Our PhD student and alumnus on the Forbes 30/30 list

Every year, Forbes magazine compiles a list of 30-somethings under 30 who have made it big in their field. Anyone can be nominated in the first round (500 nominations were received this year), which the editors supplement with their own research and the talent they have seen in the last year in their own work. They have asked for recommendations from investors, business leaders, NGOs and professionals, and have conducted a series of background interviews with candidates. Finally, they discussed in the editorial office who, with their talent, diligence and perseverance, should definitely be on this list.  

Viola Horváth is the initiator and leader of the protégé. mentoring programme and a student at the Corvinus School of Business Administration. Protégé was created to support young people and make careers in tourism and hospitality attractive to them. The initiative was a response to the negative experiences of many young people who had left the industry. “It says a lot about the timeliness of the problem that while we started in autumn 2021 with ten mentors, we have now successfully completed our fifth programme, with 30 mentors and mentees and 35 volunteers to support us.” Viola’s professional career has been shaped by everything from volunteering at summer camps, working in a travel agency and interning at the Marriott hotel chain to freelance marketing consultancy, and she is now completing her PhD at Corvinus.  Protégé won Bridge Budapest’s Award for Business Communities last year.   

In addition to Viola, our alumnus Gergely Zámbó was also included in the Forbes 2024 30/30 list for their Respray deodorant bottle refill machine, created in collaboration with Andor Réti.  

Gergely Zámbó (left) and Andor Réti

With the machine, customers can refill their aerosol, or spray, deodorants up to four times, reducing the environmental footprint of such bottles. The Respray team has perfected the technology over three years and thousands of test fills from 2019, and it has previously been a challenge for the world’s biggest deodorant manufacturers. Rossmann Hungary has also taken notice of their machines, and last year they installed the machines for refilling their own brand deodorants in three of their drugstores in Hungary as a test. The pilot was a success, so this year they plan to install another thirty machines.   

You can read our previous interview with Gergely Zámbó here. 

Congratulations on the recognition!