Not surprisingly, when participating there
for the second time in 2009 we named our
team EAB Hoppers, where EAB stood for
‘Eat All Banquets’. The non serious part of
the competition was fun and all, while the
same couldn’t be told about the results.
For two years in a row we didn’t manage to
step over the first stage of the contest – a
computer simulation of a company producing
tents. What was the reason? Obviously the
reluctance to resist to all the nice receptions,
which would steal our evening intended for
preparing extensive Excel sheets so crucial
for a good performance. We may simply call it
lack of professionalism. Actually for the same
lack of serious attitude we totally failed in the
selection process of Peak Time 2008. These
were good lessons though.
In Peak Time 2009 finals all 20 teams had
compete in both CESIM simulation and a
preliminary case study, each part carrying
the same weight. Performance in both tasks
determined top 5 teams allowed to solve
the final case prepared by McKinsey & Co.
Given our dreadful history with simulations
the first part of preliminary competition should
have seemed the most challenging and
unpredictable.
However, this time it was different with
extensive effort put in analysing the simulation
well in advance, thinking of strategies,
preparing quantitative analysis tools. Yet, the
most difficult part of maintaining a professional
attitude wasn’t work put in preparation.
Instead, it was a fight with your inner-self
trying to consume considerably low amount of
alcohol and leaving Peak Time 2009 parties
no later than 1 am in order to get sufficient
sleep and then perform in the morning. And
it worked. Inspired by the intelligent walls of
iFund we grabbed the second place in CESIM,
while giving the lead only to the team made up
of MBA students who won the Chinese CESIM
championships and thus got the right to come
to Riga.
Combining our success in simulation with an
expectedly good performance in preliminary
case study on the IT company reorganization,
we easily got among the top 5 teams. Primarily
thanks to serious attitude.
Good Teamwork Pays off
During the first competition in Vilnius, 2007,
HR specialists observing our teamwork
noticed that there was no clear leader in the
team and we actually didn’t need one, acting
as a kind of self-sustaining mechanism. The
mechanism has certainly improved over 3
years moving from desperate last minute
slide creation in our first competitions to a well
coordinated cool blooded process, with work
finished well in advance before deadline in
Peak Time 2009 finals.
While each of us had his own special features
already briefly presented in our Team Profile
description, most importantly we shared a
common basis of skill set involving good
presenting, quick logics and business
thinking. This combination allowed us to
somehow naturally find our roles in a team
flexibly adapting to the needs of a particular
problem or situation.
Yet another valuable feature of LT from LV
teamwork has been very straightforward
communication – an ability of each member
to say out loud ‘Hey, this idea is crap’ and
never take harsh criticism personally. Indeed
it was interesting to be back in a team after we
almost literally tried to ‘kill’ each other while
making opposition to each other’s bachelor’s
thesis. We remained in very good terms
nevertheless.
Throughout an extensive experience of case
competitions we have developed one more
particularly interesting skill – the feeling of
a ‘winning presentation’. When the time of
preparation is almost over, and the runner
(a team member responsible for bringing
the presentation file to the organizers) is
waiting impatiently with a memory stick in
his hand, you simply scroll through all the
prepared slides for the last time, and get a
feeling if that’s a winning presentation. Such
feeling was totally positive in the Peak Time
2009 grand final. Actually, we loved the final
case prepared by McKinsey: providing a
vast amount data yet leaving a lot of space
for creativity. We were
confident throughout
our entire performance
especially,
when
we finished right on
time and delivered
all the content in a
coherent manner, as
well as received such
remarks as ‘ This is
what I was looking
forward to hearing in
a presentation’ from
a jury member during
the
question-answer
time. Our confidence
was not just an empty hope – we won, gladly
watching the Soros exploding in standing
ovation.
A member of the Canadian team approached
us afterwards asking ‘How on earth have you
guys managed to dig out and put so much
content on your slides in just 3 hours?’ The
response was short: ‘Teamwork you know…’
Indeed, it paid off, in many means, including
cash.
For the Future
To sum it all up, the entire success story boils
down to a very simple truth: it’s all about the
right people and the right attitude.
For
future
participants
in
business
competitions: gather a team of people who
are different, speak their mind and may even
constantly disagree. Yet, learn to realize the
value in that difference and utilize it. On top of
that, have a professional attitude.
However, most importantly, be active and take
part in such events. It may provide you with
something interesting and business related
to talk about during a job interview. You may
somewhat improve your chances to study at
Insead some day. You may even get a job (like
Vaidotas after winning the Baltic level L’Oreal
E-Strat). Yet most importantly you may grow a
bit, not just in professional terms but in human
terms as well. Just like we did. And then, don’t
be afraid to realize how trivial are the things
you’ve done so far, (including Peak Time),
and how much more there is out there to
accomplish. Try, grow, go further…
By LT from LV
Insider
15
Gossip page
They say that the Latvian GDP
declined dramastically after a
redonkulous fiscal policy.
They say that Philippe connects
Mante, Egle & Liene.
They say that the level of JeJoue
decreased much more than the
GDP of Latvia!
They say that Akvile’s pie recipe
collomn would be more popular..:)
They say if you haven’t been at
the Floating Disco, you don’t
know what is ‘having fun’ :)
They say that Imants has got a
really big mouth.
They say that Liene was secretly
dating with a guy from year 3…
Not anymore!
They say that there are 6 Y1 students who would like to meet a
certain someone in a dark and
lonely place to discuss some issues regarding macro.
They say that Y1 is nastier than
ever before.
They say Marten really considers to enter Glebs’ business
idea;)
They say that Arturs Y1 prefers
guys instead of seeing girls having frech kiss.
They say that Viktorija G. Y1
preferes to have intercourse
with academic years instead of
handsome black guys.
They say that Peter is a lecturer
who comes not only late, but
also drunk.
They say that even Lithuanians
16 Insider
have become lazy after FE.
.
They say that Katerina has no
secrets from her students.
They say that Diana K. made
sure that everyone would see
the FHM magazine with her on
the cover. Very nice Diana, very
nice.
They say that Alma (Y1) stopped
dating the French exchange after the gossip in the previous
Insider.
They say that Kristaps, Egle and
Anna are more keen on shopping than representing SSE Riga
in Stockholm.
They say that one should tell
Vaivars that a pick-up line “Hi,
wanna make out?” only works
for handsome guys.
They say that Liene should be
kept away from handsome guest
lecturers.
They say that Ben is always very
keen on reading all the gossips.
