Film or Business?
Viktoriia Molotkova came to Greenwich with a real split in her mind. Film or business. Creative or business. She’s genuinely glad she chose business because business education shapes your mindset first, and once you have that foundation, you can apply it to almost any industry, including creative ones.
After deciding on business, she faced another important question: Business Administration or Entrepreneurship? “Honestly, it felt like a real ‘life decision’.” In the end, she narrowed it down to three clear goals. She wanted to gain hands-on knowledge on how to start a business from scratch and work independently, significantly develop her English, and most importantly, find a genuinely motivated and forward-thinking business partner. That final goal guided her towards Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
Although the course started quite recently, she says it already offers a lot of opportunities to grow, experiment and challenge yourself.
What stood out early on was how practical the learning is. By the middle of her first year, Viktoriia had already implemented strategies from the marketing module into a real business, a local cake shop. Seeing theory translate into real results was extremely motivating.
She also still remembers something one of her professors said in the very first lecture of Introduction to Business: “Travel now, because it changes your mindset and socialise whenever you have the chance.” She still follows those two principles, because they’ve given her far more value than studying 24/7 ever could. She really appreciates that their lecturers understand this balance. If you’re genuinely interested, you naturally give more and get more from the course.
The moments that changed her mindset
Viktoriia always encourages students to get as much as possible from the university experience, not just academically, but socially and professionally too. Becoming a Student Representative, and later an Executive Rep, definitely expanded how she sees responsibility and leadership.
However, the experience that changed her mindset the most was the Enterprise Challenge. It’s an intense, short-term bootcamp that really pushes you outside your comfort zone, and that’s actually why she decided to participate for a second time.
Another defining moment was taking on a leadership role in a first-year marketing group project. There were five of them, all from different cultures and age groups, and at the time, she was genuinely worried about her English. Leading an international team while still developing your language skills sounds risky, and yes, it was. But they ended up achieving the highest group mark. That experience completely changed how she sees her own capabilities.
Running the Table Tennis club
As President of the Table Tennis Club, Viktoriia never expected running a society to be this complex. She had some exposure to project management through her father, but every project, including a Table Tennis society, comes with its own unique challenges.
One thing she encountered early on was a real fear of delegation. She’s not even sure if it has an official name, but it’s definitely real. Leading a society is only worth the time and effort if you truly understand why you’re doing it and how it creates value for others.
In just half a year, she’s learned how to not only lead, but also build structure and effective communication within a team. She’s learned how to approach committee members through cross-cultural management, still learning, but progressing. She’s learned how to collaborate with external coaches without relying on a budget. And most importantly, delegation.
In her culture, there’s a common phrase: “If you want something done perfectly, do it yourself.” But that mindset simply doesn’t work when you’re running a growing society or a business. With over 180 plus members in their chat alone, she’s learned that people need people. Effective businesses and societies are built through collaboration.
Balancing it all
When it comes to balancing academic work with running a club, she won’t pretend it’s easy. She’s still looking for that “golden pillow” where everything is perfectly balanced, and sometimes Table Tennis requires far more attention than she originally expected.
That said, even if the balance isn’t perfect, it’s manageable. What helps most is clear prioritisation, structuring her day effectively, and building a solid internal structure within the society so responsibilities are shared. She also applies a “less is more” approach to her startup, focusing on what genuinely moves things forward.
What she’s building next
Looking ahead, Viktoriia’s short-term goal is to secure a place in the Top 10 of the Enterprise Challenge and confidently pitch her idea. In parallel, she aims to complete a strong internal structure for the Table Tennis Club for the next academic year, laying solid foundations for long-term collaboration with coaches and other university societies.
As an Executive Rep, she also wants to support Student Reps as much as possible, particularly in helping them communicate effectively with their classmates and represent their voices clearly.
Alongside these roles, she’s taking a very conscious and structured approach to developing her startup. Before building or scaling anything, she believes an idea must be properly validated. At the moment, she’s running international focus groups and conducting short 15-minute interviews with participants to explore their real experiences of job interviews in the UK.
This research helps her identify common challenges, confidence gaps and communication barriers, and understand how international graduates and newcomers can use the English they already have, rather than aiming for perfection, to communicate their value and secure their dream job in the UK. For Viktoriia, this validation phase is shaping the direction of the startup and ensuring it is both practical and genuinely impactful.
If you’re into stories like Viktoriia’s, our Business and Management degrees are built for exactly this: practical learning, real projects, and the confidence to lead. Explore the courses and find the one that fits you.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Please note that the availability of modules (and opportunities offered to, and services for, students) can change over time, and things may not be available from one year to the next. In the case of modules, please always check the 'What will you study' section of the course webpage for the course and entry year you are interested in. You can find an index of all our subject areas, within which you will find the individual course pages, at: https://www.gre.ac.uk/subjects
