DECEMBER 2014 #134

THE

THE STUDENT ASSOCIATION OF SSE RIGA

INSIDER SPECIAL: INTERVIEW WITH SASSE PRESIDENTAnete & Talis about their theses | 2nd Semester Course Catalogue | Exhange in Barcelona

GENERAL PARtNER

PARTNERS

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BalticPrint

The juiciness of mangoes will drive you crazy and empty your

wallet.

In terms of lan-

guages I am very

much a product of

the Cold War.

Morten’s Column

Anete & Talis about their Bachelor theses

LOE Awards

Blood Donation Day Report

Interview with Elchin Jafarov

2nd semester course catalogue

Econometrics online: pro’s & con’s

PAgE 13

PAgE 12

PAgE 26

PAgE 27

PAgE 24

PAgE 11

PAgE 10

ARouND thE woRLD

Insider Special: Interview with SASSE President

More about Priscilla Fialho

Exchange Story: Sea Sun Songria

PAgE 14

PAgE 8

PAgE 23

SA ELECtIoNS

Education Committee

PR Committee & Business Committee

Event Committee & Sports Committee

IT Committee & Information Committee

Presidential Couples

PAgE 16

PAgE 18

PAgE 20

PAgE 22

PAgE 6

My Confession

The Gossip PageDear readers, if you only knew how super-pissed off we get when the first page you look at is its Majesty the Gossip Page! But as it is a royalty of a Swedish university and the monar-chy cannot be judged, no offense of course. :) As time went by we have learnt not to pay attention. We even tried to exclude it, bad idea though: worked for Graduation, failed for Newcomers. Conclusion: the gossip page will be alive as long as someone does something stupid. Hence, for-ever! But honestly we greatly enjoyed receiving messages from worried stu-dents after parties, movie nights, or boat trips. And of course each time we kindly explained that no one has immunity and if something is ex-tremely indecent, we would not pub-lish that. Fun!

A few words to loyal readers Nevertheless, our marginal happi-ness increases exponentially when you look at other pages and some-times even share your thoughts with us (the feedback form was hardly ever completed by 10 people, but thanks! some of the comments were very insightful indeed.) That was a sarcastic note, but I must admit that later when we started approaching you personally, things started to get much better.

What I would like to stress is that we thought about everything we published and in every single article we instilled a part of our soul. You were the ones whose needs and wants we wanted to satisfy but also those whose study fears we wanted to de-feat or whose motivation we desired to maintain and strengthen. Have

you felt this? Perhaps, not. But we hope that some of you did. At least we have given a try and we would like to thank you for being with the Insider.

Final wordsSarcastic or not, but I was honest with you. Until now, I have contrib-uted to making 2 issues as an editor and 5 issues as a chief editor. For a year, we wrote the story of SSE Riga and I am glad that I belonged to a sometimes lazy but a united and devoted team. I pushed hard and thank you, guys! Because you were the ones who helped me grow as a leader and supported me when I needed it the most. Finally, enjoy the issue!

Kindly yours, Valeria

The Insider is like a woman that has a permanently changing mood and extreme emotions. It has caprices, and you never know what to expect. Do you ever get bored? Of course no! You might think everything is planned, well-scheduled but NO! That is an illusion. Because whenever

you relax and let everything flow - surprise! surprise! - someone doesn’t submit an article on time. On the other hand, the Insider can also be kind

and tender since there will always be people willing to help. Some will be your photographers; others will give you an interview even if they have a flight in 2 hours, or even defend the boxes with the latest issue if a smarty suddenly decides to read the gossip page before anyone else. Everything is manageable as long as you listen to your inner voice and do what you believe in.

This is the last month in my position of the Insider chief, and thus, I decided to speak about my brightest memories and accomplishments.

Vice Chief Editor Junior Editor graphic Designer Junior Editor Editor

Anastasiya Kazhar Alexandra Lapitskaya Reinholds R. Razums Violeta Toncu Anna Kuznecova

/SSERigaInsider @theInsider_SSER

by Valeria Gavrilan

writers: Ernests Bordans, Jekaterina Smertjeva, Morten Hansen, Peteris Kloks, Tadas gedminasSpecial thanks: Anete Pajuste, Elchin Jafarov, Erik Schuss , Priscilla Fialho, Talis Putnins

THE INSIDER • DECEMBER 2014 5

The SA Board of 2014 has been so proud and happy continuing writing parts of this story by fully renovating and refurnishing the SA room; implementing tools for cost efficiency and paying back a debt of 9 000 EUR to the School; es-tablishing an SA Vision Council to assure a long-term vision and con-tinuous development of the SA by advising all upcoming SA Boards (vote on this will happen during the SA General Meeting); improv-ing the SA’s brand image by orga-nizing guest lectures and establish-ing Smart Talks event series; and of course successfully organizing 20th Anniversary events, countless par-ties and other SSE Riga activities. The most importantly of course, we were here to make sure all your needs are met, and I hope we did well.

On the way, by working, interact-ing with other people and observing myself, there are also numerous random but important personal

lessons that I have learned over the year. Let me share them and I hope that you and the next SA Board consider them all:

• Power and respect motivate people, use it;

• Be fair from the very beginning by setting clear rules and vision;

• Question yourself, your inten-tions, actions and beliefs continu-ously;

• Reaching a high set goal or overcoming challenges is the most fulfilling feeling of all; challenge yourself continuously to keep on running;

• Do everything now; realize all your ideas and aspirations without any hesitation or too much plan-ning;

• Give respect to gain respect;• Be straightforward and truth-

ful, people value that;• Ask people for their opinion

and advice;• 24 hours per day is enough,

plan wisely;

A Farewell Letter: Lessons Learned

lETTER fRom SA boARd’S PRESidENT

Come to SA GENERAL MEEtING!On December 16th, 16:00

(before Presidential Debates)

SA Board 2014 will present the gENERAL REPORT of their achievements over the year.

Also a general vote on the establishment of the SA Council will take place. Be there!

• Reliable and loyal persons are the most precious asset that you can have; treat them right;

• Always look for someone smarter to hang out with;

• Ask for critique, receive it gracefully;

• Be decisive, do not fear failing;• Warm relationships with peo-

ple is the way to happiness.

Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to learn this.

Usually it is me who receives the “pat on the back” for things that the SA has done over the year; however, please remember that it is the whole SA Board of 2014 that made it all possible. Thank you my friends!

It has truly been our pleasure. But now it is time to give the pen to the next writers of the magnificent SA story and we have no doubts about their talent.

Merry Christmas everyone!

The very first president of the Student Association at SSE Riga told me that the idea of establishing a student association here actually came to him after a week-long drinking with the student association from SSE (the one in Stockholm). Fair enough; because no great story (such as the story of the SA…) ever starts with eating salads, right?

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6

We feel humbled and honored to be candidates for the Presidential Couple of the Student Association of SSE Riga. Since the beginning of the academic year we have called SSE Riga home and we feel obliged to contribute to its further develop-ment. Both of us possess an extensive array of professional experience and personality traits, which we will in-corporate throughout the next year.

Diana’s background features nu-merous extra-curricular activities and work experiences. Namely, she has worked with various organiza-tions such as Microsoft Latvia, The European Youth Parliament, and the Youth Leadership program Go Be-yond. Her previous experiences have fostered plenty of intrapersonal skills, such as leading international teams of up to 15 people, strategic plan-ning and time-management skills, and an increased inner sense of com-mitment.

Dimitrii possesses broad leadership

and event management experience. He held the position of Chief Event Organizer at LCC International University where he studied for two years. Moreover, his background includes a 4-month working expe-rience in the U.S, where he further enhanced his understanding of con-tinuous development, and the power of giving back to the community.

Our complementary characteristics combine to create a balanced team powered by restless energy, creativity, and onward strategy.

We strongly believe that studies at SSE Riga are not only about obtain-ing knowledge in economics, but are also about fostering intrapersonal in-telligence. Following the example of Harvard Business School, we want to introduce students of SSE Riga to diversified knowledge, workshops in different areas such as psycholo-gy, decision-making, prioritizing, team management, and also involve individual coaching sessions in

cooperation with the International Coach Federation of Latvia.

We are eager to continue the work of the Student Association steadily and responsibly, constantly solving existing problems and looking to the future. Our goal is to make your ac-ademic studies as efficient and enjoy-able as possible.

Furthermore, we will take into account knowledge passed onto us from the former members of the board, and will continue implement-ing their recommendations in aca-demic life. We also want to maintain close ties with Alumni Association and ensure long-term sustainability of the Student Association.

We believe that our former expe-rience, personality traits, devotion, complementary personalities, united strategy, and vision make us the most suitable candidates for this position.

We will help you unleash your in-ner strengths, and make your study experience as enjoyable as possible.