They say that Davis G. (y2) is the
G-wiz.
They say that now everyone
doesn’t like surprises. They are
ready to lose their nomination in
YB if they don’t know what they
are nominated for.
It appears that Diana D. (Y2) is
afraid of 2 things – gossip about
her in the Insider and that her
pictures will show up anywhere
but her own album on the Internet. And there is one person
who can make both her fears
come true.
They say that Roberts Y1 has
tasted the “Population Pudding”
They say Mr. Graholskis (Y3)
has recently obtained breathing,
tangible asset. It is said that this
asset can balance itself. Good
purchase !
They say that Kristine (y2) did
not exploit her opportunity and,
therfore, failed FE. sometimes
you just have to forget about
your principles, girl!
They say Balsiukas is like an old
lady: always unhappy, always
tired and sick.. Be a man!
They say IFund should change
their party name from Handover
to Hangover - so everyone would
be clear about the purpose.. :)
They say that bungee jumping
rocks!
They say that Professor of age
40 was not a coinsidence in the
Anthropology experiment of
Kristine & Gunita.
JB was seen drinking Jim Beam,
eating Junk Been, listening to
James Brown and looking at Jolitas Boobs.
Before Macro report deadline
Year 1 survived only due to SSE
Russia “food” support.
Writing articles has become so
popular, that even Timoti (aka
Black Star) has wrote one on Real
Options. JB, your turn now !
They say that administration
does not let people to leave, after few years they just kick people out – it is much better for the
schools reputation.
They say that there was no exchange students on the Exchange
trip.
They say that vacuum cleaner is
Peteris’ (Y2) best friend.
They say if you enter SSE Riga
having a relationship with a girl,
it will crash during the first year
with the probability of 98,9%.
Proven.
They say that Madara (Y1) understands Macro better than our
jokes :/
They say that during Economics
of Networks exam whole SSE
Riga was flooded.
They say clealing ladies want to
ban Justinas from entering computer labs as he shaves there!
They say that Arvydas Y3 stimulated pig’s ass with hairspray.
Photos of the month
They say that Karolis J has finally
exercised his embedded option
on Kristine V in a tea-house before AF exam.
They say that Kristaps S. (Y1)
will give up idea about Newcomers’ camp for the sake of organizing Latecomers’ camp. However, only those who come later
than him can take a part in organizing it!
They say that Martins L. (Y7) has
found a way to graduate SSE
Riga twice.
They say that the new IFund
team will be even nerdier than
the previous one.
“Why should you go outside, when you can bring nature to your home”
They say there is one great model
in strategy course called double
b, double i & s..
They say that DDB Latvia is the
best company to work for. A lot
of coffee and high percentage of
males :)
Peter Jonsson writes: “What is
the current level of proftitability/
RI? How would you like to evalute
the division managers?”
“Scientists disovered a new mental state - after-FE syndrome”
Insider
17
travelling
SA Trip to Stockholm
people gather in the morning after a heavy night and continue to celebrate,
dance on tables and chairs, throw slices of cucumber to the ceiling (don’t
ask why), having food fights, and more and more, I cannot even express
all the fun we had there. I believe our Party.com could approve, that was
one of the best things we have seen (now we are thinking how to get those
things to Riga, we MUST have them!). The rest of the day was a recovery
for some more serious stuff in next days. So far – 1:1, Stockholm got one
point for such an amazing hangover party.
Monday, 27th of April
Words of the day – SPORTS and FOOD. Oh, I was wrong! The serious
stuff will come in the evening! SASSE with Media.com Ralph in front
took us indoor climbing. Those were some pretty impressive walls
there; I cannot even imagine how it is possible to get up so high. Some
of us managed to climb the 16 m high wall, but for the rest of us – our
hands were dead at that time. Nice feeling, having no hands. Later
that evening we had a dinner in the Italian restaurant with SASSE
Board. And you know, the more you eat, the more you are happy; the
more you are happy, the better the conversation goes. We managed
to get invited to Ralph’s place and had a small chill out in less formal
atmosphere. I think at that moment we all understood that we are
getting along pretty well with those guys.
Yes, yes, we are not an exception! We, Student
Association Board 2009-2010, went to see the goodies
Stockholm can offer us in annual experience exchange
trip. Now all previous SA Boards can smile a little bit
while remembering their trip, uhh, such memories! How
was our trip? I will try to give a small insight in our days
there, but be aware; I was missing a lot of space here to
describe it all. P.S. For those who are too lazy to read, I
am giving a word of the day, which should say it all.
Friday, 24th of April
Word of the Friday – SLEEP. After spending about 24 sleepless hours
writing Marco report we all fell into our seats in plane and immediately
fell asleep. In few words – plane = asleep, bus to Stockholm = asleep,
2 hours wandering in Stockholm = barely awake (but we had a good
meal), finally checking into hotel = and asleep. Maybe it is obvious
but we were a bit tired, you know. Jap. Oh, and we met the first
representative of SASSE, Mikael, the Vice. Kinda tall guy, I and Egle
spent our precious time looking for things that makes him attractive.
Succeeded. For guys – he had a cute secretary as well.
We were invited to have a short insight to their party life on Friday
evening. And you know what; we have better evening party habits.
Except the DJs, they were amazing. The end of the day was a big
failure for Stockholm, because me, Andris and Karl were interrupted in
our party mood by fact, that all clubs close down at 3 a.m. Open are
only gay bars. Done with Friday, 1:0 in favor of us.
Saturday, 25th of April
Word of the Saturday – ROYALTIES. We were taken to a picnic with a
lot of SASSE and other guest SA members. It was kinda fun, because
somehow they have realized that for picnic they have to buy my favorite
thingies in the world – jelly candies. Magic. Some tiny conversations,
some important news, and new connections were made. I started to
18 Insider
realize that every single person in Sweden is a supermodel. Honestly,
what a nice society. Some of us left the picnic early to get ready for the
event, because this was The Night!
Celebration of 100th birthday of SASSE – I wonder why there was
no cake with 100 candles in it. Anyway, there were loads of goodies
that evening. All guests were dressed like miniature royal families, with
crowns and medals on their shoulders. When a person was entering
the banquet room, bunch of super smiling waiters and waitresses were
clapping their hands and stomping feet like it is the joy of their lives
that you have entered the room. And I must say, is was kinda nice to
finally feel like a royalty. Damn, why don’t we have monarchy in Latvia?
The Banquet – briefly – little of food, lots of singing, lots of Swedish
and, wohoo, few sentences in English for us! We felt so delighted that
dedicated a live performed “Pūt Vējiņi” song to them.
