Professor Mile Terziovski gave a lecture yesterday, at the Museum of Macedonian Struggle in Skopje to an auditorium of sixty young entrepreneurs and university professors. The event titled “Re-engineering the Organization through Innovation and Entrepreneurship” was split in two parts. The lecture was followed by a workshop which guided the attendees in an interactive implementation of the main conclusions towards re-engineering a real organization. The attendees used these examples and gave a brief presentation regarding their own business or business idea.

Professor Terziovski shared the presentation that he recently gave at a ceremony at the Bangladesh University of Business and Technology in front of 4000 students. He introduced his presentation with the question What is an entrepreneurial personality, gave his own definition for the word entrepreneur and continued to reflect on his understanding of the Macedonian society, culture and education and the ongoing state of progress in relation with the main conclusions of the leading trends in the world, in what he called the extreme future.

He said that there is war for talent around the world. Countries and entire sectors are working hard to attract hard-working young people and professionals. In Macedonia, Professor Terziovski said, there are two trends regarding this issue- young people moving out and at the same time investments coming in, which causes disparity down the road. He said he has nothing against that people are looking to start or continue their career elsewhere, but he reminded young people that it is much more rewarding when one participates in the development of his or her own country. “The investments that are here can expand and send an impulse to other potential investors, if there is a good source of quality work-force and talent to supply the demand of developing sectors.” “Macedonia is not the only country with this issue,” he said, adding that “1.4 million Australians are living abroad.” Indeed, two of the attendees in the auditorium had actually come from Australia to live and work in Macedonia. “Think twice before you start thinking about moving out,” advised he.

Professor Terziovski noted an article from The Economist saying that economies which are based on entrepreneurship outperform economies which are not. He thinks that Macedonia is developing a culture of entrepreneurship and should continue this trend with the support of relevant organizations, institutions and individuals who can help in any way they can. He also urged universities in the country to reach out- join international projects, develop the best curriculum, best teaching methods and hands-on experience for a niche field, such as IT which has good prospects in Macedonia but still, there is a shortage of work-ready individuals. “Countries with responsive, agile education systems are best-placed to resolve the issues that are coming along and Macedonia needs to develop Generation Y managers.”

He advised that Macedonian universities should expand their capacity to absorb new knowledge and know-how. “There are hundreds of Macedonian professors, academicians around the world, who have been educated or who had become experts abroad. There are people who are eager to cooperate. Leverage their knowledge. Replicate it, bring it forth, share it and keep experts in the house.” Professor Terziovski compared the Macedonian system of higher education with universities around the world that he is familiar with, and pointed that “there is too much structure in universities here and structure stifles innovation. The university must be conducive to sharing information and knowledge between departments and professors.” Upon opening the floor for questions or comments, the younger generation was delightfully more eager to participate than the clique of academics who withheld their inquiries.

Concluding with the role of universities and education as a pre-requisite for good practices towards innovation in the workplace, Professor Terziovski went on to discuss the ways to build innovation capability and the various degrees of leadership involvement and the dilemma of profit versus control. Also, he offered a number of infographics on making career choices, sources of entrepreneurial motivation and source of new business ideas. The groups in the workshop had to explain why their subject business model needs to be reengineered, the characteristics of the new or improved business model and the leadership style to lead the process of change in the company.

Professor Mile Terziovski is Dean of the Curtin Graduate School of Business in Perth, Australia. He taught at the University of Melbourne for 10 years, Monash University for 4 years and worked for Rio Tinto Ltd for 17 years as an Engineer in line and project management roles. Professor Terziovski has consulted to a diverse group of companies both large and small, including Motorola, Dow Chemical, Ford Australia, PETRONAS in Malaysia, and companies in France: Merck, IBM, Xerox, and La Poste. He has served on the President’s Advisory Council for innovation and Entrepreneurship, established by the former President of the Republic of Macedonia. He is a Former Deputy Chair of the Academic Board, at the Australian Institute of Management in Melbourne. Professor Terzivoski is an Honorary Board Member of Macedonia2025.