The choice is yours, Diana, candidate for the SA President

Dimitrii, candidate for the SA Vice-President

Diana & Dimitrii

PRESidENTiAl couPlES

THE INSIDER • DECEMBER 2014 7

Dear friends,

In just a few weeks, you will face the decision that will be eminently im-portant in moulding your SSE Riga experience in the next year. You will have to choose the presidential couple of the Student Association (SA) – the institution which will be held responsible for ensuring that the quality of your student life is continuously advanced.

Feeling the need for unremit-ting growth and improvement, we decided to put ourselves forward as candidates for the positions of President and Vice-President. We firmly believe that the main char-acteristics of the next presidential couple must be continuity in ap-proach and a genuine aspiration to deliver top performance in all as-pects of their work.

Continuity stands for carrying on all the great things that the current board has brought forward — from all the fun events to sustainable

budgeting and responsiveness of the board members.

Top performance comes with perfectionism. Only by aiming at the best can we achieve our goals. We believe that our successful aca-demic careers give us the advantage needed to be the right fit for the positions we are applying for.

Vents, candidate for the position of President. As a person who started living al-most completely independently from my parents at the age of 13 and continues to do so, I know what responsibility means. Tak-ing care of myself and my siblings has been a norm for me for over 5 years, which has taught me a great deal about time management, hard work and dedication. And in spite of the hardship that it imposes, I see responsibility as a means of de-velopment. Hence, applying for

the position of President, I wish to develop both myself and our school.

Maksim, candidate for the position of Vice President. I have a year of experience in the position of 1st year students’ pre-fect at my previous university. This involved taking responsibility for the daily life of ~200 students and has taught me to balance efficient management of the student body with high performance in studies. Being part of the SA board will be a chance for me to challenge myself once again and deliver the highest level of perfection in everything the SA does.

We hope that you will take all the aforementioned into account when making your choice in due course. You have everything that it takes to make the right one.

Sincerely,Vents & Maksim

vents & Maksim

ARouNd ThE woRldby Valeria Gavrilan

There is no success

formula that can be

applied to anyone.

For the past two years Priscilla Fialho has taught the Econometrics course, being adored by the students not only due to her professionalism, but also her exceptional interpersonal skills. Unfortunately, however, this amazing Portuguese woman will not return to SSE Riga next year. Who will teach Econometrics is yet unknown; never-theless, the Insider did not miss the opportunity to talk to Priscilla and share this with you.

How did your teaching experience differ from the previous year? I didn’t feel that there was a big dif-ference compared to the last year. The program has changed slightly. I realized that you were maybe a bit more lost after the first part because of the exam you had. But it was just a problem of schedules. Apart from that, I did not feel that this experi-ence was significantly different.

And after you finish the PhD would you ever consider returning back again? Who knows (laughs)? You never know what’s going to happen in the future, right? First of all I really want to finish my PhD, which is a chal-lenge. And once I finish it, I will defi-nitely apply for jobs anywhere in the world, so I don’t know where I will end up; maybe I will come to Riga again.

But what are your areas of interest speaking of jobs?I want to stay in academia. I’m spe-cializing in labour economics; I study labour markets. If I could choose which subject to teach, I would definitely teach labour economics.

Geographically speaking, perhaps, I would prefer not to end up in China (laughs). The problem is that I might not have an option, right? So, the better I finish the PhD, the more op-tions I will have.

In terms of subjects, is economet-rics your biggest passion, or there is something you enjoy even more than econometrics?When I was an undergrad, I was pas-sionate about macro. I have always thought I would be a macroecono-mist. But as I carried on studying, I learnt more about specialized fields of economics. Thus, I progressively started to turn more and more to macro and employment; later macro, employment, and labour markets. This is how I ended up doing labour economics, which is still a relatively macro-type of labour economics, but with lots of microeconomics founda-tions. In this field you usually work a lot with data and you have to ap-ply econometrics as well. I would consider myself an applied econo-mist. Inevitably, you should study a lot of econometrics. However, what matters for my work are not the the-oretical results of econometrics like

deriving new test statistics, their dis-tribution and their characteristics, no. What counts is learning as much as possible about what methods al-ready exist and how to apply them.

And regarding your academic path, what would be your advice to stu-dents: to finish the Bachelor then to work and pursue the Master lat-er? Or just to follow the academic stages step by step?Well, I can speak about my person-al experience, but I think I have no authority to tell you what’s best, because everyone has different pref-erences, a different experience level, a different background, different objectives in life. There is no success formula that can be applied to any-one. Just look at the opportunities you have. If you start to work, you should think whether you are miss-ing a good opportunity in terms of education. If you decide to carry on studying, consider if you are missing a good opportunity in terms of job. This is your individual choice.

Now my experience. I did every-thing in a row. I finished my Bache-lor, I did internships, and in the Sep-tember of the following year, I was

Read between the lines of Econometrics with Priscilla

8

cause they want to see, what’s going on there. All those bubbles caused by the air you breathe attract them. You also see beautiful colourful things, different types of aquatic life. You discover plants that you have never seen outside the sea; there are some plants that open like a flower, and then when you touch them they just close. I find scuba diving very peace-ful. Whatever my problems are when I’m outside the water, no matter how stressed I am with the PhD, no mat-ter how scared I am of not finishing the PhD, of not getting a job after-wards, not being close to my family and friends or anything – all of this is just completely forgotten when I am under the water.

Apart from that, I enjoy running and going to the gym after work. I also love travelling. I love going backpacking, especially in the nat-ural landscapes. If I could spend my weekends hiking somewhere in the countryside or just camping in the middle of nowhere, I would love this. I adore the feeling when you wake up in the morning, and there is a lake, and you have to wash your-self in the cold water of the lake. After two weeks this can be a bit exhausting and disgusting (laughs), but for the first few days it’s amaz-ing. You also have to prepare food in the middle of the wild… I love these things!

THE INSIDER • DECEMBER 2014 9

already starting my Master. I finished the Master and started the PhD. So, I have always been study-ing everything sequentially. If you ask what’s the perfect job for me – it’s doing research in economics and in labour economics in particular. Given my objective, I think this was the best choice for me, for some-one who wants to stay in Academia. Even if I worked two or three years in a consulting firm or in investment banking, this would not be valued in terms of research.

Nevertheless, if your objective is not to stay in Academia, and you know that at some point in your life you will want to go into private markets, work in consulting or oth-er fields, then indeed for those jobs experience is extremely valued as well as studies. In that case it might be better to go, see the world, accu-mulate more experience before you carry on with the master’s degree. Yet again, this is a personal choice and it depends a lot on the circumstances.

The next question is a more per-sonal one. What is your back-ground, hobbies? what would you like people to know about you? I have spent all of my time studying mostly. When I finished the under-graduate programme, I was 20 years old and I left Portugal to do my Mas-ter degree in Barcelona. The Master

degree occupied 99.5% of my time; it

was extremely difficult and time-con-suming. Nevertheless, just because I was studying in a foreign country, I had a chance to meet people from all around the world, to learn Spanish, Catalan, and discover many things about Catalonia. Therefore, for the very few moments I was not study-ing for the exams, I think that the whole experience was very rich in terms of culture. Also, I gained a lot of maturity during those years. Even though I was young, I really think it was very good for me to have this ex-perience.

Then, when I started the PhD, I had a little bit more time because I was doing my research and could work at my own pace. Also, I had a little bit more money than when I was a Master student, because I was already teaching. So, I started to do something which I always want-ed to do – scuba diving. I love it! It’s one of the best things I can do in my free time. Why? Because the underwater world is a completely different world. Everything down there is slow motion. When you are doing scuba diving, you are not swimming fast. You just want to take your time and pace your breathing. You’re moving around and then you see fish, and sometimes the fish are curious and they get close to you be-

iNSidE SSE RigAby Tadas Gediminas

Why econometrics is a good or a bad subject to study online?I will start with the bad sides. Most of the material covered in these on-line courses is going to be new. Even though statistics and econometrics are related, and if you understand statistics, it does not mean you will understand econometrics. Further-more, econometrics is a technical subject, hence going through var-ious types of regressions and defi-nitions can become tedious and dull, which might make quitting the course an easy way out. Final-ly, any econometrics course requires you to learn at least some basics of a particular statistical software lan-guage. Even more so, it is likely that the language that you will be taught during the online course will not be mentioned during your studies here in SSER. So, unless you have some weird interest in learning additional programing languages, this part of the course might seem like a waste of time. Now that I bashed the idea of studying econometrics online, let’s come to the positive aspects.

First off, MOOCs provide self-evaluation options. “You got-ta check yourself before you wreck yourself ” – Ice Cube. I firmly be-lieve that it is true when it comes down to learning. Reading a book on econometrics or talking to some older student is good, but there are very few ways that you can check whether you have actually learned the material. MOOCs on the oth-er hand usually have quizzes, course assignments and an exam in the end. These are great ways to see whether you are on the right track. Secondly, even basic pre-economet-rics will help you significantly. This year I found that introduction to

econometrics was very rough: most of the material was rushed, topics, where most of the people did not understand were skipped and in the end students had to re-learn the first part on their own. Eventually, this meant that there was less time to prepare for the more difficult parts of the course. For me, since It was 3 or 4th time seeing the formulas and hearing the definitions, I did not need to spend time conceptu-alizing or revising the introductory parts of the course. Lastly, if you do believe that you enjoy courses with more mathematics or that you wish to pursue a career related to applied mathematics and statistics, you can-not go wrong, by starting early. The fact that I had some pre-requisites on econometrics helped me greatly in finding internship for the sum-mer.

