University Students Play a Significant Role in an Ambitious Longevity Start-up

The start-up entrepreneurial project OlaOla, which is being created in Zlín and targets the whole of Europe, is also an opportunity for students of Tomas Bata University, who played a significant role in getting it off the ground. This is also why the project — led by Martin Bernátek, the founder and former owner of the Zlín based e-shop Ovečkárna — has the support of the regional development agency ZRIA. The e-shop focused on longevity launched before Christmas and has ambitions to build a European business from Zlín.

“I support not only the idea itself, but also applaud the courage to involve students in this start-up. Of the six students introduced at the project’s launch, five are from our Faculty of Multimedia Communications. It is a wonderful example of where we should direct our attention in terms of developing entrepreneurship at the university, and above all how to keep the younger generation in the Zlín Region,” said Faculty Dean Josef Kocourek.

The students are involved primarily in marketing and communication, which is one of its key components. The aim is to explain to ordinary people how they can improve their quality of life and achieve longevity in good condition and better health.

“It shows how simplicity can change the world. Martin Bernátek comes with a solution for health and longevity that is not only smart but also very user-friendly. And on top of that, it brings an opportunity to show what the young people studying with us are made of,” said Petr Kubíček, Director of Strategic Development at ZRIA.

The product portfolio of the new e-shop addresses natural lifestyle deficiencies that it seeks to compensate for — whether in terms of sleep quality, stress levels, or physical condition. It is also an opportunity for regional suppliers, with whom the founders cooperate and from whom they primarily have their natural-phase supplements manufactured. Martin Bernátek makes no secret of his ambition to break through on a global scale and wants to prove that it can be done even from Zlín. “We are going to build a business worth hundreds of millions — perhaps even billions — that will spread from Zlín across the whole of Europe. The dietary supplement market is so large and still unsaturated that it depends entirely on how skilled we are. We certainly do not intend to play it safe; we are building OlaOla as a future key brand not only in Czech e-commerce,” he confirmed.