Venturing on the borders of Southeast Europe, in Macedonia
I am currently at the border of Europe (Macedonia) for the global entrepreneurship week. I have been invited by a truly international friend, also MBA alumnus from UAMS, who’s working now for USAID, as well as been in the former foreign investment agency in Macedonia and many other places accross the planet. USAID has been active in the area focusing on investing in more mature and fundamentally needed segments of the Macedonian economy. Next is to build also some foundations that can seed a first generation of start-ups. With experts flying in from Silicon Valley, as well as from neighbouring countries (business angel associations, VCs and foreign entrepreneurs) a one-day conference session is being organized by the BredCenter tomorrow. Objective is to achieve some cross fertilizatioin between the local entrepreneurs and the participants from outside. The stakes are high as a lot of talented individuals are moving abroad (Western Europe/US). I hope that they understand that this is a very dounting job with a lot of uncertenties and still a lot of unavailable ingredients to make it work. Yet most importantly the drive and the dedicated souls seem to be present. And if there is one thing needed the most then it are the hungry and dedicated souls. I hope they find the support that they need to make it work!
As I have been working the whole day in a loungy coffee place (Plaza Toros) with free WIFI (thanks!) downtown Skopje, I was surprised to see so many iphone users around (! = niche market that can be served). Automatically, my gut feeling would argue that mobile technologies should be something the Macedonian people should be focusing on (lower entry barriers, quicker ROI compared bio/cleantech). Also with 50% of the countries living in one city, it is a perfect living lab for mobile technologies.
Tomorrow I am supposed to engage in talks with local entrepreneurs and business angel initiatives originating in other parts of SE Europe (Bulgarian BA, Romanian BA and Slovenian BA) and provide some experiece/toughts on ‘venturing in Belgium/Europe’ and on the general ‘access to finance markets’ in Europe/US. Also a few VCs active in Central/Eastern Europe will be present. Previously, I had the benefit of digging into other early ‘ecosystems for startups’ in other eastern European countries (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic), but Macedonia is quiet different. It is not an EU member country, and also not yet a candidate one (but talks with the EU are supposed to start soon). Especially if you’re just outside a 500M user market it offers a lot of competitive disadvantages (but luckily also some advantages).
Anyway, I am looking forward to what I am about to experience and learn in the next 2 days.