How did you choose the online course from those available on the internet?There are many resources these days like Coursera, Edx, Udacity, etc., which makes it easy to get lost when choosing the right one for yourself. My suggestion is instead of going to individual websites; try to look for places where all the courses are aggregated. Then you can compare courses covering the same topics, but with different structure and dif-ficulty. You also have to be aware that not all of the courses are adapted for MOOCs. Sometimes you might be given videos from lectures, which, I find, is a bad way to present the material. However some courses are created precisely for the purpose of studying online, hence the produc-tion quality is far better. Finally, do not get distracted by “big names”.

Aside from econometrics related course I have taken other courses re-lated to finance. One of the courses was “Financial Markets” presented by Robert Shiller. Studying an on-line course presented by a Nobel laureate was exciting until you real-ize that you are just watching rough cuts from his lectures at Yale with only basic material covered.

Do you feel that you can learn the same things online rather than at-tending lectures in university?Since MOOC creators are aware that people are very quick to drop out of things that are free, you will find that the online course curric-ulum is rather light. For this rea-son, more difficult topics might be skipped, so don’t think that by com-pleting an online course you will be fully prepared for the course in SSER. Instead, you should look at an online course not as a substitu-tion to SSER lectures, but rather as a supplement.

How would you change the course at SSE Riga if you could?I would of course be more gentile when it comes to the first lectures. It is a very convenient, but a false assumption to make that students have remembered the whole statistics course after a full year of no lectures and it will only take some “revision” to be back on track. Unfortunately it is not so, and as I saw this year, peo-ple gained very little point during the first lectures. An easy thing to assert is that it is because people are lazy, but to my mind, by taking introduc-tory topics more slowly and giving more time for the material to sink in, can only improve the overall quality of the course.

Pro’s and con’s of online courses

10

THE INSIDER • DECEMBER 2014 11

Macroeconomics

MAF

Managerial Economics

organization & Management

Business Law

Marketing

When a course has a mid-term exam, you know it’s a sign of trouble. In this case, the course is just damn long, and you’re bound to forget stuff easily. Morten takes his time by developing the models and by making you laugh (given you get the jokes…), but it won’t help you in the exam. Getting stuff organized will. Morten has been here for a while, which means you have 10+ years of sample exams. Use them. Do not miss the small topics if you’re going for 140+. That’s how Morten differentiates the top-scores. Create a template of how to answer the big macro-model questions, since they are predictable. A small tip: your answer shouldn’t be an essay. Think of bullet-points, arrows, and random one-sentence explanations all over the place. And… then there’s the Report. If you’re going for the top, focus and narrow down. Analyze one or two concepts, for instance, the MPS. If you’re going for an average SSE Riga report, drink two Long Islands in 10 minutes and type stuff randomly.

For me, this was the toughest course in Y1. It’s the ultimate nightmare: (old) Swed-ish guys in front; Math; Excel; a bazillion new concepts; and an exam in which you cannot bull**** your way out. Forget about learning everything. Set priorities. The absolute minimum: (a) financial ratios, (b) consolidation, (c) cash flow statement. Believe me, it’s still enough to make you cry. As for the report: please, please, check how equity analysts do them. Again, it’s not an essay.

There’s a famous salad dish Latvians like to make: rosols. It’s a mix of all the leftovers you have in the refrigerator that do not really stand on their own, blended with a whole lot of mayonnaise. Rosols sums up the course pretty well, since you’ll have everything from GPSS business simulations to cost analysis, and even strategy. To be honest, I had only two takeaways: (1) the reasonable discount range when buying a new car is somewhere between 5-8%, and (2) coming late to plane boarding might get you some unexpected business class seats, as the company always sells-off more economy class seats than available, expecting some people to cancel their bookings.

Think Harvard Business School case analysis, and you’ll get the picture. This is one of only a couple of chances you’ll have to really develop and practice your intra-class discussion skills, and on-the-spot thinking. When you hear the stuff wanna-be top-scores are saying, you may find yourself asking how did s/he get into this school? But the second you open your mouth, you’ll find that no genius is coming out of it either. It’s tougher than you think. And it’s also pretty fun to make some funny sounds in the awkward silence that follows when the lecturer opens up the discussion, but nobody says anything.

It’s an international law, so it’s barely useful unless you work for a major company. Try to look up some real issues in the Financial Times to get you motivated, since these law aspects can shift millions of dollars from one pocket to the other.

Bill Evans is the coolest guy you can have for his age. He has a great pipe, and great stories. The problem with marketing is that it sounds all too easy and bull****y, before you come to practice. Oh, and do not miss the chance to approach Bill when he’s just chilling in the lobby. Whatever topic want to discuss, he’ll have a ‘Well, I remember once…’ story for it.

Year I: 2nd Semester Course Catalogue

iNSidE SSE RigAE\�3ÓWHULV�.ORNV Rosols sums up the course pretty well since you’ll have everything.

As writing a bachelor’s thesis is such an important process during one’s last year of higher education, we asked some SSER professors about their Bachelor’s Thesis. What we found was creativity and dedication towards creat-ing new knowledge and sharing it with others. We hope you enjoy reading glimpses of Bachelor’s Thesis of Anete Pajuste and Talis Putnins.

iNSidE SSE RigAby Violeta Toncu

As a disclaimer, please note that the described events happened 17 years ago. I do have the elec-tronic version of my thesis, but it is stored on a 3.5-inch diskette, for which I have no device to stick it in. I was specializing in Entrepreneurship,

and actually wrote 1.5 theses. The formal bache-lor thesis was the business development plan for the

company I worked for during my internship. I also wrote a business plan for the Anders Wall scholarship

application, which was around the same time as the thesis deadline. The business plan was about opening a scouting and camping equipment store, because I was actively involved in the Latvian scout and guide movement. To my great surprise, on the graduation night I received an envelope with USD 4000 (the Anders Wall scholarship for entrepreneurial spirit). And I received 200 lats for the business development plan from my internship company. So, it was a pretty good return on invested time :). Part of the scholarship went on purchasing my first car – a 12-year old red Audi (see the picture), and the rest was deposited in a bank which does not exist anymore. I took the money out of the bank approximately half a year before it went bust. So, you see I had a touch for Finance early on in my career :).

I wrote the equivalent of a bachelor thesis (an ‘honors’ thesis in my case – a research focused post-bachelor year) in the Faculty of Engineering (not finance, to state the obvious) at the University of Adelaide. Al-though it was an engineering thesis, the title probably sounds like it belongs in the School of Theology: “Who wrote the Letter to the He-brews? Data mining for detection of text authorship”. In the thesis I developed machine learning algorithms that had the ability to ‘learn’ from data and once they become ‘smart’ enough, they were able to iden-tify the author of an anonymous piece of text. The algorithms I developed had surprisingly good accuracy and had applications in many fields (web searches, plagiarism detection, data mining, forensics, etc). I applied them to a book of the New Testament for which Biblical Scholars have for years been disputing the authorship. My main finding – the statistical evidence over-whelmingly contradicts the hypothesis that the traditional author (Paul) is the true author. My colleagues continued this line of research and last year (eight years on!) we published a spin-off paper in an international peer-reviewed science journal.

Bachelor’s thesis:

from ideas to business plans and complicated algorithms

Economics Faculty

Economics Faculty

Anete Pajuste

Talis Putnins

12

We published a spin-off pa-per in an international peer-reviewed science journal.

Morten’s Column languages

The Insider has asked me for a col-umn describing my capabilities in the Latvian language. I skilfully dodge that bullet by speaking more general-ly about languages….

In terms of languages I am very much a product of the Cold War. Danish is my native language, I am pretty good with English I should say, and I am also fluent in German. In secondary school I could choose be-tween French and Russian but since I had no plans to become a spy I chose French. Besides that I have some Ital-ian (hey, we all do – pizza!) and, yes, some Latvian.

But it was an experience, also in

terms of languages, to come here many years ago. Some words are easy: Ananas, for instance (same in Danish). Some are really hard to pro-nounce: Dzelzceļš or smiltsērkšķu. And why do Lithuanians have names like Gerbanamasulibuliramalavicius? Wouldn’t something shorter do the trick? Estonian is of course in a league of its own. NOTHING can be un-derstood. Some claim that it is close to Finnish but that cannot be true since what the Finns call “yliopiston”, the Estonians call “űlikool” – then Russian is much easier since it calls it what it really is, albeit in Cyrillic script, “университет”. And in terms

of our “new” languages, if I may say so, I am very much an amateur – I have, however, seen slightly different spelling of things in e.g Belarus and I really hope I will never have to rely on a menu in Georgian only.

