Cover STORY
Skopje, Valandovo, and Veles took
part in the competition. The students
had the opportunity to present their
companies and products in front
of a five-member jury consisting
of experts in entrepreneurship and
business. The jury had a real chal-
lenge to choose the three best stu-
dent companies: UnicaSpera from
Veles, Find and Buy from Gevgelija,
and Lumenis from Skopje.
The winning student company
at the National Competition, Uni-
caSpera from Veles, had the oppor-
tunity to participate in the European
Competition in Belgrade, on July
16-19.
Every year, Junior Achievement
Europe organizes the Company
of the Year Competition. This
award is granted to the student
company that demonstrates the
best approach to communica-
tion, teamwork, problem-solving,
Summer 2018 / Issue 58
management, product develop-
ment, customer focus, marketing,
and financial results. Team Sure-
Light from UK was awarded the JA
Europe Company of the Year 2018
award in recognition of their out-
standing accomplishments during
the competition.
In addition to the above-men-
tioned programs, students who
participated in the JA Company
Program and Entrepreneurial
Skills Pass in Macedonia last
year will also have the opportu-
nity to ‘shadow,’ or follow a busi-
ness leader for one day. The ‘job
shadow’ concept is a powerful
experience for both young peo-
ple and business leaders involved.
The leaders share their own career
experiences and lessons learned
and include their young ‘shadow’
in the activities of their entire work
day. The students have a chance
COVER STORY
Summer 2018 / Issue 58
to glean what managing a business
looks like in the ‘real world,’ which
brings the world of entrepreneurship
closer to them. The fact that this
experience also makes young peo-
ple more employable will be of inter-
est to prospective employers and
relevant businesses in Macedonia.
This year the Leaders-for-a-
Day event, foreseen for November
2018, will bring together 20 stu-
dents and 20 managers from the
business sector. In this effort JA
Macedonia will collaborate with the
best-in-class organization AmCham
Macedonia in order to enhance its
outreach to policy-makers and the
private sector.
Through the JA Company Pro-
gram in the years to come, JA
Macedonia expects to develop
generations of high school students
with newly-acquired entrepreneurial
mindset.
UPSHIFT – You th Driving
Innovation and Entrepreneurship
W
New Member Highlight
Euromax Resources DOO Skopje is a development company, focused on
building and operating the Ilovica-Shtuka copper and gold project in South East
Macedonia. The ultimate parent company is Euromax Resources Ltd, a Canadian
8
AmCham Macedonia Magazine
public company listed on the Toronto
Stock Exchange under the ticker
“EOX”.
At € 343 million, the Ilovica-Shtuka
Project would be one of the largest
single investments in Macedonia. It
will boost the economy with gross
value added impact on GDP of
around 3% per annum and in the first
two years, during the construction
phase, will create up to 3,200 direct
and indirect jobs.
hile visiting Tetovo a
few weeks ago for a
community event as
part of the fostering
campaign, a young
woman approached me and gave
me the warmest hug – she was a
friend from school that I haven’t seen
in 15 years. My birthplace is a source
of conflicting emotions every time
I go back. But this lovely encoun-
ter reminded me of a period of my
life that probably made me who I’m
today.
Arita and I would’ve never met
if it wasn’t for a youth program we
both attended. My generation was
marked by several circumstances
that I believe shaped our education
and our character in a specific way.
The instability of the system, the
tension of the deeply divided soci-
ety, was something that neither our
families, nor the school management
really understood or explained how it
will impact us and our future. Amid
the chaos that became part of every
aspect of our lives, the support and
the structure that we weren’t even
aware we needed came from an
unexpected place.
Autor: Simona Ristoska,
Executive Assistant and
Innovation Focal Point,
UNICEF
We shared some fond memories and it made me realize
that the workshops we attended weren’t just a fun place
to be – we started developing most of our communication
skills during that time. The mentors provided us with the
flexible environment which was so different from the reg-
ular classes and it helped us express our creativity. I still
keep some of the sketches we worked on. I didn’t realize
back then, but during the workshops we identified our-
selves by the problem we were solving; the lines that were
usually dividing us by gender, ethnicity, age, social status
– were somehow fading.
It also made me realize how much we need this kind of
youth programs to be part of the regular education sys-
tem in structured way. And the available data on what our
young people are facing every day is urging us to start
thinking strategically about the challenges.
Fact on Our Country’s Youth
12% of the country’s population are adolescents aged
10 to 19. That’s a lot of potential and creative energy. But
for a country that ranks fifth in the world according to youth
unemployment (46.7%), where this rate is twice as high as
the general unemployment rate (23.7%) – that’s a lot of
wasted potential and creative energy.
International assessments such as the Programme for
International Student Assessment (PISA) show that two-
thirds of Macedonia’s 15-year-olds are functionally illiterate
in each tested subject area. Moreover, we fail to recognize
that the countries that score the highest scores on PISA
reform much quicker, and that we are constantly facing a
AmCham Macedonia Magazine
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