The generation that is currently growing up is the most privileged in human history.

Why is it also the generation most fearful of the future?

…we live in a world that has rapidly changed more than anyone could have expected. New technologies and different ways of working in the world require skills that the school system does not teach and a mentality that parents who are used to living in a different system do not know.

Ustvarjalnik was created as an addition to the school system and traditional education – we teach the future generation of leaders the mind-set, skills and confidence to know how to truly take advantage of the opportunities this world has to offer. In this way, we create a world where no one is limited by their

circumstances, as they gain the ability to create new opportunities for themselves. In the span of only eight years, a small entrepreneurial club in a rural Slovenian town grew into one of the most important movements for entrepreneurship in the country. The methodology we use is also practiced in about a third of all schools in the country, serving as a starting point for entrepreneurship promotion projects in lecture halls, at corporate weekends on trains, castles, and even at the Presidential Palace as well as on television screens.

Our main goal is to educate generations of innovators who are not afraid of the future.

We are creating a world where no one is limited by their current circumstances, as they have the ability to create new opportunities for themselves.

Meet the Ustvarjalnik Team

Founder

Matija Goljar

Matija, who has a Masters in Applied Imagination, founded his first company at the young age of nineteen but soon switched from the world of start-ups to teaching. There he created the methodology that led to the creation of Ustvarjalnik, an international entrepreneurship education program that created and still creates hundreds of young businesses.

In addition to his work at Ustvarjalnik, Matija is a visiting professor of entrepreneurship at the prestigious Watson University in the USA and the host of three seasons of the business show ‘Start, Slovenia!’ on PopTV. He is also a member of the Unreasonable Institute in the USA, the most prestigious association of social entrepreneurs in the world and the recipient of the 2015 Award for the most socially beneficial company in Slovenia.

Operations and Events Manager

Tjaša Ban

Tjaša replaced her successful career as a researcher at the Faculty of Education at the University of Primorska, where she worked in prisons and with the most difficult cases of marginalized young people. Under the auspices of Ustvarjalnik, at the age of 24, she founded Protocamel, a very successful company that sells diet supplements for racing camels to the Arab world. Her company is currently the fastest growing exporter in Slovenia. She joined Ustvarjalnik because she wants to prove to young people that everything can be learnt and thus all goals are achievable.
Program and Mentor Manager

Aljaž Osetič

Aljaž spent most of his high school years at Ustvarjalnik and tested himself in many jobs, which led him to study at Watson University in the United States. He studied Social Entrepreneurship and received the Student of the Year Award.

Despite many other opportunities, he returned to Slovenia and joined the Ustvarjalnik team to help set an entrepreneurial ecosystem, following the American example, which will enable young people to pursue their most daring dreams even in Slovenia.