At seventeen, they founded an innovative mock company that is winning fairs both at home and abroad.
“Inappropriate remarks, looks, questions that make you realize you’re not feeling comfortable. And that’s the tricky part – it’s not something you’d immediately report, but the feeling of uncertainty and stress lingers. When we talked openly about it in class, it turned out surprisingly many girls had such experiences.”
One rides horses, the other is into sports. Alexandra and Dita are young, determined classmates from Nevädzova Business Academy in Bratislava. Both have had experiences that made them feel unsafe in a taxi. From this uncomfortable feeling came the idea for a women’s taxi service – female drivers, female customers, safe rides.
Within a school subject called Practice Company, they created the Donna Taxi project with ten other classmates, winning fairs both at home and abroad. They are proving that even high schoolers can come up with solutions to real social problems.
The Practice Company was created in cooperation with the NGO Hekima and the State Institute of Vocational Education and is now used in 180 high schools across Slovakia.
It teaches young people to see entrepreneurship not just as a path to profit but as a tool to address societal challenges. Thanks to this approach, school projects become solutions with real social impact. Such projects are examples of how developmental education can change the way young people perceive business, society, and their responsibility for the world around them.
Personal Experience Sparked the Idea
Donna Taxi was born as a response to seemingly small but recurring situations many women experience in taxis every day – inappropriate remarks, looks, or questions that leave a bitter taste and a feeling of uncertainty.
“When we discussed it openly in class, we found out surprisingly many girls had this experience,” said Alexandra.
We built Donna Taxi on a simple yet strong principle – women driving women. It’s not just about transportation; it’s about a feeling of safety, trust, and respect.
“That’s when we realized it’s not just a personal problem; it’s a systemic issue women deal with every day. When we had the chance to ‘create’ a company, we wanted to use it to solve a real issue. It wasn’t just about fulfilling an assignment or ticking a box,” added Dita, who wanted to create a project with social impact and address a truly important topic.
Donna Taxi stands on the simple but powerful principle of “women driving women.” It’s not just about transportation but also about creating a sense of safety, trust, and respect.
The founders also wanted to show that women have their place in traditionally “male” industries and can work in a safe environment. For Alexandra and Dita, Donna Taxi isn’t just a business idea but a concrete solution to a real problem.
The Practice Company 2.0 Class Opened Doors to the Business World
The classmates got into entrepreneurship in their second year with the Entrepreneurship Skills course, where they experimented with creating ideas in small teams, learned the basics of how a company works, and tested entrepreneurship at a school fair. This experience motivated them to dive deeper and, in their third year, choose the Practice Company – Practicum course.
“This course gave us a solid foundation and the desire to go deeper. When we chose Practice Company – Practicum in the third year, everything moved to a higher level,” Dita explained.
Thanks to this course, they could turn their idea from theory to reality – work on it long-term, develop it in detail, and gradually build a real project. The Practice Company 2.0 also introduced them to new topics like innovation, ecology, sustainability, and solving social issues.
Initially, some guys tended to lean towards more gender-neutral topics. The issue of women’s safety didn’t initially seem like something that should be at the center of a business project.
Suddenly, it wasn’t just about “coming up with a company,” but asking why it should exist, what problem it solves, and what impact it has on society. This approach taught them to think more deeply and see entrepreneurship as a tool for meaningful solutions.
Almost Like Reality
According to the students, running a practice company closely resembles reality, and its complexity isn’t fully realized until you go through it. “It starts from scratch – following the Practice Company 2.0 textbook, with great support from our teacher,” Dita revealed.
First, they had to clarify what problem they wanted to solve, what their business idea and company name would be. Then, they created an organizational structure mirroring a real company. “An organizational structure was formed, mirroring a real company – a general director and various departments: marketing, sales, and administration.”
They gradually tackled brand identity – logo, colors, slogan, Instagram, website, brochures, and business cards. The sales department handled strategy, service offering, and customer communication, while administration took care of salaries, documents, and business operations. They also prepared a business plan, financial analysis, minimum wages, SWOT analysis, payment and complaint conditions, and registration in the practice companies’ register. This made the process even more reminiscent of a real business environment.
We better understood what running a business entails and how challenging it is.
Although they had four hours of class per week for work, it wasn’t enough. They did a lot of work after school, evenings, or weekends, especially before fairs, where they “practically lived the company nonstop.” They trained presentations, elevator pitches, and rehearsed various model situations, like how to respond to questions from judges or visitors at trade fairs they attended with the company.
The fairs themselves represented the culmination of all the work. It wasn’t just about presenting but defending months of project development, its concept, figures, values, and team functioning. According to them, you truly realize what it’s like to stand behind your project and handle the pressure of real environments at that moment.
