After overcoming a series of travel misadventures, twelve weary Olin Business School students were finally united in Budapest on Sunday afternoon.
Tim Liebe, MBA’14, sent this update from the Venture Advising Course currently visiting Budapest, Hungary.
Upon arrival at Oriens HQ, our gracious host, Krisztian Orban, welcomed the troupe with a thorough and spirited narration of the prominent role Hungary played as the landscape of Europe changed through the centuries.
Devastated by tyrannical regimes spanning the majority of the last century, Hungary lost an entire generation of wealth and is currently left without an equity class to spur economic development. Given this rich history and bounded by a common past, Oriens has emerged to guide Hungary towards a common European future.
An independent, privately-owned boutique investment management firm, Oriens conducts business throughout Central Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia with activities in private equity and corporate finance advisory. Our team, consisting of Anton Gimmel, Kris Klinkerman, Tim Liebe, and Kyle Tabor, were incredibly fortunate to be given the opportunity to assist in the analysis of a potential addition to the portfolio of Oriens.
Working closely with project director Akos Vermes, our team provided a collaborative effort and performed a tremendous amount of due diligence in analyzing the metrics of the acquisition.
Buoyed by the confidence of successfully navigating the rigorous first year at Olin, our team felt secure in our abilities to provide Oriens with a critical evaluation of the project. However, despite our collectively exhaustive work experience, our initial research efforts fell somewhat short of expectations and consequently, reaffirmed the demanding nature of the private equity world.
Provided sharper focus, our team is eager to implement the suggestions proffered by the Oriens team and deliver a more robust investment recommendation.
Clifford Holekamp (at right), senior lecturer in entrepreneurship, created the Danube Venture Advising Course five years ago. It offers students a unique global experience by pairing them with startup ventures in Budapest to work on specific marketing and strategy projects.
The complete immersion into Hungarian culture has challenged us all to push past our previously held beliefs of best business practices and appraise decisions from a much broader global perspective. To that end, the venture advising class experience has truly imbued our team with knowledge that cannot easily be gleaned within the confines of a traditional classroom setting.
Although begrudgingly, we must leave Budapest, we embrace all of the knowledge imparted to us by the wonderful people of this city, and are hopeful that we may someday return to this European cultural jewel.
