Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2025 Rait Rebane: "Dream big, but be patient"

At the beginning of the new year, we asked Rait Rebane, the Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2025 and CEO of the printing company K-Print, about how he found his way into entrepreneurship, what advice he has for fellow entrepreneurs, and what he has learned from holding such a responsible position at a young age.

What inspired you to become an entrepreneur?

I have felt the desire to truly accomplish something for my entire conscious life. Since I do not consider myself a particularly creative person, entrepreneurship became the best form of self-realisation for me through which I can fulfil my need to create and achieve. It is the engine that keeps the mind sharp and offers freedom, responsibility, and the opportunity to directly influence the world around me.

What has been the most instructive failure on your entrepreneurial journey?

There have been many individual mistakes, but the biggest lesson lies not in any single error, but in how one responds to it. The most valuable moments have been those when I have been able to honestly admit a mistake, and not only to myself, but also to the entire team. Transparency in the face of failure builds trust, and that has been my greatest triumph in defeat.

Have you established any principles by which things are done in your company?

The main principle is adaptability. The world around us is developing at an ever-increasing pace, and the agile management approach that startups are known for is becoming essential even for traditional businesses. Those who do not keep up with innovation and fail to learn flexibility will, so to speak, die out like the dinosaurs.

At 35, you lead an international company with nearly EUR 13 million in annual turnover and make weighty decisions. How do you cope with the growing responsibility?

As responsibility grows, maintaining mental health balance becomes critically important. My formula is simple: a heavy mental load requires strong physical effort as a counterbalance. I do not exercise just for my body – it is my way of rebooting my brain. When sleep is good and training is done, even the toughest decisions become easier to make.

What advice would you give to an entrepreneur who is just starting out?

Do not let yourself be discouraged by myths of 'overnight success'. In most cases, success is the result of years of consistent work, not a single brilliant flash of insight. The most important thing is persistence – showing up even on difficult days. Dream big, but be patient, because building great things simply takes time.

The Young Entrepreneur of the Year title also came with an EUR 5,000 prize from LHV. What do you plan to do with it?

When our first child was born in 2021, the company was in a rapid growth phase. I spent evenings and weekends at work, sometimes with a sleeping baby in a stroller next to me in the office. Last June, our second child was born, and now I want to do things differently. We will use the prize money to travel as a whole family and spend quality time together, something that may have been lacking before.

Why have you chosen LHV as your financial partner?

We speak the same language. LHV's entrepreneurial mindset and values align with my own. Cooperation has always been easy and free of bureaucracy. That is exactly the kind of speed and flexibility I expect from a modern bank.