Once in a lifetime opportunity… and? What’s next?
Selected as 1 of 100 young innovative leaders from Europe for the Young Transatlantic Innovation Leaders Initiative (YTILI) fellowship was something I consider a once in a lifetime opportunity! The U.S. Department of State in partnership with the German Marshall Fund of the United States have created an outstanding program for all the fellows to be able to strengthen the transatlantic entrepreneurial connections.
*You can also be part of the YTILI family of you APPLY by 11th of January 2019!
September 2017 was when my journey started in Washington, DC and continued in my placement city Seattle, WA. How it all went, you can get all the details HERE!
Many people once they get an opportunity like this will do anything to make the most out of it, well, while there. Others would like to take it step further and maximize the value of the momentum. I’d like to consider myself a doer, so upon my return home in Skopje, I started planing activities to strengthen the relationships with the people I met and worked with while in Seattle and to expose my startup community to all the learnings and the know-how!
1st thing I did was nominate my mentor Ms. Gillian Muessig to take part of our YTILI closing summit in Berlin. As soon as I found out that she has been accepted among other mentors from the US to join us, I reached out to my program manager and partners in order to bring Gillian and her Otlines VC fund partner Ms. Anne Kennedy to work with our partners in Macedonia. Next, with another YTILI fellow from Slovenia, Sladjana Mladjenovic, and with the support of the US Embassy in Ljubljana we’ve managed to bring them there as well.
Things we’ve accomplished for that 1 week mission:
- Limitless networking at the YTILI closing summit in Berlin, many of my co-fellows got the opportunity to work with and learn from Ms. Gillian and Anne;
- Organized working meetings with a Slovenian investor,Kolektor, CEED Slovenia, ABC Accelerator, Incubator Tovarna Podjemov where they also held a workshop on digital marketing for the community in Maribor;
- Together with Sladjana, we brought in the Womenpreneurs Stories initiative in Ljubljana, Slovenia with Ms. Gillian and Anne as first speakers;
- Setting up the 1st ever joint meeting with the 3 investor entities in Macedonia for a stable cooperation and exchange of experiences with the fund for innovations and technological development & South Central Ventures & CEED Business Angels, and Gillian and Anne from Oulines Ventures;
-Speakers and mentors for the 1st Ladies in E-commerce bootcamp;
-Speakers at Womenpreneurs Stories in Skopje;
-Speakers at the 7th Codefest edition in Ohrid;
-Numerous networking opportunities and collaborations, as well meeting with the Public Affairs Officer from the US Embassy in Macedonia.
“A powerful exchange of information and observations coming from various efforts and viewpoints, all in support of expanding the economic prosperity of the region through the support of independent entrepreneurship. It was an honor and a delight to meet you all.” — said Gillian.
*Ms. Gillian was appointed to be a mentor to one of our co-fellows. I insisted that we should all meet her. She and I met at the Columbia Tower Club in Seattle and instantly she became my/our mentor, as well. What I’ve learned from her (and Anne) is invaluable and I wanted to share her know-how with as many people as possible. Grateful I was and still am able to do that!
SERENDIPITY
Serendipity, how do you even explain it, a chance, lucky strike, right place at the right time? I am a firm believer of serendipity and that the Universe is working in its magic ways with the law of attraction…
As we were getting ready to take off from Washington,DC to our placement city Seattle,WA, the group of 7 fellows, six of which men- entrepreneurs from different European countries were talking about how we must meet Jeff Bezos as we’ll be at the ‘birth place’ of Amazon. Note that none of us had any connections to any one at Amazon, still the guys were aiming big. There, as much as I am an optimist by nature, when it comes to business I’m trying to think with a ‘cool head’ and be as realistic as possible, so I suggested that we try to get connected to someone at Amazon that could give us a tour at the HQ’s and possibly do some introduction to the right people.
Sitting next to me on the plane was a lady, complete stranger then, that somehow we broke the ice and started talking until we got to the point: What brings you to Seattle? and me asking her: And you, what do you do in Seattle?
I’m a Product Manager at AMAZON!!! :) said Carolyn Spencer, and she managed to give us the tour at Amazon HQ and introduce us to the people we wanted to get connected with. Throughout our stay there we also became friends and I shared our SwissEP Entrepreneurs-In-Residence program with her, hoping she’ll manage to come to my hometown and work with our startup community.
Seven months later, Carolyn arrived in Skopje as her official placement city and I was thrilled to create a full program, agenda and mini Balkan tour for us to share the know-how with as many startup eco-system actors as possible!
Things we’ve accomplished for that 1 month mission:
- Numerous 1on1 sessions with startup founders in Skopje;
- Workshops on innovation at the Telekom Incubator in Macedonia; Brainster Marketpreneurs Academy, Seavus Educational and Development Center;
- Speaker and panelist at PODIM conference in Slovenia;
- Reuniting with the other fellows in Belgrade, Serbia;
- Meetings with ICT Hub and Digital Worx in Belgrade;
- Bringing the Womenpreneurs Stories initiative in Serbia at the Startit Center at Novi Sad,
- Speaking at the 1st Product Hunt Meetup in Skopje;
-and everything else better explained in her overview of the whole experience HERE!
Seattle Fam ❤ From strangers to family
Something I am super grateful this once in a lifetime YTILI fellowship brought in my life /our lives is the bond we developed in Seattle among majority of the fellows. While there, we learned more about each-others, supported each-others and had lots of fun. There at SeaTac airport on our last day in Seattle, we all wanted to stay connected, so I proposed we try reunions in our home cities.
Being persistent and setting a date, I was happy to take the lead and be the 1st host in Skopje, my hometown. Tomasz from Warsaw, Poland, Janko from Belgrade, Serbia, Ivan from Cyprus/Bulgaria and Ivan from Croatia all traveled on a cold December Friday to Skopje, to grow our friendship and collaboration even further.
Since the 1st reunion, we have continued ‘the reunion tour’ in April in Berlin, Germany for the YTILI closing summit, in May in Belgrade, Serbia, in July in Cyprus, in September in Warsaw, Poland, in December in Sofia, Bulgaria… In a year times from sleepless in Seattle to sleepless in Sofia we’ve managed to meet 7 times and grow into a family.
We are supporting each other’s endeavors and sharing opportunities among each-other, like my flatmate Tomasz from Poland, using his ‘gap month’ to give back to emerging startup eco-systems in Peru, through our SwissEP Entrepreneurs-in-Residence program.
And at the end of the day, the most important part of any ‘once in a life time opportunity’ is THE PEOPLE!
Surround yourself with smart, inspiring, successful people and sky will be the limit.
Grab this YTILI opportunity, by doing the 1st step — submit your application by 11th of January 2019.
As for me and my Seattle fam, we’re onto something, stay tuned…