The afterparty was great, but who remembers that? Only thing that I
know, that I dreamed about rabbits.
Sunday, 26th of April
Word of the day – ZILLIS. What the hell is that? You will find out later.
So on Sunday morning me and Egle made the best surprise for all
of the Board – we brought a bottle of water for each room where our
sweet absolutely sober SA friends slept. It was so nice to see the joy
in their cute faces. And – surprise, surprise – in one room we found a
rabbit! I knew there was something weird with my dream. Anyway, we
found out that Andris and Karl had been hunting the poor thing for 3
hours in the night. Before we had decided how get that tiny animal into
the plane and keep in SA Room, they let it go. I miss him already.
Sunday was a surprise day, because we were invited to Zillis. So – it was
translated as “a traditional herring breakfast”, but under this innocent
caption hides the most amazing thing ever. A hangover party. All the party
Tuesday, 28th of April
Word of the day – OFFICIAL. The last day. I already started to feel
how much I will miss the place with all the fancy cars, wild rabbits
and supermodel-looking people. We have scheduled a meeting with
SASSE Board as well as an interview with Beatrice, the President. I
will not bore you with the agenda of our meeting, but the concept was
simple – we gained some good ideas, some worth implementing, some
not. We are sure they got out of the meeting more than they expected,
so we proved that SSE Riga, no matter how small it is, is worth seeing.
So we are looking forward to have them as our guests someday in next
study year! See you then!
Detective Thumb
Knowledge vs. Mechanics
Mechanics are the technical aspects of doing
something. Knowledge is the psychological
result of perception and learning
and
reasoning.
Universities,
business schools should be about
the the latter. Mental work But is it?...
(intrigue is created)
Studying is applying the mind to learning
and understanding a subject. You study in
order to get knowledge. Exam is the one
which shows you and others potentially
interested how much did you get of it. But
does it always show that?...
Let’s take a hypothetical business school (i.e. Oslo School of
Economics in Tallinn), hypothetical year (i.e. year 2) and hypothetical
course (i.e. Finance and Accounting). Now let’s assume that instead
of a new exam they handle an old one. The one which was maybe
looked through by few students. But it means that looking to the
last year’s exam is much more rewarding than studying in general.
Especially when exam contains uncovered material...
Now the problem in this hypothetical example is that instead of testing
knowledge, exam has tested mechanics (or luck for that matter). Oslo
School of Mechanics would be a better name for that school.
JeJoue
Case Closed.
Do’s and Don’ts
Really marvelous! Salsa’s teacher was very good- he has an interesting
technique of teaching dances, and he has a bit funny voice. The Last
Premiere gave me such a positive emotions for all my life.
Really, really cool thing!!! I liked it very much, but overlapping was an issue for me.
If honestly, it was a little bit boring... the next year organizers could
include maybe some talent contest, where to show unordinary singing
or dancing skills etc.
Really cool, niice job, however its sad that so little people attended it,
so there is a need for a bigger promotion (and no overlap with some
SA activities)
Veeeeery bad promotion of events. I didn’t go to any, but maybe I
wouldv’e gone if the mails would be sent earlier than 3 hours before
the event itself.
One of the greatest events of the year. Unfortunately, our students are
not so interested in art... Score 3.88/ 7
Insider
19
interview
Interview with
Branding
Specialist
Philippe
Michailovich
Philippe was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. His native laguage
is English, though it seems all the European roots are there from Prussians to Serbians. After graduating from school Philippe served in the
air-force. It was there where he met his friend, a photographer, which
seems to be the turning point. Philippe soon started to earn a living as a
photographer. They were doing fashion show shoots and Philippe had
built himself an amazing reputation when got intellectually bored and
decided to enter university. Continuing with the photography business
enabled him to pay for his education. His first pick was Psychology,
but later he got bored with the idea of listening to people “complaining
about their problems” and switched to consumer behaviour, industiral
pshychology and social anthropology.
Going to MBA at once was too expensive, so Philippe began working
for Bristol & Myers, deciding to have it paid by his employer. Since then
he was head-hunted and switched between several companies as well
as industries. While primarily it was cosmetics, he has worked for British telecom company pre Internet era in London, then 3 years for Wella
before going solo.
20 Insider
So what?
So what?
So what?
So what?
So what?
There’s this thing about each and
every end – all the way towards
them you dream about the finish
line. And then it all stops, and for
a moment you stand there alone
wondering: so what?
This is one of those existentialist questions
that have at least two hundred possible answers, yet you feel you’re required to choose
only one. You know that there is no right or
wrong answer, but you still believe that the
one you pick is a bit better than the others.
Your “what” might be these 738 high school
students you beat when you were invited to
study in SSE Riga, 176 points you received
for your Bachelor’s Thesis, the 1st place you
managed to keep in the official academic
rankings, the 1000 LVL you earned for the
best paper, 145 points you scored in the Financial Economics course, 168 ECTS credits
you collected from the mandatory courses, or
even the 34 months you managed to survive
here.
When you get to do an interview with a charismatic personality, what do you do?
Exactly! You fall for the charisma and forget that there is
a line of questions prepared. You
sip coffee, smoke camel and try to
figure out the person in front of
you.
The man in front of me was Philippe Mihailovich. Perhaps I’m not a
wizard with words, that’s why they fail me when trying to describe him.
But surely you’ve been to his lectures on Branding in the middle of
May. I dare say you still remember. I was fortunate enough to catch a
glimpse of his human side (rather than the professional side most of
you enjoyed), and I am now sharing some notes with you.
Y3 leaving...
Today Philippe is working as a consultant in launching brands and lives
in Paris. He has written a book which is about to be released – Haute
Luxe. Being busy all the time, Philippe could not brand his own book.
Finding the time to visit SSERiga was a matter of schedule, which just
happened to have 4 days to enjoy Riga and the students.
Coming to Riga last year for the first time sounds like a lucky coincidence. A friend declined the offer to come to SSER and asked whether
Philippe would like to take it. Having the time and passion for travelling,
Philippe did take the offer. And it sounds like he does not regret it. He
loves Riga and says it has a personality. Just the quality he values
so much in every aspect of his life. He says it’s the artisic side of the
business which attracts him. It’s the people’s mind of what they like
and why they do what they do. We also spoke about the importance of
being successful. Philippe says it is not about profits. It’s about giving
back. Creating jobs vs. profitability. Social responsibility to those who
are in need of help.
