Cover Story
Fall 2018 / Issue 59
societal costs (damaged roads, car
crashes, incurring costs for rebuilding
the same roads, etc) along the way.
Given the situation, if the public
institutions (Ministry of Economy,
State Market Inspectorate, Institute
for Accreditation) take appropriate
measures in order to solve the afore-
mentioned problem, then we would
have controlled quality of construc-
tion materials and fair market com-
petition. Institutions should increase
their expertise in the implementation
of the new laws within a given indus-
try, as well as have the willingness to
take responsibility for solving a given
complaint regarding the quality of
materials.
The struggles of operating in an
unfair market spurred our team to
search for alternative markets and
expand our list of products. Our team
still believes that quality will become
the premise for any capital and infra-
structure changes in the country, but
it takes courageous leaders to step
and take some serious actions to
solve the systematic problems.
Besides taking some serious
measures to bring innovation within
our industry, still most of the time
our management team is feeling the
pressure of instability and lack of
opportunities to determine the mar-
ket demand. The shrinking of domes-
tic market and closure of companies
within the metallurgical industry
resulted in significant decrease in
sales and investment, because at the
beginning of operations, the com-
pany was selling 400.000-500.000
tons/year, whereas currently it sells
100.000-150.000 tons/year.
In spite of this, we try to create
our own light at the end of the tun-
nel by working on the development
of a brand new product (EcoGrower)
used for sustainable and organic
agriculture. EcoGrower is 100%
natural and mineral foliar fertilizer
that acts as a natural plant’s vacci-
nation and immunity strengthener,
while promoting sustainable living.
This fertilizer is about to bring sup-
port for farmers who want to get rid
of chemical fertilizers and are willing
to grow healthy products. Besides
being 100% eco-friendly (no toxic
thresholds during production and
final usage), EcoGrower is econom-
ical (can be used for all varieties of
plants, vegetables and fruits) and
it diminishes the water loss from
plants during dry seasons. Our team
created this product by conducting
thorough research about 21st centu-
ry’s challenges (food and agriculture
challenges), as well as applicability
of the latest innovative concept of
nanomilling technology. The aim of
this product is to encourage agricul-
tural entities and individual farmers
to take responsibility for their actions
(soil pollution) and be part of the
movement for sustainable and
organic agriculture.
During the past two years we man-
aged to patent this mineral fertilizer
in Macedonia, as well as got recog-
nition (1st place) for the innovative-
ness of the product on the regional
business competition organized by
Macedonia2025.
Despite this success, we are still
faced with many obstacles for get-
ting approval to sell this product on
the domestic and international mar-
kets. This indicates that bureaucracy
is one of the obstacles for compa-
nies that want to innovate, especially
if your company is operating within a
‘traditional’ industry.
EcoGrower is a representation of
how a non-metal mining industry can
innovate and create ‘green-jobs.’ We
are aware that the time has come for
both mining industry and public insti-
tutions to be more transparent and
engage with stakeholders. Our team
is ready to change the picture of our
industry, by being an example to be
followed, and to be an innovator that
will make this industry attractive for
young people. Therefore, the govern-
ment should take serious measures
in the area of quality control to enable
conditions for fast and significant
progress in the mining industry.
AmCham Macedonia Magazine
19