But we Danes can also make life difficult for foreigners. Should you go to Denmark you will find it close to impossible to pronounce words like: “brødre”, “blod” or, for that matter, “rødgrød”. Good luck!

Some moments from “academic” life of our school…

“You can only leave this class in a coffin.”

Night before statistics exam. Thank you Morten!

During the seminar in economet-rics: There is some noise in the near classroom. A guy stands up and asks to be quiet. TA: “Why did you do that? Don’t you like that someone is having fun and you are not?”

A graph on the blackboard. “We have to prove that at some point in your life you were 1 meter high. Well, tall, not high.”

“Yeah, that model worked perfect-ly already 21 years ago and it is still working. And where were you 21 years ago? Oh wait, I don’t want to hear the answer.”

Some random difficult example about functions; nobody un-derstands it. “Play around and swallow it.”

A guy making a photo of Y2’s with Priscilla Fialho: “Where is the lecturer?”

Fionn

Mathematics lecture

Morten

Mathematics lecture

THE INSIDER • DECEMBER 2014 13

INSIDER SPECIALE\�$QDVWDVL\D�.D]KDU

SA elections:

Erik Schuss has been the President of SASSE for 1 year already. We have decided to ask him about this organization, his position, and the coming elections.

Please tell me a bit about yourself: where do you come from? What professional and study experience did you have prior to SSE?First of all, I come from Malmö. That’s down south next to Copen-hagen, which is always nice because the drinking age in Denmark is not eighteen, but sixteen. So, as a youngster I travelled a lot to Co-penhagen (laughs). I started my studies at Lund University studying Marketing Psychology. And then I went to London as a 19-year old and I was one of the youngest trad-ers in the markets in London. And after doing that for about seven months... I mean, when Greece was about to exit the Eurozone in 2012, it was not the best of times to trade European government bonds, so I figured out that maybe I should go to a university instead. So, I started studying at SSE and that’s where I am today.

Before coming to SSE & SASSE, I also spent a lot of time in other organizations. I was the president

of my city’s student union organi-zation, my county’s student union organization, and also a board member of of the National Organi-zation for Student Unions. So, it’s not a random thing that I’d like to be in student associations, because it’s something I’ve been doing since I was 14.

How old are you now if I may ask?Yeah, sure, I’m 22, born in 1992.

Quite an obvious question, but still, why have you decided to ap-ply for this position in particular?A very good question! One reason why I actually appreciate the Stu-dent Association is that if you come from somewhere else and you don’t really have the network in the city, then you will of course find your family where you study and where you are. The Student Association is probably the best place to actually find somewhere you belong, where you can do what you like, and where you can meet friends.

When applying for the position as President, I was of course very in-terested in the management of this kind of organizations, especially an organization where you can create these sorts of values for students. It’s a great opportunity to get to lead people in an organization this big at this young age. It’s also probably one of the hardest leadership challenges that one will ever get. You do not pay most of the people you work with, you often do not choose the people you work with, and you can-not reward or punish the people you work with - that’s pretty rough, but you get what I mean. So you can’t really do anything about the people you work with, except for motivat-ing them with pure leadership skills. So, that was one of the greatest charms and challenges when apply-ing for this position.

What perks does your position give to you? What benefits are giv-en by the school and/or by SA?We are eleven in our board, and five of us are full-time, and paid the equivalent of student subsidy. In Sweden all students get a subsi-dy, about 30% of it is just given to the students, and the rest is a loan that you can take at a very low in-terest rate and pay off during your life. But you can’t get that if you’re not studying, so what you get is an equivalent of that sum as remuner-ation from the Student Association.

And it’s the President, the Vice President, the Treasurer, the President of the Education Committee, and the President of the Business Committee who are doing this full-time.

Let’s imagine that you were pro-hibited to apply to the President position. Which position in the Student Association board would you choose then?That would probably be the Media Committee. Marketing is my great-est interest and I will probably be working in that industry after grad-uation. I have already been in the business for a while - first of all, I have been working as a professional photographer ever since I was 16.

14

It is not only about what you want to do, but about who you are

Today, I have the pleasure of running two media companies outside of SSE and two fashion companies which are partly in the media sector.

Can you tell a bit more about these companies that you own?One of them is my own photography firm where I work with mostly edi-torials and commercial photography for newspapers, magazines, but also for the companies in need of photos for their annual report or anything like that.

Then I run a film production com-pany together with a partner. We pro-duce mostly online commercials and short teasers for companies to use in social media. We are proud to have been working with interesting com-panies like Kellogg’s, Ben&Jerry’s & Spotify to make such short movies.

I’m currently in fashion business as well. I have a smaller part in a jeans company in Sweden called Nerdy by Nerds. We produce tailor made jeans. Our factory is in southern Sweden and it’s actually in the store. When you enter the store, you are first taken care of by a seamstress who measures your size. Then you can choose all the materials, all the buttons and details, all the strings and the color of them. While doing this, you can see the jeans being produced, as the factory is just on the other side of the counter.

The other company will launch its first products in early 2015, and re-grettably I can’t tell you any more than that it is a fashion company as well.

By the way, in terms of studies, are you given any pampering?I don’t study now, and neither do the four other full-time board members. We work about 80 to 90 hours a week, so it would be pretty hard.

During this year what are the major changes or things you’ve brought to SSE and/or SASSE?Well, I think it’s a common issue that leaders in organizations say that they have brought a lot of change all by themselves... I mean, it’s usually not their isolated effort that brings change to an organization.

However, we as a board have of

course affected the organization in many interesting ways. We’ve been working really hard to make sure that we can involve all parts of the student body, especially internation-al students, in the organization. In this, I think we really have succeeded. We have active students of all ages, from all countries and from all of the different levels of studies in our organization. (97% out of 2000 are members, though it’s not mandatory; at other schools it’s usually 30-40%)

We have been working with de-veloping our communication, both externally and internally. We have a great student life at SSE, but it’s not very well communicated. I mean, SSE is commonly perceived as the best school in the Nordic region for studying Business & Economics, but the fact that we also have one of the best Student Associations is less known. Mostly, the work has been with our social media profiles, but also in collaboration with SSE’s communication department. In addition to that, we have travelled around to relevant places to establish good networks. One example is that I have been lecturing to high school students. I am actually going to a na-tional congress this weekend to speak to students who are board members at their high school student unions. I hope to be able to give a good impres-sion, showing that SSE is a great place to study both because of the educa-tion and because of the student life.

About the SA elections, how tough is the competition for the positions in SASSE board?For most positions there are 2 can-didates, for one position there are 3 candidates - it really differs a lot be-tween the years. Our election process is quite long, three weeks of cam-paigning, during which you have something called hecklings.The hecklings are the main events,

every lunch during the hecklings week, candidates for the positions are in turn supposed to get up on stage and get “roasted”. It’s a great enter-tainment and gives a lot of attention to the elections.

When you are on the stage, you are

questioned in a partly entertaining, partly serious way. Before the elec-tions, all the candidates also write election programs. Then the Heck-lers (the committee performing the roasts) read them and comment on them. Before a heckling, the Heck-lers will try to find out as much about you as possible. They may call your mother or your friends, asking for pictures from when you were young or stories of embarrass-ing things that you have done before or during your time at SSE. Then you get “roasted” in front of all the students. It may sound tough, but if you have not done something really stupid, you will be fine. What you need to do is to handle it, they can show everything from less thought-through facebook posts from you to videos of quite embarrassing mo-ments. For the students, it is a great show and it’s always hard to get a seat in the room. Of course we also have debates of different kinds at SSE, but these hecklings are the main part.

When candidating, one must know that SASSE is a large organization. It has a turnover of approximately 2 million EUR. There are 5 full-time positions in the board, and we also have an employed secretary. So it’s a lot about telling people that you are the right person for the position and you are sensible, funny, and are not said to have a reputation of being ir-responsible. It is not only about what you want to do, but about who you are and whether you are the right per-son for the position.

What advice would you give to the future SA board of SSE Riga?To conclude, take care of each other in the board, because if you are hav-ing good time, so will the other stu-dents, and you will all be motivated to create value. Listen to the students, talk to them and remember that you don’t officially have an opinion of your own, you are only advocating the opinions of your fellow students. But the best advice would be to con-tinue the cooperation with SSE and continue to bring Hector to us, be-cause we like Hector. It’s a good drink (laughs).

THE INSIDER • DECEMBER 2014 15

16

0À57,ąĠ�/,1'(0$1,6

EvGENIA RAIko

For some people it

might be sur-prising, but SSE

Riga is not only about partying but also about study-ing and gaining the best education. As the level of partying can always be improved, the level of education can be improved as well; therefore, mak-ing SSE Riga the best environment for studying.

