Success stories

Dita Lapsa, co-founder of the platform "Online Dog” -aimed at dogs’ owners (purebred dogs) and organisers of dogs’ exhibitions- applied to the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme as a new entrepreneur. Her idea was to acquire new market knowledge at the international level and to create an improved information system for her online platform. To achieve this, she decided to establish a 3-month collaboration with Croatian entrepreneur Matija Bumbak, director of the "Platforma 22 Ltd” directed to investors and start-ups as well as management of the EU public and private projects. Matija is also working on the other projects fostering business infrastructure and start-up development. Matija's motivation to participate in the EYE programme is to stimulate the development of new start-ups and expand his business network and portfolio as well as share his business experience.

During the exchange Dita in cooperation with her host Matija worked on the technical desc ription of the platform’s improved version and its implementation plan, considering the specificity of the Croatian market. Dita carried out an analysis of the scene of Latvian start-ups to provide Matija with new knowledge and shared her practical business experience and recommendations for Matija’s business model. At the same time, Matija consulted Dita on the marketing and sales plan investments and international customers. They both worked on the local and regional markets to expand their business opportunities at the international level – Dita helped Matija to understand and access the Latvian market and Matija connected Dita with the local investors in dog clubs and other partners.

As a result of the collaboration, Dita and her team have launched new services and incorporated new features in the platform "Online Dog”. Dita has gained practical and valuable knowledge on how to maintain her start-up in the future and how to manage IT projects in the Croatian market. The EYE programme opened new collaboration opportunities in her business field in Croatia and neighbouring countries, gave a new perspective to her business idea, and contributed to her personal growth as an overall learning experience. The host Matija gained valuable insights from a foreign professional, who contributed to the development of his company with new ideas, and positive energy and opened perspectives to the new markets and partners. He personally acquired experience in dog show business and learned about new IT products that can be applied in the other business fields. He also had a new experience – consultation with a start-up from Baltic countries.