JAN JELÍNEK
Role: Business-Designer, Project Manager, Consultant Area: Innovation Design, Marketing, Management & Leadership, Startups, Creative Industry Employer: Q Designers, freelancer, Nerudný fest (founder)
What can I help my mentee with?
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Jan and his classmates founded their first company at the age of 17 for the purpose of a school festival at the Jan Neruda Gymnasium. Within a few years, one of the most significant productions in the Czech Republic organizing music festivals developed from the project. Enthusiasm for entrepreneurship and creativity led Jan to other projects. He helped his mother start her own family publishing house Naše kniha, founded the first DJ Zkušebna in Prague, and the local black initiative Na Nohou.
After high school, Jan went on to study sociology and economics at Charles University. Here he became more interested in marketing and management. As part of his studies, he completed an internship at Perfect Crowd, a marketing agency that combines creativity and research. He later completed his education with an MBA at the Prague International Business School.
In addition to his own projects, Honza started to freelance more and more. "I help companies grow," Honza answers when asked about his primary focus. "I don't like to use the word consultant. Experience has taught me that good advice is usually not enough for big changes. When building or changing something big, it's first and foremost about working with people and building a solid foundation. With both, companies, like people, usually need not only advice but also help."
Currently, he works primarily at Q Designers as an innovation and business designer. In addition, he helps small and large companies with marketing, project and process management as well as business analytics and strategy. He has completed dozens of large projects for companies such as Česká spořitelna, Rohlík Group, Nano Energies and Kytary.cz.
Jan has devoted his career to working in the creative sector, focusing on connecting business and impact projects. He is also interested in personal development, mental health and sustainability in the broadest sense. He enjoys getting to know new people and their unique worlds. "If I see potential somewhere, I can't help but try to squeeze it out of people and companies," explains Honza why, among other things, he accepted the invitation to join the mentoring programme.