I am putting forward my candida-ture for Education committee chair-person’s position because I truly be-

Dear SSE Riga

community,

After 20 years of splendid SSE Riga educational experi-ence, it is time to decide to whom you will entrust further development and positive changes. I will do my best to continue the projects started by my predecessors and breathe life into new ones. My name is Evgenia Raiko and I am applying for the position of the Education Committee chairperson.

I was a Student Council member for 2 years in my previous university, had an internship at the Institute of Cer-

lieve that I have the qualities that are needed for this position. For me it is more important to do someone a fa-vour if I have been asked and I have promised, and only then I do my du-ties. Also I do not like the feeling that I have not done my best; I will better sacrifice a night to do a job that others viewed as impossible.

Edu.com has fascinated me and I have been there from my first days at this school. I plan to put more empha-sis on verbal feedback in course evalu-ations and ensure that problems are re-solved during the course immediately,

tified Financial Managers and worked at Belarussian Investment forum. This background, as well as excellent com-munication skills and diligence, will help me successfully cope with the re-sponsibilities of the Education Com-mittee chairperson. I am fully aware how much time and effort it takes to fulfill them and I am ready to devote it.

My priorities include:• Organizing regular TAs — lecturer

consultation sessions before seminars; creating workshops on teaching meth-ods together with “Mission Possible” organization;

• Providing additional opportunities for improving foreign language skills:

not waiting until the next year. Also I am planning to improve the quality of TAs’ lectures. It is hard to teach if you never have taught before, so I plan to organize workshops where TAs could learn these skills.

If I am elected, I will be fully-com-mitted, hardworking, persistent and open-minded chairperson, who always listens to other people’s ideas and has energy to keep going because of my vi-sion of better education in the school.

Yours, Mārtiņš Lindemanis

introducing speak-up clubs in collabo-ration with exchange students as native speakers and foreign movie nights;

• Even distribution of academic workload. I will do all possible to elimi-nate periods of high study pressure.

SSE Riga as a university has a very spe-cific feature — the small number of stu-dents. It sets up a platform for a closer connection between the SA and admin-istration. Therefore, it will be my priv-ilege and honour to make your voices sound louder. Integrity begets greatness.

Sincerely yours,Evgenia

EducATioN commiTTEE

I will better sacrifice a night to do a job that others viewed as impossible.

I will do all possible to eliminate periods of high study pressure.

The editorial team is not responsible for the punctuation and orthography of candidates’ letters. The Insider published the original text of the authors.

THE INSIDER • DECEMBER 2014 17

5,Ì$5'6�.5,Ľ$1296.,6

RokAS BuDRAuSkAS

SSE Riga has shown the

best standard of education in

the Baltics, there-fore it is a responsible task to keep the quality of academic performance as high as possible. No doubt, being the Chair-person of Education Committee is a highly challenging and desired status to have, which will be mutually beneficial for me and the community of SSE Riga.

I strongly believe that unifying sup-port that we provide for each other

Dear SSE Riga

community,

I decided to run for education committee chairperson’s position because I believe I have a lot to offer to this school and its student community. I am planning to contin-ue the work of the previous chairper-son by putting a strong emphasis on a two-sided communication between the staff and the students. I believe that this connection must be maintained by the

during even the hardest courses is what makes us exceptional, however, we have to understand that support is also what our administration needs. Thus, estab-lishing faster communication between students and members of staff will not only ensure a better quality of students’ feedback but also a better implementa-tion of it. Furthermore, improvement of self-monitoring of the academic perfor-mance will be just another great tool to help students evaluate their success and achieve even greater academic results.

In order to achieve aforementioned

education committee chairperson and I would view this as my main responsibil-ity. Only through cooperation can this school maintain the high quality educa-tion, in which every single person of this university should be interested in.

However, education is not prepara-tion for life; education is life itself. I believe that I as a chairperson should also care for the students’ educational activities after the lectures – that means helping to select satisfactory elective courses and trying to keep the special-ization courses for 3rd year as appeal-

goals and even more, strong work eth-ics I have developed through managing projects at U.S. Embassy in Riga and local NGOs, and acquired strategic planning skills developed working in my own start-up will be extremely use-ful. It will definitively help me to bring the SSE experience to a new level and improve lives of our students. In other words, being skilled and experienced enough, I wish to achieve maximal per-formance within the Education Com-mittee, and also among the students of SSE Riga.

ing and as worthwhile, as possible. I think that this university has a strong and active alumni network. Sadly, it is not used properly and students cannot take all the benefits potentially possi-ble. I would try to include the alumni in some courses, projects of this school so that the students would get the max-imum. I hope you will be able to con-fide me this responsibility of being the next education committee chairperson.

Kind Regards,Rokas Budrauskas

Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.

We have to understand that support is also what our administration needs.

18

Public RElATioNS commiTTEE

REINhoLDS R. RAZuMS

NAStASSIA ZELENkovSkAYA

Dear all,

PR Commit-tee is the one

that makes the character of the

SA, the one that sets its mood!To begin with, it is often argued that

the most important skill for this com-mittee is working with design soft-ware. Fortunately, during the past 3 years I have gained experience in the field due to a tight connection with the Graphic Design industry. More-over, I am currently holding the de-signer position in a PR company and

“You never get a sec-

ond chance to make a first

impression”. Dare I say it, PR committee is the face of the SA: from posters setting a tone for parties to hoodies with the university’s insignia identifying you everywhere you are. It would be a great honor for me to make that initial effect be the one you will never forget!

It is a new century and SA has no option but keep pace with it. My passionate idea is to increase the role

I strongly believe that bringing both skills and professional experience can be valuable for the PR Committee not only while I am in the board, but also in the long run.

Despite being an SSER student for only 4 months, I have been involved in university’s student organizations even before becoming a Y1. I designed the 2014 Yearbook as well as 7 issues of the Insider. I was and am open for helping SSER organizations, it being SA or any other.

I am convinced that my skills, pas-sion and ideas will be a great addition to the SA in 2015. If I were elected, my

of the SA’s official channel and turn it into a real SA TV. In my mind it has news part, parties’ overviews, talk-shows,… Together we can open new stars letting their personal pro-grams grow! Be sure, I know what I am talking about: I have been into video for more than 3 years (have an experience of participating in related contests and festivals, working for real companies) and there are 2 years of web-design under my belt (feel like I was born with Photoshop).

I am all for actions, not for words! I have already made a movie-reel for

priority would be to continue the job of the previous Chairpersons, main-taining the wonderful posters and merchandise. Additionally, I would wish to enhance the cooperation with the Business Committee in order to make SA’s image more appealing for potential supporters as well as be of assistance to SSER organizations and help them bring high quality visuals.

Want to know more about my ex-perience, ideas and me? See you at the Election presentation!

Yours,Reinholds R. Razums

Bottomline SSE Riga Summer Sym-posium 2014 and tried my hand in creating a reminding poster for the Stockholm Boat Party.

I believe with all my heart that ev-erything stars with love. I am addicted to art and creativity. I am passionate with life, as it is a muse like it is. And I fell in love with the SA.

To be inspired is great. To inspire is incredible.

Let’s make it beautiful! :)

Warmest regards,Nastassia

I have been involved in university’s student organizations even before becoming a Y1. I designed the 2014 Yearbook as well as 7 issues of the Insider.

There are 2 years of web-design under my belt (feel like I was born with Photoshop).

The editorial team is not responsible for the punctuation and orthography of candidates’ letters. The Insider published the original text of the authors.

THE INSIDER • DECEMBER 2014 19

ARMANS hANAMIRJANS

8â,6�.$03$56

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“A wise man should have

money in his head, but not in

his heart.”Jonathan Swift.

Undoubtedly, attracting new spon-sors of SA, making fundraising cam-paigns of all the committees and stu-dent organizations more united, as well as keeping contacts with long-time partner companies is extremely import-

Hereby I would like

to express my motivation for

applying for the position of the Business Committee Chairperson.

Since the beginning of the semes-ter in August, not only I have been striving for the best grades, but also participating and helping in many different extracurricular activities in-cluding the Business Committee. Be-ing a part of the Business Committee since September, I have participated in the work of the committee more

Dear all,

I am applying for business.com

chairperson posi-tion, because I know that my skills and experiences could be used to improve many aspects of business.com work.

While working in student company last year, I developed leadership skills and negotiation skills, that is highly needed to execute successful fundraising and motivate associate team. Currently I am undergoing youth development pro-gram that has already given me a great deal of insight in productive teamwork, time management and leadership.

ant for Business Committee. It doesn’t look very hard on paper, but my several internships in LNK Group subsidiary company had taught me that in real life something goes wrong in the most inappropriate moment. Chairman`s responsibility is to minimize that risk and be able to solve any problem, that suddenly appears on the horizon.

In high school I gained experience while helping student association orga-nizing unique events in the school. At the same time, participating in Latvia`s Volleyball championship and Frisbee

than others, thus I am completely aware of its duties, responsibilities, and workload.

