1. Heritage 

My name is Adil Mehmed and I am 22 years old. Until my 14^th year of age, I lived in my hometown, Kochani. Then I signed a professional sports contract and moved to Skopje for the next four years, where I started and finished high school. My university choice led me to Manchester, the United Kingdom, to eventually find myself doing master’s studies in St. Gallen, Switzerland. Now I have three homes away from home.

2. Success Story 

My first home away from home is Skopje. I started practicing karate when I was just 4 years old. Ten years and 3 national championship titles later, I signed my professional contract with the Karate Club Metalurg from Skopje. In the following 4 years, I added 8 national championship titles, several medals from Balkan and Mediterranean Championships, a 5^th place on a European Championship and award for the best karate athlete in the country in 2013 in cadet category. In the meantime, I never for a second jeopardized my education and this enabled me to receive multiple offers from prestigious universities for my undergraduate studies.

I accepted the offer to study Business Studies and Economics at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, which made the city of Manchester my second home away from home. While I was reading for my bachelor’s degree, I continuously put efforts into extracurricular activities both inside and outside the University.  For example, I was a Student Representative for my cohort and a Student Ambassador of the School of Social Sciences but also a web-contributor for the National Youth Council of Macedonia. I also became a National Universities’ Karate Champion of Great Britain. Mixing both academic and extracurricular efforts and engagements led me to receive two distinguished awards upon my graduation this summer: The Faculty of Humanities Dean’s Award of Achievement – as a proof of my academic excellence – and the Stellify Award – The University of Manchester’s most prestigious extracurricular accolade.

My pursuit of excellence and challenging environments led me to the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland. This September, I started my master’s studies in Strategy and International Management, a programme ranked no.1 in the world by the Financial Times for 9 consecutive years. However, I did not choose this programme only because of its reputation, but for the values that it nurtures, the purpose it follows, and the opportunity that is given to us to plan and implement a social project, among others. It only took me 2 months to feel the city of St. Gallen as my third home away from home.

As for my future plans, I couldn’t say much at this moment because the future is ever uncertain. However, I can see myself in a business development or a strategic management role. Eventually, I would like to start-up my own company.

3. Macedonia2025/ Giving Back to the Homeland 

Even though I haven’t had a full-time job until now, I have done several internships, one of which happened to be at Macedonia2025. When I started, I already knew the mission of the organisation, but during my time at the office, I learned about the methods the staff use to implement it. I also got insight into the economic and political situations in the country. This motivated me even more to work hard and continuously think about ways to aid the progress of the motherland. I am certain that Macedonia2025 plays a significant role in this process, and for this purpose, my relationship with the organisation remains intact.