They can be the most influential people of Hungary

Peter Arvai, Gyula Feher, Peter Halacsy – co-founders of the most successful Hungarian startups chose 10 already-successul people from five areas of life with Bridge Budapest to become “builders”. In once year, 10 people in their thirties with completely different thinking, values and background realized an important thing, origo.hu said.

“We were sitting for moments and silently looked in front of us, when we realized almost half a year has passed and connects us more than what separates. This sentence was said at one of the weekends of Bridge Builders project” – Veronika Pistyur, leader of Bridge Budapest said.

The professionals around their thirties have already proven their leadership skills in the fields of culture, economy, media, civil life or politics. Now, in a year, they have proven they wanted a Hungary where self-confidence is based on knowledge and performance.

They became the first “bridge builders”.

We found 10 people of whom we thought “they will be among the 100 most influential people of Hungary in 10 years” Peter Arvai, head of Prezi, one of the founders of the Bridge of Budapest told origo.hu. We would like a Hungary which has self-confidence. To make this happen, “we have to work with all parts of society”.

The main thing was the listening to each other

The 10 chosen ones met nearly every two weeks in one year. There were two-day weekends, common dinners and there also was a four-day Stockholm trip. They were looking for what they have in common, in addition to the difference. The meetings were aimed at listening to each other.

The chosen ones

The ten-man team was composed by Barna Borbas, Gergely Boszormenyi Nagy, Adam Halmos, Stefania Kapronczay, Anna Niszkacs, Eliza Popper, Richard Rajnai, Pal Daniel Renyi, Istvan Szaraz and Bence Tordai – Veronika Pistyur, head of Bridge Budapest said.

According to origo.hu, the project was financed by Bridge Budapest. Bridge Budapest is otherwise a non-profit organization, which was formed 2 years ago. It was established by entrepreneurs who lead global companies launched from Hungary like Prezi, Ustream or NNG. The founders of the companies – besides Peter Arvai, Peter Halacsy, Adam Somlai-Fischer and Ustream-founder Gyula Feher – were also active participants of Bridge Builder program.

Deep friendships were made

During this one year, when I met the “builders” a number of times, I have also learned from them. And we could help the then chosen people too, to be more successful – Peter Arvai said.

About the subjects, the Prezi leader did not reveal any specifics, because, as he said, they were “very personal”. We tried to make a space where ideas came and went and we examined them from different perspectives. If no one liked an idea, it could be thrown out. “Not any idea was forced to anyone” – Peter Arvai told about the meetings.

We rather dissuade ourselves of the possibilities

The kind of attitude, which is needed to become Hungary competitive, is incomplete in many places. Even still, we are there that we discourage everyone, ourselves too, that it is worth starting a business – Veronika Pistyur said.