I have been impatiently waiting for the moment I will be able to take over the committee as I enjoyed working in favor of it very much. Moreover, not only I was introduced to the gen-eral fundraising process of it, but I frequently assisted the current chair-person in some questions and even brought my own ideas as well.

To improve the work efficiency of the committee as well as the other student organizations, I am going to introduce a joint database of all companies to

From the very beginning of semester I have been participating in various or-ganisations, especially in Entrepreneur-ship Support Centre and Debate Society where I organised events and took part in food-raising. While doing that I began to see what should be done in business.com in order for other organisations to act more productively.

Students have worked very hard to achieve respectable image for SSE Riga, so it would not be wise to spoil it with such trivial thing as unorganised fund-raising. Already much has been done by previous board to tackle this issue, how-ever, only a complete sponsor list is going to resolve this problem once and for all.

championship was a key to understand-ing true meaning of being the leader – you can fail yourself, but you can never fail your team. You should respect your associates, trust them, but you are the one who is responsible for keeping the vision of Business Committee politics. I believe that my experience in varied fields will help to outperform as the chairperson of Business.com.

Yours,Armans.

ease the fundraising process for every-one. I am also planning to approach more and more companies that are not related to the banking and finance sec-tor. My plans include maintaining at least the same amount of partnerships we have now. In addition, I believe there are still a lot of food & beverage companies, who would be willing to collaborate with us.

I feel like I am the best candidate for this position, because I have been the most consistent and devoted associ-ate so far and I believe my ideas will improve the well-being of our student community even more.

Therefore that is the first thing that I am going to make if I am elected as chairper-son of business.com.

The second thing that I am going to do is make fundraising more profession-al. Though the guidelines for attracting sponsors are the same, I have seen that different people achieve different results. That is why I am willing to make work-shops where specialists would share their tips about attracting funds with fundrais-ers from all SSE organisations.

I will put a lot of effort to make it hap-pen.

Yours,Dinijs Vārpiņš

buSiNESS commiTTEE

'À9,6�Ì(Ľ(

toMS hARALDS vECvAGARS

Dear friends,

I knew that I wanted to be-

come the event committee chairperson the very mo-ment when I first participated in an SSE Riga party. To organize a party you need to be reliable, flexible and moti-vated. I believe that I have all these and any other qualities required to be the event committee chairperson.

During my first semester here, I have volunteered and helped in most

Dear all,

I’m writing this letter to ap-

ply for the Event Committee Chairperson!

Already 2 years before SSER I had a clear interest in event management, therefore now I have already built some portfolio. I have taken part in two ma-jor companies.

Ghetto Games is the most popular and one of the biggest event organizers in Latvia. In this company we had to create 70 events in 90 days and work

events organized by the SSE Riga community. I have been setting up audio systems and lights, helping with decorations, assisting on the other side of the bar, cleaning up after an event, and even repairing the school. Before I came to SSE Riga, I organized skiing and snowboarding trips at my previ-ous school for two years and helped with organizing events in connection with wakeboarding. All of the previ-ously mentioned things only show a glimpse of my dedication and capabil-ity for hard work.

16 hours per day, without days off, 4 months in a row. On the top of that was the hilarious wage rate. ProRent is a company that ensures sound, lighting and stages in different events and proj-ects. In both companies workload and responsibility was huge, work as an in-dividual and team member could have seriously contributed for whole project. Aim for both was party and quality!

I have already taken part in most of the previous SSER parties as Interna-tional Evening, Home Coming etc. Some of the tasks were more import-ant, some not, but still all of them were

We all know that our parties are the best and we are proud of that. But still, there are quite a few things that I know I could improve. Overall, I will main-tain the awesomeness of our parties so that everybody has some great memo-ries to share (or not ;) ).

If you vote for me, I guarantee that we will party like true SSE Rigans for another year.

Ok, the letter is finished so... bottoms up!!!

Davis

done successfully. In future, I’d like to make SSER a

party metropolis. Best DJ’s, bring back MC’s and different shows that would entertain audience and bring it to the next level. In other words, make some-thing BIG and UNFORGETTABLE.

I hope that my ideas and aims for fu-ture as well as my previous experience proves that I’m dedicated enough for Party Committee Chairperson’s posi-tion. Cheers!

Yours,Toms Haralds Vecvagars!

EvENT commiTTEE

20

We had to create 70 events in 90 days and work 16 hours per day, without days off.

I organized skiing and snowboarding trips at my previous school for two years and helped with organizing events in connection with wakeboarding.

The editorial team is not responsible for the punctuation and orthography of candidates’ letters. The Insider published the original text of the authors.

-Ò.$%6�+,1&(1%(5*6

$1'5(-6�û,79,1296

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“If you want s o m e t h i n g

you’ve never had, you must

be willing to do something you’ve never done before.”

Thomas Jefferson

Whole my life I have challenged my-self. I have created a mindset if I truly want something I will find a way to make it happen. I view SA as a huge challenge, but a great way for personal growth.

Previous sports.com chairpersons have

“Just play. Have fun.

Enjoy the game”Michael Jordan

Sport isn’t just a hobby for me - it’s the way I live. I’ve been playing football for 11 years and I have practiced such sports as table tennis, tennis, volley-ball, and skiing. My football team has been the champions of Latvian youth leagues multiple times. I also earned some caps for the u-17 and u-18 Lat-via teams. Playing sports has taught me a lot- some crucial skills as teamwork,

Dear SSE Rigans,

Even though I come from Lith-

uania, I do not tie myself to one kind of sports (you probably know what I mean). Ever since my childhood, I have always been involved in sports: tennis, dodgeball, dancing, volleyball, yoga, football, basketball (don’t let my height fool you), table football and my biggest passion – skiing. To my belief, sports are an inseparable part of one’s life.

However, having experience in sports is not a sufficient prerequisite for being the Sports Committee chairperson. One

done a fantastic job taking care of every-thing related to sports for SSE students. I will do my best to fill in their shoes and to organize Summer and Winter Sympo-sium, RGSL and SSE Olympics, Paint-ball tournament and other events. Also the most suitable training schedules and places will continue to be taken care off.

What I want to do? I plan to organize weekly trips to mountains, so you can show off your skiing and snowboarding skills to fellow SSE’ers and have a blast while doing that. I am also doing my best to restore discounts for gyms, which

perseverance, ability to maintain con-centration for long periods of time are only a few in the long list of them.

My main goal is to make your time in SSE Riga as enjoyable and interesting as possible, when talking about sports. I noticed that there is no event related to gaming. Therefore, I’m planning to make a monthly competition in X-box games. Another thing worth improving is sport activities’ timetable, because our free time is already very limited and I’m sure we all hate when there is three or four hours gap between lectures and trainings.

I’m also looking forward towards or-

needs dedication, diligence and orga-nizational skills – precisely what I have acquired when organizing cultural events for up to 100 people on a regular basis for more than a year back in Vilnius.

I immensely enjoyed assisting in the organization of Summer Symposium. I realize that being the Sports.com is a severe test on being able to devote plenty of time and effort, operate under pres-sure and keep everything under control, which I am determined to do.

The key things I would like to intro-duce are:

• New sports activities at SSE Riga – yoga, cybersports, tennis and table tennis, skating and others;

should be done soon. There are plenty of ideas, one of them is sports teams only for girls and others, but it will all depend on how responsive people are. I will al-ways be open to new ideas.

Why you should vote for me? Simple, I am assertive and honest. I believe the number one thing that would make me a great sports.com chairperson is my pas-sion. I want to make everything related to sports better for SSE students.

Yours,Jēkabs Hincenbergs

ganizing the big events such as Paint-ball tournament, Summer and Winter Symposiums and I promise to do my best to make these events the most en-joyable and, thus, unforgettable by in-cluding more sports and side activities during the events.

To sum up, I will unite my forces with other committees and associates to make your experience in SSE Riga sports as positive as possible. I hope that you will have fun and enjoy the game!

Yours,Andrejs Ļitvinovs

• Attain a Sports Partner for the SA to make all the activities possible – and more awesome;

• The SSE Riga International Olym-pics – a sports tournament for the whole SSE family.

Regarding that, I have already start-ed arranging the Olympic Games with the Sports Committee of SASSE. Yoga and skating field negotiations are also in progress.

So, let’s update our university’s motto: “Study hard, party harder, sport harderer”.

Yours,Greta Stankevičiūtė

SPoRTS commiTTEE

THE INSIDER • DECEMBER 2014 21

RALFS SAtAkIDear fellow students, my

course mates, school mates and

most of all – friends!

I see myself as the chairman of info.com, because I wish to be a part of the infor-mation flow around the school. People seem to have the misconception that the information committee is free of re-sponsibilities, however, I could not dis-agree more, especially in today’s world where informative exchange is the basis of everything. If I am elected, I wish to expand upon the development plans of

the information committee, helping it emphasize the roller-coaster like experi-ence that is student life here in SSE Riga.

