July 27, 2020 – The new website called Dorean Society is led by three young Croatian economic enthusiasts, Dorian Antešić, Filipa Topčić and Teodora Raguž from Faculty of Business and Economics in Rijeka. They aim to create a comprehensive place of courses, career topics, recommendations, reviews, and all information needed for Business and Economics students to have a successful career.

The website is completely in English because they plan to create a community of Business and Economics students worldwide. Also, they want to publish articles by international students, business people, and professors.

Therefore, as founder Dorian Antešić says, “students can have a look in the opportunities that lay all around the globe”.

Knowledge for today and tomorrow

At first, it was only Antešić who had this idea of helping other students, but soon he recruited his colleagues Filipa Topčić and Teodora Raguž from Faculty of Business and Economics in Rijeka to start working on the website.

The Student Council of the University in Rijeka helped them financially with, as Antešić calls it, the “seed” money.

Source: Pixabay

For now, they are researching general topics of needed skills for Business and Economics students, but their long-term plan is to do broader research, get involved in international projects, and even collaborate with universities and businesses.

“We are researching what these students need to know now and what they will need to know in the future,” says Antešić.

Lack of students’ interest

What made Antešić create a helpful website for students is the lack of motivation for studying Business and Economics. As he explains, a lot of them applied to these fields because they weren’t sure what to study and it made them very passive.

Just like a lot of other students in Croatia from different study fields, they are lost, they don’t know what to do after they graduate and “they aren’t very informed about their career options or development of their field in present and where it is going,” says Antešić.

Source: Pixabay

“Considering that Business and Economics students make up the biggest percentage of students, I think this needs to change. This high percentage of students who are lost, passive and unmotivated about their studies can be transformed into proactive students, who are willing to learn as much as possible about their studies, research what their interests might be, maybe even start their own company while they are studying,” Antešić points out.

Ambitious goals

On the other side, Antešić has been interested in finance, his field of study, for a long time. He was not like other students described above.

“Since the beginning of my university years, I was active in international organizations, writing, and leading projects. I knew what interests me in business, what I want to become (entrepreneur), and why,” Antešić confidently says.

The effort to share his motivation with other students by helping them seems very ambitious. Nonetheless, the Dorean Society’s efforts are directed to the schools and faculties too.

“We want to research what Business and Economics schools can do to give more value to students, how to make them more active on a class or other activities, and how to prepare for the present and future needs of the market and society overall,” explains Antešić.

Dorian Antešić, founder of the Dorean Society website / Source: Private archive

“My belief is also that improved financial knowledge makes people less manipulated by politicians and they become more active in civic life. They know the connection between what they pay in taxes and what service they get for that money. This is a huge problem in Croatia since people think that we have ‘free’ services like healthcare, education, pension. These services cost a lot of money and the benefit we get in return is not appropriate,” Antešić thinks.

The importance of financial literacy

Even though the website is intended for students of Business and Economics, other students can also find it interesting as the content will be of use to everyone.

“We will talk about skills that are useful to every student and every person in general, like financial management. They will have the opportunity to learn more about personal finances, how to earn more money, how to spend it efficiently, save it and invest,” explains Antešić.

One of their objectives is the increase in financial literacy among people, especially young people. Antešić considers financial literacy important for every person because everyone is dealing with money daily.

“Financial literacy is the ability to understand and effectively apply various financial skills, including personal financial management, budgeting, and investing. It helps individuals make better long-term life decisions and makes them financially sustainable,” explains Antešić, adding that people need to know how to manage money more efficiently.

Source: Pixabay