On April 11, 2014, I opened the doors of my trading office to university students for the very first time.
At that moment, I was serving as a branch manager at HITA Securities plc., one of Croatia’s leading brokerage houses, while simultaneously operating in the foreign exchange markets. My daily environment was built around real execution — stocks, currencies, volatility, client portfolios, and decision-making under pressure.
The initiative began through assistant professor Meri Tolic from the University of Dubrovnik, who recognized the value of exposing students to the real financial world beyond textbooks and theory.
The original plan was to organize the sessions at the university.
Instead, I made a different decision.
I believed students should experience markets where they truly happen — in front of live trading terminals, real client operations, and active market movements. Not simulations. Not delayed examples. Real environments, real pressure, and real-time decision making.
That first session became the foundation of what would later evolve into years of educational workshops and live market presentations for both University of Dubrovnik and Erasmus students.
Looking back today, this chapter was never only about trading.
It was about sharing experience openly, helping young people understand how markets truly function, and proving that knowledge becomes far more powerful when connected to reality.
Long before Materra, sovereign systems, and advanced technologies — there was already one constant mission:
Many of those early sessions were never formally documented — they existed simply to share knowledge, not to create content.
Building through knowledge, discipline, and real-world experience.
Mario Urlic
Mario Urlić 