Why me? Prior to starting my bach-elor studies in SSE Riga, I have gained a lot of experience in self representation and understood the necessity of a stable information flow. Last year I participat-ed in a TV simulation game broadcast-ed on Latvia’s television called “With vote majority” where the participants had to play political representatives of the EU. This and several other similar activities have rewarded me with a wide skill set.

One main thing I would like to intro-

duce, is to maintain a tighter coopera-tion with the PR committee and to in-troduce joint-video feature coverages to complement the Insider issues. Just like every huge community has its own news channel, my goal is to establish an SSE Riga broadcast. I promise the first cov-erage released will be about the current Y1 phenomenon known as the SSE Riga Open (The Table football team).

I see myself to be a worthy contributor to info.com and feel that I am suitable for the position.

Sincerely, Ralfs Sataki (InfoTaki ’15)

22

DANYLo vAShChILENkoDear all,

My name is Danylo Vash-

chilenko. I am running to be the new IT committee chairperson, and here I would like to explain why I am a good match for this position.

Computers are something I have been inspired about for a long time. After mastering my first computer lan-guage at the age of 11, I could never stop exploring this wonderful world of computer engineering. At the moment I can highlight the following hallmarks

of my IT background:• Commercial web-development ex-

perience for several private businesses.• Developed an accounting and cli-

ents’ record-keeping software system for a fitness center (used there for 3 and a half years already).

• Full-time work experience as a software engineer at a bank.

Having the relevant skills, I am con-vinced that I can bring a lot to the table for the upcoming SA board. Mentors database system, intelligent course sur-veys, various E-Learning improvements – these and many other initiatives have

been circulating around for quite a while and might finally be implement-ed with the help of the IT committee. As the chairperson I will also be respon-sible for providing technical support for the school’s IT department and to the student organizations. At the moment it might be challenging to imagine the whole spectrum of future possibilities, but my inspiration is the guarantee that I will use each and every one of them to contribute to the success of the upcom-ing SA board!

Yours sincerely,Danylo Vashchilenko

iT commiTTEE

iNfoRmATioN commiTTEE

After mastering my first computer lan-guage at the age of 11, I could never stop exploring this wonderful world.

I participated in a TV simulation game broadcasted on Latvia’s television called “With vote majority” where the participants had to play political representatives of the EU.

The editorial team is not responsible for the punctuation and orthography of candidates’ letters. The Insider published the original text of the authors.

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Well, guys, what do I tell you about Barcelona..IT IS FANTASTIC! No, seriously, where else would you swim in the Mediterranean on the 25th of October? How about going out in a t-shirt on the 1st of December just because it’s +18 Celsius? Or having fun watching a 75-yo granny take multiple selfies in the gym (duckface included)? Or discovering that the newly-appeared orange objects on the trees along the largest avenue are ac-tually tangerines! Or finding neither students, nor the teacher in your first econometrics lecture? Or not having a lecture just because the students are on strike and are blocking the main doorway? To me this sounds like a place to be in.

On a more serious note, let me tell you the following: I never thought the exchange semester would change me even in the least. But wait: the over-whelming feeling of stunning novel-ty, of the world’s incredible beauty, of the soothing southern warmth: all of these things have the magical ability to make one more peaceful, carefree, and life-loving. And that’s exactly what happened to me; and I’m telling you: that’s what will happen to you once you’re here in Barca.

So now let’s settle to the legit rea-sons for why your exchange semes-ter has to be in Barcelona:

For generally normal people: SSS. And that’s not American dol-lars, that’s SUN, SEA, SANGRIA. That’s that, nothing to add.

For food-lovers: seafood, paella, and pizza! Even if you don’t like seafood, trust me, you will. Even if you’re on a low-carb diet, trust me, you will not resist these rice heav-ens. Even if you’re on ANY sort of diet, I’m giving you my word that you’ll have that pizza (for detailed info on location, PM :) ).

For the “sweet teeth”: dragon fruits, mangoes, macaroons and ALL kinds of stuff. If you don’t know what’s La Boqueria market, I suggest you google it – you will be amazed. The juiciness of man-goes will drive you crazy and emp-ty your wallet, that’s for sure. Girls, forget all the memories of the macaroons you’ve ever tried: Enric Rosich (shopping center “Bulevard Rosa” on Passeig de Gracia) will change your definition of a perfect-ly-tasting macaroon forever. Oh, and those mango croissants from Hofmann Pastisseria...

Sea Sun Sangria StudyFor drink-lovers: let alone the

countless number of bars, pubs, local beer-shops, wine cellars, and even beach- and street-sellers of beer cans and mojitos, there is a MUST-GO place: Casa Bacardi. That’s a “museum” of the well-known rum, where just for 8 EUR you get a great insight into the drink’s history; you learn how it’s made; you get 3 shots of the rum at different steps of its preparation; you’re shown how to make 4 most famous cocktails with Bacardi; and then you make your own cocktail and enjoy your awesomeness.

For the sight-seers: even if you’re not a museum-type, you will be amazed. Again, for more details, either ask me straight, or let The Mighty Google guide you.

For the ones that are going to study hard: well, to cut a long sto-ry short, you won’t have to :). But the Uni is cool though.

That will be it, guys. Get your ex-change points and go #loveBCN!!!

23

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Elchin Jafarov:

an insight into recent economic events

SSE Riga students know Elchin as a lecturer of Financial Mathematics – one of the most popular electives among students of all study years. He can explain financial models by showing the difference between how sober and drunken people behave, talking about molecules and other completely finance-unrelated things. But when it comes to serious matters…

You work in Citadele Asset Man-agement. What markets do you work with? What is involved in your day-to-day work?In Citadele Asset Management (CAM) we are managing differ-ent types of portfolios like pen-sion funds, discretionary portfolios and investment funds. I personally mostly deal with equities, some-times with derivatives and com-modities. My day-to-day work in-cludes tracking many companies, various markets, industries, politi-cal events, macroeconomic data and of course closely communicating with our team members and oth-er colleagues. Despite our core-fo-cus markets has been traditionally Eastern European markets, we are increasingly extending our focus into the Western Europe-an ad Nordic countries. Within our asset allo-cation portfolios (like for example pension funds) we do invest globally, from US to US, thus overall we keep an eye on all the global events, because things that happen in, say, the US and Japan directly or indirectly affect our portfolios.

How did the sanctions on Russia affect your business? Where there any restrictions on the activities of CAM in this region?Currently we don’t directly feel any extreme outcomes of sanctions. Clearly, it is not forbidden to deal

with Russian financial institutions in broader sense, so the business lines are open and we do continue investing into that region. But with-out any doubt sanctions in force restrict a number of Russian com-panies from obtaining certain type long-term financing in the Europe-an and US capital markets, which shake their overall long-term cred-itworthiness and depress the poten-tial of Russian financial market.

Important to mention that our teams are quite experienced, and were very careful in selecting fixed income securities - most, if not all, of them are in a good shape.

If the sanctions have limited effect on the overall economy, recent al-most 40% oil price drop has even far

reaching effects, dragging the heavily oil-export-

depended economy. We can all observe that though the dramatic depre-ciation of ruble versus major currencies. This all affects us di-

rectly, through exchange rates and

market weakness, and indirectly, through for exam-

ple investments in companies which are oriented towards the internal consumption. Even if we do contin-uously reconsider those investments and look for better exposures, mar-ketwise price decline contributes negatively to our portfolio values. It is also important to mention that

overall we have quite limited expo-sure to Russian equity market, for example if total assets under man-agement of CAM is roughly EUR 500 million then investments in Russian equities is around EUR 5 million, or around 1%.

What are the things you track and what news do you follow?On day-to-day basis, we certainly track macroeconomic conditions and data. Mostly this is for the key economies like US and Europe, but also we keep a close eye on region-al data, for example, on Emerging Markets like China. We also track the asset and commodity prices themselves – interest rates, equity indexes, energy prices, metal pric-es, soft commodity prices, exchange rates, etc. In the mornings we see the late hours of Asian markets; then European markets open, approxi-mately at 10:00; that is followed by the US market opening at approxi-mately 16:00 Riga time. Of course we also have futures market: if the US is closed, for example, we can al-ways look how futures market devel-ops. Another thing, we are looking at, are industries and industry news: what is going on in particular indus-tries like auto market, fertilizer mar-ket, utilities and many others, also the specific issues associated with those industries (e.g. protectionism, taxation issues, global power shifts). That all naturally converges to the company level coverage, like releases of company earnings reports, com-pany specific news, etc. We track all

24

THE INSIDER • DECEMBER 2014 25

liquidity was injected and prices of assets were inflated, to counter the fiscal tightening phase, and as a re-sult they managed to reanimate and stabilize the economy. In Europe the situation is more complicated because deflation is a real threat to the economic stability of the region. And now the ECB is trying to put up to 1 trillion euro of liquidity into the market.

So in your opinion will QE work in Europe?I don’t think that it will work like it worked in the US. It certainly will, because it has to work at least short-term, but to a less extent.

