This past year marked the tenth year from establishing the organization and we are very happy with the progress achieved. Our efforts in raising awareness about the need for more investment and the continuous support for aspiring entrepreneurs and business leaders, is what makes our organization invaluable to the economic advancement of Macedonia. The great number of successful workshops, seminars, business forums, roundtable discussions, leadership development programs and networking events organized through the years, has helped build the capacities of the Macedonian business leaders of tomorrow while improving the perceptions of the country both home and abroad.
We are an independent, non-government, non-profit and non-political organization with the sole purpose to assist in the growth of Macedonia economically. Our administrative staff is paid for by the fees charged to Board members and all other money raised is used to support education and business efforts in the Republic of Macedonia.
With the combined efforts of all of our members, our landmark event, the Macedonia2025 Summit once again raised the bar. It felt so empowering to hear the feedback of the attendees, and now, we all can proudly say that Macedonia is the home of one of the best business events in South-East Europe, inspiring action and change. In 2017, the Summit has been attended by over 450 people and provided great input on the country and region’s economic growth. We have also organized events in Paris, Vienna, Stockholm, Toronto and Melbourne in order to promote the county and to build linkages.
Our leadership development programs have been expanded with an additional scholarship for the Zafirovski Advance Management course at Kellogg School of Business at the Northwestern University in Chicago. We have also launched the Bitove Entrepreneurship program with Canadian Executive Service Organization CESO, to provide mentorship and guidance to small businesses and entrepreneurs in Macedonia. In addition to another successful edition of the LEADER project, which provides the best business education for young Macedonian professionals.
We continuously work on building better internal capacities, in order to provide more services to our members, supporters and investors. Our staff keeps growing and we have dedicated Board Members, Honorary Board members, Leaders Club and others committed to leadership and excellence, providing tangible results, plans and programs.
We are pleased to announce that as of 2018, our board will be expanded with five new board members who bring different sets of expertize and know-how. We are happy to welcome on board the following accomplished individuals:
– Mihail Mateski, General Manager and Partner of Greentech, Serbia and Macedonia;
– Alek Icev, Engineering Manager at Google, USA;
– Kati Iceva, Principal Software Engineering Manager in Microsoft, USA;
– Jana Marin, Member of the Board of Directors and Deputy CEO of Acibadem Sistina Hospital, Skopje; and,
– Jerry Naumoff, CEO of Taskforce BPO, Macedonia.
For 2018 we have set a very intensive agenda with events in Macedonia, the region and globally. We will remain dedicated to our main objectives of attracting foreign investment, strengthening the linkages with the diaspora professionals, and we will further expand our leadership development programs. This coming year we will conduct the Trade Mission and Study Tour of Armenia to expand our outreach in terms of business and education as the main drivers for healthy and sustainable development. We will also continue providing relevant input to the Macedonian policy makers with our research and analysis activities as we launch and fully execute on our Think-and-Do-Tank initiative. This newly formed global Council of Experts will only attract more valuable talent, contributing to the overall positive evolution of Republic of Macedonia and ultimately bettering the lives of its citizens within the country and globally.
We are all looking forward to what we will achieve together in 2018 and beyond. For more information, read our annual report for 2017 HERE