On December 20th, 2013, the Lithuanian Free Market Institute announced winners of a six-month long youth video contest “Looking for Innovation in Business.” The first prize and 3,500 litas went to physics students from Vilnius Ramūnas Šniaukas and Augustinas Skirsgilas for a video “Tomas.” The second prize and 1,700 litas was awarded to Vytautas Puidokas for a documentary short “Vietos,” and Adomas Liutkevičius with “King C. Giillete” won the third prize and 1,000 litas. The jury comprised business representatives, movie and advertising specialists, and the organizers. The contestants were also judged by Facebook users. A similar contest was organized in Bulgaria, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan.
“What do entrepreneurs do? The question is simple but the answer is not. We have therefore asked young people to look around and to reveal in short videos how entrepreneurs and their ingenious ideas make our lives more comfortable and more joyful. By understanding and recognizing the contribution of business into our own and others’ well-being, we will be more willing to start business ourselves,” LFMI’s President Žilvinas Šilėnas said.
“Schools do not teach much about business and economics. And today many think that one has to discover a new Facebook in order to have a good business, but even small bakeries are good businesses. It does not matter there are plenty of them. What matters is how they do it,” member of the jury and co-owner of a cosmetics trade company “Uoga uoga” Lena Sokolovska said. Lena believes that all initiatives stimulating young people’s inquiries into business are very important, and businesses themselves should take interest in such initiatives, too.
The video contest is part of LFMI’s project aimed to reveal the role, and nurture a positive image, of entrepreneurs in society. LFMI has recently addressed the topic of the creative nature of business in a series of comments, articles, appearances on TV and radio, meetings and lectures. The project, which was made possible through a grant from John Templeton Foundation, is being implemented in cooperation with the Institute for Market Economics in Bulgaria, the Central Asian Free Market Institute in Kyrgyzstan and New Economics School-Georgia.
1st place: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWz70GYgeRc
2nd place: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z27o1Ws6Nh0
3rd place: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY8f7p3vxv8
4th place: http://vimeo.com/79335410#at=0
Special prize: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STKZI0YVnwg&noredirect=1