First of all the Eurozone economy is much more export depended, in comparison to US, and QE alone is not a complete cure (although it also stimulates exports by depreciat-ing the euro). There are many open questions. I am not exactly a central bank professional, but from my side it is still not clear what ECB is go-ing to buy next. Now they buy some covered bonds, and want to contin-ue with purchase in ABS market, which is not so much developed as in the US. Will they simultane-ously try to evenly develop it fur-ther? It also depends on legislative base, which is quite heterogeneous among member countries: how will they solve that issue? How will they stimulate banks to look into that di-rection? Buying government bonds: which ones? There are many open questions and it seems that ECB is doing QE with less ready-available tools than they were in the case of US FED.

the mentioned as much as we can and need, that’s why we extensively use the terminals like Bloomberg, Datastream, as well as third party analytics; so we have a constant flow of the latest information.

What are your expectations about oil price?I think, well, fundamentally we are observing oversupply. The Chinese econo-my, which is indeed the engine for the global growth, it is not growing as fast as it was expected 3-5 years ago. Now it’s a fact, be-cause we see the numbers. Then, the US - one of the largest importers of oil, significantly increas-es shale oil production. If they make import-substitution, that means they don’t buy that much crude oil, right? Besides that, we unfortunately had been observing military problems in the Middle East. But the recovery in oil pro-duction was quite fast, Libya and Iraqi Kurdistan are examples of that.

When the prices were $110 I per-sonally didn’t expect that they will go higher. One of our key manag-ers even wrote for Forbes, I guess, a year or two ago that a fair price would be $70-80. I personally didn’t expect that the prices will be around $70-80 so fast, but I expect-ed them to stay at $90-100 rage, ap-proximately. At $90 we would have resistance from many oil exporting governments because they can’t ful-fill their fiscal policies, right? They need to balance their budgets, like Saudi Arabia, for which 90 is ap-proximately break-even level for the budget. So if the price goes lower, they need to sell more oil to fill that gap. Plus, we have unpredict-able military conflicts, as well as unpredictable political decisions, like OPEC decision that was made today [OPEC decided not to cut oil production on November, 27]. We expected that they would not

change the quota, but they could still enforce it, but we naturally did not know their final decision until they announced it. Plus, there are possibly different strategic process-es between for example Saudi Ara-bia and the US, whereas the former could be interested to temporarily depress the prices in order to make US shale oil extraction marginally

unprofitable, thus restrict its further expansion.

So you expect the oil prices to go even lower?In a given con-ditions I expect

for the coming year or so that the prices will stay at current levels, probably at around 80, as there are no significant reasons that could push prices back to 100 territory. Or course if no major geopolitical game charger event will happen.

QE is a commonly recognized tool to boost inflation. However some skeptics say that QE doesn’t af-fect consumers because the newly printed money is stuck in the fi-nancial sector, so as a result QE ini-tiates another stock market bub-ble. What do you think about it?Basically this is a so-called wealth effect. In fact, that’s a tricky ques-tion. In Japan BOJ used QE earli-er in 2000-2001, but they failed to increase the inflation and to restart the economy in a sense that a clas-sical QE must do. After 2007-2008 crisis the US also did that, and they performed QE targeting also the wealth effect, whereas plenty of fresh

26

After a very intensive course of Laboratory of Entrepreneurship, where Year 1 students had the chance to express their creativity by founding their own startups, the award cere-

mony was the end that crowned the work. It took place on October 31st, in an exquisite pace, where the winners walked on a red carpet to receive their well-deserved prizes.

Design excellence: Conceptual excellence:

Entrepreneurial Spirit:

GRAND PRIX:

Silver - Zicret Silver - Riga tourist Package

Silver - Public transport tracker

Relive Latvia

gold - vex gold - Riga Quest

“Scarves with built-in secret zipper pockets solve the problem of losing valuables while travelling. Scarves also may serve as an additional space for things to take on the plane and are convenient for those who travel with bikes and listen to the music”. (Team members: Sintija Nīcgale, Karīna Žuravļova, Niklāvs Matusevičs, Laura Noor, Karina Latyšovič)

“Universal travelers’ package that contains all the things necessary for a traveler: a map, an e-talon, sites, restaurants, hotels catalogue, useful phone numbers, information about average prices,etc.“ (Team members: Alivija Kovaļova, Yaroslav Sinko, Alex Savin, Aleksandra Saltanova, Hanna Aliakseyenka, Natallia Khatsialouskaya)

“Our product is an application which shows the real time location of buses, trains, trams and trolleys in Latvia. The app would get through GPS real time location of your transportation and send you notifications about minutes left until bus’ arrival.” (Team members: Edgars Rihards Indārs, Alexandra Lapitskaya, Mārtiņš Lindemanis, Mikus Pētersons, Annija Elfa Purmale)

“Having realized that currently available souvenirs are boring, mainstream and cliché, we decided to create unique souvenirs that recreate experience of Latvia. Sweetly ordered pieces of wood embody rich and pleasant unique smells of Latvia’s nature and streets and trigger wonderful memories and state-of-art impressions of Riga and Latvia.” (Team members: Diāna Lace, Ričards Križanovskis, Ralfs Sataki, Ecaterina Grecu, Linas Lesčinskas)

“The idea was to make stylish, extraordinary pants with thief-safe pockets which are easily accessible when riding a bike. Pockets are two sided, one with ordinary pockets, but at the same time with a thief-safe place on the other side with a zipper for keeping something, for instance, mobile phone or wallet”. (Team members: Elvis Krastiņš, Aivars Vītols, Aneta Irbe Horsta, Bert Peterson, Sigvards Dzelzkalējs)

“A city challenge that lets you explore the town. Explore best sights and local favorite spots, by doing different activities that would give you further hints where to go next. The quest includes historical sights, which makes it not only entertaining but also educational.“ (Team members: Yuliya Kamisarenka, Elizabete Kalnozola, Megija Mīlberga, Arina Golichenkova, Mária Lukáčová)

LoE Awards 2014

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Interesting facts about blood donation

3 lives are saved due to 1 blood donation.1

In the UK January is the month when people donate blood the most as they try to start the new year with

something good.2 :)

90% of people who have an opportunity to donate blood are not

doing so.1

Only 4% of Europeans have ever given blood, while annually 10% of SSE Riga students participate in the

BDD.

Men donate their blood more often than women do.

Over 25% of people needed blood transfusion at least once in their life.

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Donating blood saves livesDonating blood might be one of the most awesome things you have ever experienced in your life! If it seems ridiculous for you, here comes the evidence.

The story behind the Blood Donation Day at SSE RigaOnce upon a time, two very enthusiastic and kind-hearted guys Kārlis Andersons and Jurģis Sedlenieks were studying at SSE Riga. They were so ambitious and energetic that they decided to become a presidential couple. Unfortunately to Student Association but luckily to the future of Charity Club, they were not elected. But that doesn’t mean that the story comes to an end here. One of the promises of the presidential couple was to initiate charitable work and popu-larize our school as socially responsible institution. Even though the students weren’t elected, they still fulfilled some of their promises and established Charity Club in 2002. Afterwards, Blood Donation day was created, and became annual tradition for SSE Riga and every year more and more students are getting involved.

1. “I am afraid!”Many successful and inspiring peo-ple believe you should make at least one thing that scares you every day! Moreover, everyone is frightened the first time. But after you donated blood once, you would like to expe-rience that amazing feeling of saving lives again! Believe us!And… is it really possible to scare SSE Rigans? :)2. “I am so busy! I do not have time…”Everyone does understand how busy SSE Rigans are… However, is it so

3 main obstacles that stop SSE Rigans to donate blood

Lauma Varnere about BDD:Blood Donation Day is one of the events which bring benefit to all the parties involved. Firstly, you can help others in need (and I guess there is no use rationalizing this point). Additionally, as suggested by multiple researches, you can do great things to your own health by donating blood. And finally you can get an amazing experience from this wonderfully-organized event and make yet another day special in your life. So why not to donate blood?

References: 1 – according to World health organization. 2 – retrieved from: http://www.blood.co.uk/

THE INSIDER • DECEMBER 2014 27

difficult to find less than an hour in your tight schedule in order to gift someone an entire life? Maybe one day you will sleep 1 hour less than usually but you will give someone a full life of joy, love and happiness! We believe it is worth it, isn’t it?3. “They say it makes harm to my health… and I will be so weak after it, I won’t be able to study…”Before donating blood, you are checked by professional doctors and they decide whether you can donate. Many people are rejected and asked to come next time because of health

issues. Otherwise, if you manage to become a donor, your blood starts immediately replacing itself after the donation process. Strong tea and something sweet renew your energy quickly, and you can turn to your everyday life at once. Furthermore, blood donation process reduces the risk of cancer and the risk of heart diseases and burns about 650 calories! If you donate blood a few times, you can prolong you life by 4 years! So, it may be a subject to de-bate whether blood donation harms or improves your health condition!