My name is Agnieszka. I am 28 years old and I come from Poland. I graduated in Medicine, but also in Management, which allowed me to combine medical and business skills. I always knew that one day I would like to see how running a business really looks like from the inside, from practical perspective. I have always had a head full of ideas, and I applied to the program with a concept for eco-friendly medical scrubs. I discovered the EYE Program while I was looking for opportunities to gain practical experience abroad. What I really liked about the program is that you are directly exposed to business environment, and gain firsthand experience from established entrepreneurs. I completed my exchange at a medical company in Portugal. I thought it would be a perfect idea, because it could become a real exchange of knowledge. I could offer them medical insight while they could help me develop real competences needed to run my own business in the future.
From the very beginning, the company welcomed me with openness. Moving to another country is always a challenge. I had previously done internships in Italy, Romania and Turkey, so I already had some experience, but it is still a time when you need real support. They really helped me, and thanks to the people and the atmosphere I started to feel at home. I felt genuinely supported and listened from the day one. Together with my Host we established a plan for my exchange and the activities I would like to be involved in. My main goal was to gain practical experience and the basics skills needed to run my own business. I wanted to develop competences in project management, operations, finance, HR, and marketing. Every month brought new challenges and projects, which allowed me to become involved in the company’s daily operations. What’s more my medical knowledge turned out to be valuable for several projects within the company.
I believe that going on this exchange was one of the best decisions I have made. It exceeded my expectations. The skills I developed will give me a solid foundation to open my own business in the future. I learned how to manage project effectively, run meetings, keep track of schedules, design project management structure, handle risks, and plan ahead. Moreover, the exchanged showed me how HR-related tasks and selecting the right team members can influence a company. A large part of my activities involved designing improvements to system and processes that automate daily work. These are the skills I would definitely like to use in the future. I also learned how to avoid mistakes that can appear along the path of a young entrepreneur. During the exchange my medical knowledge proved useful to my Host on numerous occasions across the company’s activities, which made our cooperation really valuable.
This exchange is a time of true knowledge sharing. Beyond business skills, it makes you more open person, ready to face new challenges.