Heritage 

My name is Kiril Panov, I am 22 years old and I am from Strumica, but I have spent the last eight years studying in Spain and the USA. My basketball success in Macedonia has taken me to Spain where one of the top basketball youth academies offered me a scholarship to live and study in the city of Alicante at the Spanish coast and in 2019 I decided to become a student-athlete in the U.S. After several weeks of deciding between Canadian and U.S universities, I chose Mississippi College as my next destination to pursue a degree in Business Administration and Finance. Both Spain and the U.S were a huge success and a wonderful experience for me and I am happy to continue my path. I am committed to my goals and will always give back to my country and the people.

Success Story 

Before going to the U.S, I was awarded as the best basketball player three years in a row in the Valencia Region and also I graduated from high school with a 9.47 GPA and two times first-class honors. During these years in Spain, I have been an active member of the Macedonian National Basketball Team for the U14, U16, U18, and U20 teams. We have played many European Championships and international tournaments successfully while representing Macedonia in the best way possible. While in Spain, I studied 4 languages at the same time and I can proudly say that nowadays I speak fluently English, Spanish, and Catalan besides Macedonian and Serbian-Croatian. I have participated in three Spanish Championships finishing at the 9^th position in the whole of Spain.

In 2019 I decided to pursue my dream and become a student-athlete in American college In the U.S, I have continued my basketball journey but also I have taken part in the Global Business Dimensions Project where our group collaborated with different state agencies analyzing international business opportunities and challenges that the companies had at the moment. I have been offered to be the vice-president of the Accounting Society in Mississippi College but due to tight schedule, I was obligated to refuse this position. This summer, I was doing an internship at an accounting and consulting firm developing analysis tasks.

Currently, I am working on a project involving the Free Trade Zones of North Macedonia with several different economic development agencies of the U.S attracting investors and developing trade relations. I am truly enjoying this project that I am working on, and I am hoping that my future career will be related to international business.

Macedonia2025/ Giving Back to the Homeland 

Many years of studying and living abroad have taught me how to deal with different cultures, different mentalities, traditions, languages, etc. My international experiences have always been a way to gain knowledge and expertise and then transmit it to our country and help as much as possible. I believe that only by traveling the world, seeing how other countries operate, we will be able to learn new and more efficient ways of leading Macedonia. In the future years, I see myself as a business owner that develops relationships and connections with international companies that will help to improve the lives of Macedonian citizens.   I truly believe that we have a lot to improve in the business sector as a country and I would like to implement more efficient and successful ways of collaborating internationally. In conclusion, my goals are to economically develop Macedonia by a political or non-political role nonetheless.