Success at Home and Abroad
The founders see the successes Donna Taxi achieved at fairs as a natural outcome of approaching the project comprehensively and with clear values. They weren’t just focused on profit or formally completing an assignment, but cared about employee well-being, ethical conduct, and a safe work environment, which made the project authentic.
They also incorporated an environmental aspect, their own app, innovation, social responsibility, and gender equality into it.
“Each of us gave maximum effort, and it was clear this wasn’t just a school project,” they agree. The support from their teacher and the Practice Company 2.0 concept played a major role too. “The entire team worked flat out, and everyone knew it wasn’t just a school project. A big part of the success was thanks to our teacher and the Practice Company 2.0 concept. Compared to regular school? A completely different world,” Alexandra thinks.
Personal Growth
Alexandra and Dita agree that participating in the project also contributed to their personal growth. They had to step out of their comfort zones, take responsibility, and learn to operate in roles they never saw themselves in before. Each faced different challenges.
For Alexandra, one of the toughest areas was financial analysis. “Realizing how much needed to be calculated and connected was pretty daunting at first. And working with people. As the marketing director, I had to learn to assign tasks, motivate classmates, resolve conflicts.” It wasn’t just about doing something herself but being responsible for the entire team.
Dita struggled the most with presentation skills. Initially, she had a big fear of public speaking, especially presenting the company in a foreign language to judges. “Gradually, I became more confident, learning to articulate thoughts clearly, respond to questions, and defend our project. These situations gave me great confidence and significantly pushed me out of my comfort zone.”
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The moment they realized they were truly understanding things came mainly during financial planning. Previously, finances were just abstract concepts, but now they had to turn them into reality – calculating costs for cars, insurance, servicing, driver salaries, electricity, monthly expenses, and expected revenues. When the numbers started to make sense as a whole, the breakthrough “aha moment” happened.
Alexandra adds that a significant realization was that entrepreneurship isn’t about random ideas but calculated decisions and responsibility. The opportunity to experiment, make mistakes, and learn from them in the safe environment of the practice company is one of the greatest values of the entire experience.
A crucial aspect was also building confidence – presenting in front of the jury, showcasing the project in a foreign language, and defending their solutions. As Alexandra remarks, entrepreneurship for her “stopped being an abstract term” and she now sees it as the ability to think, make decisions, and learn from mistakes, rather than looking for perfect ideas.
Now We Know What Entrepreneurship Means
Since both girls come from entrepreneurial families, the practice company experience also affected their relationship with their parents and view of entrepreneurship in a family context. Both say they now better understand all that entrepreneurship entails and how challenging it is.
Alexandra especially appreciates the chance to discuss specific tasks in the project at home and get direct feedback from practice. Dita adds that these conversations deepened their relationships – they had a common topic, and she gained greater respect for what her parents do. Together, they practiced presentations at home and simulated answers to potential tough questions from judges or potential company clients.
On a personal level, the practice company brought them an understanding of connections. Subjects previously studied separately – economics, accounting, marketing, or communication – merged into one functional whole. They learned to work in a team, resolve conflicts, take responsibility for their decisions, and see things through to the end.
Today, we feel it’s not just a school project – it’s a ticket to life and work, where new opportunities and contacts open up.
As they hadn’t had any long-term work experience before, they see the project as their first significant semi-professional challenge. Thanks to this, they got to know how the real world works – from teamwork to presentations, customer communication, and financial decisions.
This is also why they feel it’s not just a school project, but a ticket to life and an environment where new opportunities and contacts open up. Another strong moment was being invited to host a two-day practice company fair in Bratislava, which was an unforgettable experience and motivation for future challenges.
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Donna Taxi Isn’t Just a School Project
It’s proof that when young people are given trust, space, and a meaningful challenge, they can not only come up with ideas but also turn them into solutions with real impact – projects that change lives and move society forward.
It shows that school can be more than memorization and theory – it can be training for real life, where we learn to take risks, make mistakes, collaborate, and take responsibility. And that’s an experience that shapes students not only as future entrepreneurs but also as people capable of thinking and acting with courage and a sense for others.
Hekima is an NGO dedicated to contributing to a more equal and just society in Slovakia and abroad through empowering women, enhancing education, and supporting responsible, innovative entrepreneurship.
Since 2021, it’s been working with young people as drivers of positive change, addressing gender-specific inequalities in society. It focuses on developing the skills and values of young people and women, as well as supporting the creation and development of responsible companies and startups that respond to pressing social challenges in communities in Slovakia and abroad.