Networking, visibility and courage are important in order to succeed
in the modern world, Philippe says. On the question of what he would
wish to the graduation class he is suddenly very serious – “I wish them
all to find work”. He then smiles a bit and adds that he wishes graduates to give enough skills, confidence and courage to create themsleves a job. “Start exciting things!”
by Sofija Jurceva
Every single of that “what” you can put in your
resume, send to a potential employer, and get
a well-paid job. Yet as I said, we are all just a
bit biased. And so am I, so I say that my “what”
is slightly better than those listed above.
Imagine a warm evening: it’s almost dark, you
can feel light breeze on your face, a distinct
sound of passing cars is in the air. You sit on a
bench with a cup of tea in your hands and look
at a huge screen with busy people. There’s
a group of three watching funny videos on
YouTube. There’s also a couple in the corner
probably discussing which party to go to. And
there is a guy on the sofa writing yet another
cover letter. This is one of those images where
you can almost see yourself in. Do you get the
“what”?
That “what” is people. People to trust, love,
miss, argue and laugh with. It is you: being
Step 1
Study
Study
Study...
yourself, knowing yourself, and believing you
can do anything. And it is the relationship
between those people and you, the way you
communicate, work and spend time together.
SSE Riga gave provided you with an environment to experience how diverse people can
be. You worked in international teams with
so many different people you couldn’t even
possibly count. There were those you could
rely on from the very first meeting, those who
never showed up, and those with whom you
preferred playing table football rather than
writing a report with. You had to learn that
some people only work during nights, party
every weekend, always miss deadlines, write
perfect literature reviews, or never respond to
emails. You probably learned it the hard way,
but now you know it, no matter how much you
complain about yet another free-rider in your
team: people are the key to each and every
door.
SSE Riga tried to show you that everything
is possible. Remember the first Days of Opportunities in Year 1? Did you also get that
amazing feeling that all the companies came
here only because you know so much and
can do things better than all the others? The
school gave you an environment to compete
in, rise and fall, and stand up again, just for
you to know that you are able to do it. You
had overnights, went to exams after sleepless
nights, failed and succeeded, and had to try
again and again. Look at the three years from
the distance: did you imagine, before coming
here, that you can organize an international
contest and attend lectures without either of
the parts suffering? Have you ever though
how hard and maybe even impossible it is
to write Bachelor’s Thesis? It appeared to be
easier than you expected, didn’t it? SSE Riga
did not make you an iron man who is able to
do things; it only gently whispered in your ear
that there ain’t no goal unachievable. And now
you know it.
SSE Riga gave you tools to build relationships with people. Just think about it: you
know names of all your course mates, and
some hundred more from Year 1, Year 2, and
alumni. You have probably lived in a flat with
some of those people, this way learning their
eating habits, the best time when to approach
them with a request, or how to make the person clean the kitchen. With the others you
spent hours and hours working on one of the
after-lectures projects or playing poker. And
then there are those you somehow met. You
don’t remember how and why, yet they have
become the most important people in your life.
And now, when graduating, you are like a spider sitting in the middle of a web with threads
reaching all the corners of the world, just because you were given a means to do so.
So what? You now have a good-looking resume, know how to write a cover letter, can
impress people with your knowledge and
skills, and behave like a professional who is
ready for the world out there. This is what you
are. But you also know how wonderful people
can be, believe that nothing is impossible, and
have people without whom you wouldn’t be
what you are now. This is who you are.
So I say thanks, my Alma Mater, for the people, both those with whom I enjoyed spending my time, and those whom I’d like never to
meet again. I never enjoyed economics, and
you did not manage to change much of that.
But what you did for me in terms of people
I am grateful. Thanks for what you gave me
and what you took away. It has been painfully
sweet.
114 scanned pictures that were put together
in a .pdf file in August 2006. The median ID
number of our course. More than 2000 emails
in my inbox. These are my “whats”.
by Ernesta Orlovaite
Step 2
Step 3
?
Wealth
and
Fame
saying goodbye
It has been three long years
It took me quite a while to decide how to
begin this article. After all, this is
my last article in the “Insider” as
a student. And I have two full
pages for writing something
meaningful. Now, I decided
that I want to share some
things that I learnt during
these three years in SSE
Riga. Hopefully, I have some
interesting stuff to say.
From one perspective, I
entered this building being
87th, and now I walk away being
second. From another, I could
easily make a dunk with both hands
3 years ago, and now I barely manage
to make it with one. So I hope that even
that is only my insights, it still will be
interesting. Some might call it banal, others
will say I have an unfulfilled need to be in the
centre of attention, and some will read further.
But even the latter ones will get bored soon,
so I start with the first thing I want to talk
about – knowledge sharing.
Since I was in high school, I was a huge fan of
open source software. It was something cool
then – you know – you get something for free,
which is usually terribly expensive; something
that somebody shared with the whole world
for nothing. Admittedly, it was a fashion thing
back then, but in SSER I realized how powerful
the concept of sharing is. It still amazes me
how easy it was to learn all the FE papers
when my entire flat sat down together and
got into discussing. Thoughts were floating in
the air, and it took less than a day to become
an expert of Shleifer. The same applies to
all the summaries, conspectus, and similar
22 Insider
things. I have shared them not once, and
sometimes even was surprised how far they
went. I believe that information does not have
any value when “just being there”. It has to be
used. No matter how hard I worked, it does not
matter anymore. Ignore sunk costs, as Seth
Godin would say. This is exactly the answer
to all the questions I have received related to
being a teaching assistant. Some people just
cannot understand why one would go for this
position. You do not get compensation, you
have to work quite hard, and the benefits are
only for one’s self-confidence at best. The trick
is that giving knowledge is at least as good a
feeling as receiving it. Definitely worth a try. If I
could, I would share all the data used in all my
academic papers, and I believe that you would
be able to produce much better ones as the
need to collect it again would be removed. If I
had enough determination, I would push such
an initiative for the whole academic world,
and this would definitely make it much more
efficient and thus being able to move forward.
Instead, currently it wastes two decades to
decide if it is a CAPM-beta, a reward-beta, a
Fama-Frech-beta or maybe not a beta at all.
And that is such a shame. Share people, share
everything you can. Don’t get into an illusion
Wondering...
that you will benefit by having it for yourself.
It does not work. Information is useless in a
drawer. Giving it somebody, will hopefully
expand one’s mind. And this is a second thing
I want to tell in this article.
