A unique program to support affected businesses is launching in Prague
Leading domestic entrepreneurs, managers and other business experts joined forces with Prague City Hall and decided to help with the revitalization of the business with the newly established platform called DoToho!. The platform will provide free support for companies with a turnover of 3 to 300 million crowns affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Mentors and experts provide their support pro bono, devoting time to companies that want to work on themselves and come out stronger from the current crisis.
The program is intended primarily for owners or managers of companies with a turnover of 3 to 300 million crowns or at least three employees. Companies that sign up for the program will receive free mentors for two months to help them find specific business goals or new business directions. After receiving recommendations for their development, companies will have access to dozens of involved experts and will be able to address them with already specific requests for selected consultations. In the words of Pavel Přikryl from Opero, this project is based on basic procedures that are commonly used in the development of startups and, in addition, involves experts from several fields, expands the range of information transmitted and also adapts its form so that it is best used for common types of business and the current situation.
In addition to consultations, the platform will also offer professional seminars and lectures on topics such as setting up business processes, people management, foreign expansion, digital marketing, brand management and online sales. According to Eliška Pírková, DoToho! project manager, an online library will be gradually created, based on individual contributions from business experts and full of inspiration and practical experience from successful entrepreneurs.
“Unfortunately, the coronavirus pandemic has buried a number of business activities and entrepreneurs themselves feel quite insecure and without state support. Prague does not forget about them and creates short-term and long-term forms of support. With this project, we want to help companies revitalize their business, support growth and stay on the market despite this critical period, “
says Vít Šimral, Prague Councilor for Business Support.
The DoToho! platform was initiated by the Prague Business Center Opero and the Prague Innovation Institute. The program is free thanks to the support of the capital city of Prague, the Prague Smart Accelerator project funded by EU funds and selected companies such as Google, Pražská energetika, T-Mobile or Pražská plynárenská. Moreover, the program, which will become part of the Prague innovation strategy, is sponsored by the Mayor of Prague, Zdeněk Hřib. It thus responds to the need to support entrepreneurs in the Czech capital during the COVID-19 crisis, but also to the need to use this crisis to strengthen qualitative changes in the functioning of companies.