Opening eyes is important as hell. I remember
how I dreamt about getting into Vilnius
University, as it was my ultimate goal. Then,
the ultimate goal transformed into SSE Riga.
Cambridge, Oxford and other nice names
looked totally unreachable, and not even
worth thinking about. But time went by, the
opportunities in this university allowed me to
meet a lot of fascinating people, get to hear
their insights, and all the Oxford-Schmoxford
stuff became much smaller. At some time, the
same happened to the investment banking,
the plan of getting a Harvard MBA just after
SSE, and many other uber-attractive ideas.
Now, I do not want to say that all that stuff
is not good enough or anything like that. It’s
rather, you start to see things in different
light. There is no uber-attractive ultimate goal
anymore. Instead, there is a world with loads
of different paths to choose, and chances of
being a teacher and working in McKinsey are
both considered. This thinking requires some
self-confidence, I admit. And I might be just an
arrogant to-be-graduate of SSE who boasts
that sky is not high enough. At the same time,
I remember my high school classmates, who
were much better than me in dealing with all
kind of things. They did not get the opportunity
to open their eyes and got stuck in some
random Lithuanian university. Forever. They
limited themselves to whatever they saw
around. This is exactly something you have to
avoid. Got a top score from FE/Micro/Macro/
whatever else? Forget it, and move on. Don’t
go to Business Ethics because you think you
know everything you will ever need? You do
not know what you will need. And if you don’t
find a subject interesting, catching attention,
the problem might be you, not the subject.
The last thing I want to touch is fairness. I
think this is the concept that stops people
from sharing, and doing other great things. It
isn’t fair if I write the summary, and somebody
else uses it, right? Well, to my mind, this is not
fairness we are talking about here. It’s rather
the thinking in the lines of “my knowledge of
how to make a cool CV is worth 10 hours, and
nobody can get it before working for at least
that long”. Remember sunk costs? I hope you
still do. Thus, let’s proceed to the true fairness.
Here we are talking about cheating in exams,
inconsistencies in evaluations, never changing
exam problems, among others. There always
is the urge to say – to cheat is not fair, but they
can do it without being blamed, so screw the
integrity, and let’s make it fair for everybody.
Let’s cheat, too. This feeling increases the
more you live. I remember going away from
the Business Law exam, and how easy was
to stand up and basically say – I won’t take
it as long as I do not get a normal one. There
definitely were several more issues like this,
and I heard that this year’s A&F exam also
was the same as previously (even if only
due to an administrative error). But nobody
stood up and went away. Being a Y2, or Y3
you get used to it, and don’t care anymore.
And this is a sad thing. Because fairness
works. Maybe in the long run only, but it does.
Those who were cheating get caught in the
end, those who studied only for exam are
not able to write a thesis, and those who did
not respect others around in the end are not
respected themselves. Call it the efficiency of
free market, if you wish. The bottom line of this
paragraph is simple, even banal: stand upon
your values even if others get more profit in
the short run. I did not adhere to this principle
a few times, and in the end it was painful,
believe me.
So here I stop. I know I missed something I’ve
always wanted to say. I am also sure that half
of the people will think that this article was a
waste of time. But I hope that to some it was
not, just as the “SA minutes” are enjoyed
by me. Keep your eyes wide open, share
everything you know with others, and believe
in fairness.
Cheers,
Aurimas
Since we already began thinking
about the universe.. let’s read some
phylosophical thoughts written by
the students
When was the last time you did
something for the first time in your
life? Why when you have a free time
there is rain or coulds outside, bt
when you have a lot of stuff to do
there is a perfect weather for beach
and seaside... Part from our marketing report:
“The company should find some
solution to this problem. The
solution could be some innovative
solution. “ Where has all the fun gone? To have or not to how summer
holidays? Of couse, not! We have
internship! why do people promise to love
each other till the death separates
them, and some years later start
to cheat each other and eventually
get divorced.. Who I want to be after graduating
from SSE Riga? Why Jevgenijs Babaitsevs changed
his name to Eugene? I thought that after the MAF course
my summer will start (there will not
be a lot of things to do) but I failed
myself... Insider
23
Start
at
SSE.
Career - at Linedata Services...
Linedata Services Asset Management is an industry leading
provider of global solutions with a proven track record of
developing cutting edge systems that meet the industry’s
challenges. Linedata’s asset management offering is a multiaward winning set of best-of-breed software products,
spanning front to back-office.
Our asset management
solutions address the specific requirements of mutual and
institutional funds, transfer agency, alternative and hedge
funds, fund administrators, prime brokers and private wealth
companies.
Natasha Voitcenko
Front Office Systems Support Team Leader
Linedata Services Northern Europe
Natasha graduated from SSE in 2004. In 2005, Natasha
started her career at Linedata Services as a support analyst.
She is currently Front Office Systems Support Team Leader at
Linedata Services’ London Office.
SSE Riga
Interviewer: Tell me about your SSE Riga experience.
How did you choose the school, why?
Natasha: My school choice was quite simple. I wanted my
education to be administered in English, but wasn’t ready to
go abroad. I spent my junior high school year in the US, so
leaving my family and friends again wasn’t appealing at that
time. In addition, I didn’t have a clear picture of what I wanted
to do after school and a degree in Economics and Business
Administration seemed to offer a good variety of possible jobs.
All this combined with SSE Riga’s reputation for quality of
education made up my mind.
Interviewer: What did you want to do after graduation?
Natasha: I didn’t know! In fact, this was my worst nightmare
while at SSE. I knew that I wanted something more dynamic
than being an auditor or a bank clerk, but this is pretty much
where my aspirations ended. Looking back now I understand
that it wasn’t bad at all – life has a great quality of sorting itself
out. It is better to have no plan, than to have the one you don’t
really like. Eventually after graduation I started working as an
assistant at a head-hunting company. It was a temporary job
while looking for something permanent, but it actually showed
me clearly what I wanted and didn’t want to do.
Linedata Services
Interviewer: Why IT?
Natasha: I have always been quite passionate about IT. During
high school I attended youth programming courses and really
enjoyed it. Technical Support for a financial product seemed
like a perfect match.
Interviewer: Tell us about your job.
Natasha: I started as a Support Analyst for the main product
(FundManager). Then, in two years I moved to the Front Office
24 Insider
alumni experience
Interviewer: Tell us about your job.
Support team and in six more months became its team leader.
At the same time I was also offered a move to Linedata’s
London office where I currently work. The timing couldn’t have
been better: the FO team was rather new and I practically got
to build it from scratch: writing documentation, establishing
procedures and developing relationships with clients. I have
now been in this position for a year and a half and just took
over a support team for another front office product, so more
challenges to come!
Martins Berins
Support Analyst, Hedge Fund Solutions
Linedata Services Northern Europe
Interviewer: How do you find working in an IT Company
after graduating in Economics?
Interviewer: Tell me about your SSE Riga experience.
How did you choose the school, why?
Natasha: The job involves much more than just IT. Our clients
are fund managers, traders and analysts and it is essential to
understand their business. Technical tasks are only half of the
job; you need to know how the clients use the product for their
daily tasks. This is where that course in Financial Economics
comes in very handy!
Interviewer: What have you learned while working in
Linedata Services?
Natasha: Business and IT knowledge aside I learned valuable
communication skills. Clients may seem angry or unhappy
about the product, but often this is just because the markets
are not doing well or they simply had a rough day. It is important
not to take their attitude personally and at the same time to turn
the conversation around.
Interviewer: What is good about Linedata and why are
you still here?
Natasha: Every day is quite new and this is what I like about
the job. It may seem strange, but I like the rush you get when
the system fails and no one knows how to fix it (preferably
combined with the satisfaction of actually fixing it!).
I really enjoy the friendly atmosphere: it is a nice thing to have
when teamwork is involved. I like the dynamics: you get a task,
solve it and see the result right away. It is also not your typical
cubical office space: there is always a buzz hovering over the
Support desk, people are talking on the phone or to each other.
Interviewer: Hobbies, interests, dreams?
Natasha: Having to spend most of the day in an office I try
staying active in my spare time: at the moment it’s jogging,
swimming, tennis and yoga. London is also a great hub for
travelling and I try to use this as much as possible.
Martins graduated from SSE Riga in 2006 and joined Linedata
Services in the summer of 2008. Currently Martins is a Support
analyst at Linedata Services’ Riga office.
SSE Riga
Martins: At the time I was not entirely sure what I was going to
go for. Economics somehow seemed right based on the high
school exams taken and overall appeal. I applied for three
universities just in case: University of Latvia, University of
Ventspils, and SSE Riga. Actually, in the morning when I was
about to take off to Ventspils to complete all the arrangements
I finally received the approval from SSE. I dropped all other
options at once because SSE was referred to as the best
university in Latvia, and it was state funded.
Interviewer: What will you never forget about your
student life as SSE student etc?
Martins: Looking back at the time spent at SSE, I will probably
never forget the admission interview, sleepless nights before
report deadlines and graduation.
Interviewer: What happened after graduation (career,
travel, studies…)?
Martins: After graduation, my everyday agenda did not change
too much. In less than a year after graduation I quit the job
in an insurance company that I had joined while still studying
in year 2 and joined a small IT company hoping to, perhaps,
launch some IT venture that would bring me some money.
However, that only worked out for about a year. I then started
to look for a more serious position. Then I was contacted by
a Linedata Services’ representative and joined the Company
shortly afterwards.
Linedata Services
Interviewer: Why IT?
Martins: I enjoy disproving the groupthink that most SSE
graduates end up working for some bank or auditing company.
Frankly speaking, IT has always been my strength and I learned
a lot within this field on my own initiative.
Martins: Being a supporting office, our primary task is to respond
to requests/issues raised by clients. Fund managers from some
of the world’s largest hedge funds call us up to share their
concerns. Depending on the type of question, different types
and levels of knowledge need to be applied. Most of the problem
solving involves querying databases (SQL), troubleshooting
processes and services, and communicating with clients and
third parties, e.g. brokers. A friendly atmosphere and teamwork
help us to resolve most of the issues on a daily basis. Although
the primary work I am doing is indeed IT, I greatly appreciate the
close proximity of the financial side of the hedge fund industry.
It is probably the closest I will ever get to the stuff learned in
Financial Economics in SSE.
Interviewer: What have you learned while working in
Linedata Services?
Martins: I have learned that some financial instruments may
have a great many characteristics in order to fully describe their
intended behaviour. Some of those you don’t even hear about
in SSE.
Interviewer: What is challenging here for you?
Martins: The main challenge must be to maintain the quality
of the services we provide and to do it in a timely manner.
There are times when millions of clients’ dollars might be at
stake. Thus, ensuring, for example, real-time transactions and
reporting is crucial. Coping with the growing complexity of
tasks is another challenge – there is hardly any limit to how
complicated some issues may turn out to be.
Interviewer: What can you say about the Company’s
values, colleagues etc?
Martins: Every person in our company is welcomed kindly
regardless of their professional skills or time spent in the
company. More experienced personnel never refuse a helping
hand.
Interviewer: What is good about Linedata and why are
you still here?
Martins: Probably, the best thing about Linedata is that, despite
current market conditions, the company is still able to maintain
profitability. Moreover, it feels great to work for the market leader
in fund management solutions and to know that quite a few of
our clients are market leaders in what they are doing. There
seems to be a lot still to learn about the other software solutions
developed/supported in Linedata. I would like to grow within the
company and, perhaps, even migrate to one of offices abroad
(e.g. London or New York) as several people have managed to
do during their careers.
Interviewer: Your wish for current SSE students.
Martins: “Don’t look to jump over 7-foot bars – look around
for 1-foot bars that you can step over.” (Warren Buffett)
www.ldsam.com
Insider
25
cultural section
Here are the top 3 Movies from each Baltic State
Latvia
Estonia
„Sügisball“ (Autumn ball, 2007)
Lithuania
Limuzīns Jāņu nakts krāsā (1981)
“Limousine in the color of St. John’s night”
Mati is a writer who’s wife has left him. He
lives alone in an apartement with two bedrooms, in a district of block houses from the
Soviet era. He is just like the people surrounding him – earning money just to get by, drinking and watching television in the evenings.
Everything looks dark and hollow, not only
the scenery but the future as well. The movie
depicts the everyday life of a big part of Estonians, full of struggle and search for meaning.
Creating a somewhat melanholic feeling, the
movie brings you down to earth and makes
you reconsider your understanding of happyness.
„Nimed Marmortahvlil“ (Names on the
marble tablet, 2002)
The film is based on the struggles Estonia
was facing in 1918 when the Soviet Union intruded into Estonia. Two brothers choose opposite sides in a civil war of a small country.
In November 1918 the army of Soviet Union
conquers the cities Narva and Petser in spite
of their peaceful announcements. The government of Estonia declares general mobilization.
Ahas, son from a poor family, after his inner
struggles, joins the troop of his classmates
and heads for the frontline. Through battles
and adventures Ahas and his companions
grow up, but destiny has some bitter surprises
to offer.
“Klass” (Class, 2007)
This film speaks about violence at school. In
a pack of wolves, members need to follow
the leader. In a class the weaker need to follow the stronger. The bread that the stronger
ones are feasting on consists of outsiders,
and usually there are not many of them. One
guy from the previous “pack” starts to defend
a boy who is being constantly bullied and humiliated. This starts a war between him and
the informal leader of the class. The result is
a memorable lesson for the bullies – there will
be blood (school-shooting).
by Toomas Tamra
Biggest Festivals and
Other Events During the >
Summer
26 Insider
for you to enjoy during the summer (oh yeah, there’s
gonna be more…)
http://www.tiketa.lt/
http://www.piletilevi.ee/
http://www.bilietupasaulis.lt/
http://www.bilesuserviss.lv/
Known to be one of the best movies of director
Jānis Streičs. When old auntie Mirta succeeds
in a lottery and wins a car, which she cannot
use herself, different family members are suddenly there to ‘be helpful’ in order to get the
car after auntie’s death. The funny rivalry between two parts of family, a foolish jealousy
to the near living peasants’ family, which had
always non-selfishly been there for auntie, is
a caricature of greasy human nature. But aunt
Mirta isn’t fool, and is still young in her heart
until her last minute, which appears in her last
will - to whom the car, the limousine in the
color of St. John’s night, goes.
Vai viegli būt jaunam?, 1987
(Is it Easy to be Young?)
A documentary of numerous stories of young
people, living in Soviet Latvia. These are
mainly stories of different youngsters, viewed
differed by Soviet society and local pro-soviet
government - punks, those who demolished
the train after the legendary local rock band
‘Pērkons’ concert, for that being regarded as
public enemies, a mortuary worker and more.
Different lives, different expectations, for some
lack of freedom and pressure from the government and fear. One of the rare documentaries
that can be so touching, because it’s so true.
Diringas (2006)
PR managers, advertising companies, production houses - all these Lithuanian slaves
of image smell a new profitable brand and go
after it letting the chips fall where they may.
It’s THE movie that caused a true confusion in
peoples’ minds in 2006. Everybody was talking about it. Everyone liked it or hated it. However, only a few understood it. But we know
what marketing and commercialism are about.
So watch and enjoy.
A movie with black humor, absurd, and image,
of course.
Rīgas sargi, 2007
(Defenders of Riga)
Ghetto (Vilniaus Getas, 2006)
Hate, love, war and ghetto – a life to one’s dying day in Vilnius in 1942. Despite the desperate circumstances, love between a Nazi
officer and a worldwide famous Jewish singer
emerges behind the stage of the last theatre
in Vilnius ghetto. No, it’s not another love story. In fact, the love-line is hiden somewhere
behind desperation and hope, art and censorship. Meanwhile, theatre becomes a symbol
of hope for thousands of people and a ticking
bomb for Nazis.
“Defenders of Riga” dramatizes the events
of November 11, 1919 – Laèplçsis Day - a
crucial date in the battle for Latvian independence. It is a beautiful saga that features a
conditional interpretation of history (after all,
the film isn’t a history book), an unequivocally
clear ideological setup (freedom, independence, individual responsibility), and the striking of a patriotic chord.Released in November
2007, the film is not only the most ambitious
feature-length production in the history of Latvian cinema, but also the highest grossing box
office film to be released in Latvia. A cinematic
experience not to be missed.
The Devil’s Bride (Velnio nuotaka)
I bet you’ve seen ‘Moulin Rouge’ – a love-story musical with the hottest actors and catchy
songs. Well, Lithuanians have their own!
Despite the fact that instead of a courtesan
there’s a miller’s daughter and a robust lad
instead of a poet, the movie itself is not less
romantic, the songs not less touching and the
devil character is even better than any glittery
absinth fairy. Grab some popcorn, napkins, a
partner and dive into the old school romance.
by Raivis Kalnins
12.06.2009
Festival RABAROCK
JÄRVAKANDI (EST), Estonia
13.06.2009
DJ ATB
Ogres estrāde, Latvia
02.07.2009
Roskilde Festival 2009
Roskilde, Denmark
03.07.2009
SCOOTER with SASH!
Haapsalu Lossihoov, Estonia
12.06.2009
Music and Art Festival ,,Be2gether”
Norviliškių
Castle,
Lithuania
26.06.2009
IV Baltic Tango Festival
Vilnius, Lithuania
02.07.2009
Heineken Open`er Festival 2009
Gdynia, Poland
03.07.2009
Electronic
Music
,,Tundra”
Zarasų r., Lithuania
Festival
by Aiste Juknaite
04.07.2009
“Riga’s Rythms 2009” - VINX,
Grace Kelly
Rīgas Kongresu nams , Latvia
10.07.2009
International Blues Festival ,,Bliuzo
naktys `09”
Varniai, Lithuania
15.07.2009
DJ Tiesto
Ogres estrāde, Latvia
17.07.2009
Heavy Music Festival ,,Velnio
Akmuo”
Anykščiai, Lithuania
Insider
27
saying goodbye
Tricky Graduation Question
Why Will You Cry?
I will be crying for
perfect people I
have met in SSER
- all of them are
together with me
again :)
People cry for various reasons: dusts falling into their eyes, an onion being too spicy when they are preparing food
or sometimes even for emotional reasons. But have you seen an SSE Riga student crying? Most probably - Not; the air
in SSE Riga is too clean as our cleaning ladies work pretty well. Onions aren’t a problem either: guys lack skills in
the Kitchen and girls don’t want to sacrifice their perfect make-up just to get a tastier soup. Emotions? SSE Rigians
can remind you of robots, and robots don’t cry. But we believe that at least some Y3 students are not insensible
creatures and graduation will make them cry. Responses to the question ‘What will you cry for on graduation day?’
prove that you can also find some humans at SSE Riga.
I have worn a dress
three times in my
life: during high
school graduation,
SA ball in Stockholm, and my parents’ silver wedding.
Each of these experiences I remember
with pain, both because of the agony
of looking for a dress and the missing-myjeans feeling while wearing it. So if I shed a
tear on the graduation day, my dress will be
the sole reason.
Ernesta
I would cry for the most competitive
environment I have ever been to and probably
will ever be. The environment that provided
all of us exponential growth in personal and
professional lives throughout these 3 years.
I will cry for the times when name of a weekday
made no difference, now, apparently, Monday
and Friday are quite different.
Vaidotas
Danielius
Vitalija
A tear for moments
of
relief
after
overnights, a tear
for all the hours
spent
in
cosy
Soros, evenings on
comfortable sofas
in the lobby or 3rd
floor, another one
for great time with
flatmates, several
for beautiful Riga, crazy parties, exchange…
and many drops for people who made these
years so enjoyable!
Jurate
I will be crying for
my Coffee/Cigarette
breaks in the schools
yard, where for those
small 15 minutes
nobody
actually
lectures you!
I will be crying for
the cup of coffee
Gunnar
Lindholm
promised during the
lecture but never
bought! :)
Sandra
Zigmars
ways how
to forget SSE
Riga during the
summer:
1. First of all, it is to leave Riga.
2. In case the wish is extremely strong, leave
Riga for the desert island instead of other city.
3. If you wanna read a book/magazine – read
about anything that is not related to economics
and business (Harry Potter usually works).
4. Keep away from watching news on TV as
well as listening to the radio. It is dangerous
as there is always something about the
economics.
5. Try to avoid meeting fellow students from
SSE, unless you make a strict agreement that
you will not talk about anything related to SSE.
6. Buy an elephant.
7. Start practicing yoga.
8. Excessive drinking helps to forget almost
The only thing I will cry for is those people who
did not get a chance to study at SSE Riga.
Marius
9. Burn APA books and erase all the APA
Ruslans
information in the internet.
I will be crying for my
driving license, wallet, suit and Escort
keys. Viva la French
bar!
That there will not
be any chance to
make “ssshhhhh...”
(c) in Soros.
Deniss
Harlis
I will cry because all the other people will cry
too. That‘s a crowd effect.
28 Insider
everything: macro, accounting, finance, your
name..
I’ll cry for damn’ good time I’ve spent with SSE
Riga community. The time that passed in one
glance.
Martins
10. Cheat during the exam, be suspended
and forget about the SSE Riga for at least two
years.
ways how to
remain geek
during the
summer:
1. For year 1 students: borrow the
compendiums and preferably the textbook
of financial economics from year2 students
(some year 3 as well) so that you could start
studying during the summer.
2. Do not forget to take an economic-related
magazine (the Economist, Financial Times
etc.) when you are going to the beach.
3. Set deadlines by yourself as often as
possible and follow them strictly!
4. Summer is a great time to express your
creativity! Make various assignments and
tasks related to economics and business for
yourself.
5. Go to internship and make notes of
whatever you hear or learn, after that, write a
professional report (at least 40 pages, single
spacing).
6. During your lunch break at work (where
you have your internship) eat quickly and go
to read some economic scientific materials.
7. SSE Riga lobby is always open (spend at
least 2 days in a week).
8. Come to admission tests just to check
yourself.
9. Summer time is perfect for reading the APA
book (the big one) till the end at last…
10. Formal clothes style is prefferable every
single day (you can try to invent formal
business style bikini as well).
I will cry for having to bring two mattresses
from a random flat to my father’s car. Alone.
Aurimas
Insider
29
who can save us?
Hero of the Month
Interview with Laurynas Barauskas
People say he passed FE with top score.
That is more than reading people’s minds..
Favorite course: There isn’t such a course
Favorite lecturer: Kenneth Högholm or Morten Hansen (very
different, but both very good)
Blonde vs. Brunette: The hair colour is not the most important thing, but most probably would vote for brunette
Thoughts: I prefer being 100% in whatever I do. Thus, really
depends on the day
Favourite drink: Coca-cola
I have never... Used drugs
I have never but I would like to: There is no such a thing as I
would like to do, there should be only things that I will do
Relationship status: Single
Hobbies: Winter – skiing, party, Summer – windsurfing, During
all the year – music (at least used to be) and basketball
How would you describe yourself?
I really don’t like describing myself, and it is
one of the hardest things during all the interviews (let’s say for internship). Thus, I would
like to skip this question.
How on earth did you manage to combine partying with an unadjusted score
of +100 in Financial Economics?
To be honest, there weren’t so many parties
during the course. And about the score, you
simply have to write fast, exactly know what
you are writing and maybe a bit of luck.
What is your largest dream? What would
you like to achieve in your life?
Currently the largest dream is to get a cup
of coffee with vanilla form Narvesen. But in
longer terms I do not build up any dreams,
and try to go wherever I am able to go. Of
course, one could think that it would be nice
to work in The Street or something like that,
but some unexpected crises may happen and
The Street may disappear. Thus, I don’t know
neither where nor what I will be doing 5 years
from now.
How would you spend million dollars?
Most probably would make two or three millions out of them before starting spending
them.
30 Insider
One person, dead or alive you would like
to meet?
Alizee ☺ (at least currently)
Are you aware of the fact that your initials are really popular in Latvia (e.g. LBLatvian Balsam )?
Yes, I am pretty aware of that.
What are the three biggest flaws of character that you see in SSE Riga people?
This is not applicable to all, but what I see
the main problem is concentration on small
things, rather than understanding the whole
view and what comes from where.
Do you consider yourself arrogant?
Why?
I could say that I may be helpful, caring etc.
when my mood is right and I want to act so.
But, all in all, if arrogant means self-centred
with pretty big ego, then yes. And for question
why.... because that is who I am.
What are your fears, phobias you are
able to admit?
I can’t remember any big phobias. Yes, I’m not
a big fan of snakes and similar stuff, but that
would be it.
Are you religious?
This would be quite tricky question, as I’m
neither really religious person nor real atheist.
The thing is that I don’t really believe in God or
afterlife, but I’m also not denying the existence
of it. It just, I’m living my life and some superior
powers (if they exist) live their own.
The only really interesting and fascinating
thing about religion is their dominant power
for more than 1000 years and their cultural
heritage (churches, music etc.).
Do you sometimes feel like things you
study in this school are pointless?
Yes, in some sort economist neither builds
new cars nor invents new drugs, and thus,
they almost do not add value. However, if you
would image the whole economy as a simple
company, management in that company could
be also classified as useless. However, no
one should try to imagine that company working without management, and I think it would
became clear, they get paid not only for sitting.
Thus, in general I don’t think that Economics
are pointless.
Do you believe in the free market?
Yes, in some sort... I would go for the Adam’s
Smith invisible hand, but the hand should be
really invisible (meaning that do almost whatever that is legal, but do not anticipate for
huge help in bad times).
by Liene Grizane
Insider
31
32 Insider