Macedonian National Business Plan Competition: 2008

Prior to beginning my Fulbright Professorship in Macedonia to teach entrepreneurship and economics at the State University of Tetova, I wrote a proposal in search of financial support to conduct a national business plan competition for university students in Macedonia.

I could find no support in the US and tried also to find a US corporation with a presence in Macedonia who might be interested in supporting a Macedonian project. The US corporations in Macedonia were totally non-responsive. Not even the courtesy of a rejection letter!

The US Embassy let me know they had a grants program that might be able to support such a project as I envisioned, but there was a stipulation – the grant could not go to me or even the State University - it had to be to a Macedonian based NGO (non profit). So, I started researching NGOs in Macedonia, contacted a few and was fortunate to get an enthusiastic response from the Macedonian affiliate of the international organization Junior Achievement. The JA organization in Macedonia had a good history of sponsorship of entrepreneurship programs at the high school level and Ms. Jasmina Maneva, JA-Macedonia executive director, was very interested in expanding its programs into the universities.

So, together with Ms. Maneva, we wrote a proposal, submitted it to the Public Affairs Democracy Grants Program at the US Embassy and received an award of $18,200. The competition was to culminate in an awards dinner on November 21, 2008 – to coincide with the worldwide celebration of Global Entrerpreneurship Week, sponsored in part by the E M Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, MO. My immediate hope was that we could get the Ambassador to be part of the awards ceremony. So I mentioned it to several Embassy staff and then directly to the ambassador when he appeared at an orientation meeting for Macedonian Fulbrighters at the Embassy. Most thought his attendance was a possibility, including the Ambassador. (As it turned out the Ambassador did attend to everyone’s delight!)

Work on the project began while I was still in the US as publicity materials, rules for the competition, and venues were considered and written in draft form. One complication was the need to have all materials available in three languages – English, Macedonian and Albanian. Through the hard work and competence of Ms. Maneva and the input and advice from my State University of Tetova colleague Mr. Blake Childs (Peace Corp volunteer) the materials were drafted, reviewed and disseminated first by email to all university faculties in the nation and then, in early October, printed materials including posters were distributed and hung in all universities,

It was my opinion that my personal appearance would be vital to garnering faculty and student interest in the competition. I was pleased to learn that most university programs included entrepreneurship and business planning in their formal curriculum and not just in the economics faculties but in other faculties like engineering and law. What this meant was that I would not have to spend a lot of time explaining what entrepreneurship and business plans were. So, as promised in our proposal, I spent half of the month of October traveling around the nation talking directly with students and professors about the role of business plans and competitions including some instruction in key business plans concepts like the value proposition and business model.

My visits to universities were made possible and coordinated by JA’s Ms. Maneva and this was not a trivial task. She had to make hundreds of phone calls, follow-up calls, return calls to people not in their offices, calls to people who did not return phone calls, wrong numbers and various other sundry insults. The problems were overcome through her persistence and hard work. She succeeded in arranging 12 different presentations in all of Macedonia’s major population and university centers. In all I spoke to more than 600 students and faculty in a 14 day period.

After that we sat back and waited to the plans to arrive. In the proposal we said we hoped for 30 but I would accept 20 as a measure of success. In the end when the submission deadline of November 7 rolled around we had 37 plans representing 10 universities from throughout the country. Quite a relief for all of us who put so much effort into this project!

With 37 plans in three different languages, the week of November 7-14 was quite hectic with doing translations into English and then meeting with a panel of judges to select the top 10 teams for the oral competitions a week later on November 21. We did it and then sat back to wait to see how the oral competitions would unfold.

The ten finalists and their academic mentors/advisors were invited all expenses paid to the State University of Tetova to present their plans orally to a distinguished panel of judges. The judges who appear in the group photo are from left to right: JUDGE Dr. Nasser Raimi, entrepreneurship text author and member of State University Economics Faculty; Dr. Bexheti, Rector, State University of Tetova, JUDGE Mr. Ilya Vuckov Mr. Ilya Vuckov, Entrepreneur, winner of Best Business Plan of Year, Macedonia 2007 and President and Founder, AGV Design, Skopje, MK, US Ambassador Philip Reeker, JUDGE Ms Jasmina Maneva, Executive Director JA- Macedonia and JUDGE Mr. Blerim Zlatku, President North-West Macedonia Chamber of Commerce. (JUDGE John Sumansky is not in the group photo. He is shown in the photo making remarks in front of event signage.)

The oral part of the competition began at 1:30 PM and was done by 4:30 PM. The judges worked from 4:30 to 5:30 and in that time selected the top five and then from that group named the first and second place winners. The first place team received $1,000 cash, second place got $500, three honorable mentions got $250 per team while the remaining five finalists each got $100. Faculty mentors also received cash prizes of $100.

The highlight of the day occurred when the US Ambassador Philip Reeker joined us in Tetova to make a brief speech on entrepreneurship and announce the winners! One of the photos in this blog the Ambassador making remarks at the awards ceremony. He made himself available for photos afterwards. Everyone in Tetova was most happy that the Ambassador would come to town to participate in this event.

This turned out to be a very successful event and as it turns out, for me, a great Fulbright experience. I met and had coffee with dozens of faculty at 10 universities, talked with hundreds of students, drove to and visited all of Macedonia’s major cities and together with JA and my colleague Blake Childs at State University of Tetova (SUT) orchestrated a national event that, because it took place at State University, helped increase the visibility and presence of one of the nation’s newest and least know higher education institution.

I’ll take this opportunity to thank everyone: Ambassador Reeker,. Embassy staff especially Gazmend Ilazi, Amy Storrow and Public Affairs Officer Ryan Rowlands, Ms. Jasmina Maneva, JA, Mr. Blake Childs, SUT Rector Dr. Bexheti, Ms. Maja Vucinic, translator and also Professor Senad Abduli, International Affairs Office, SUT. If I missed someone please forgive me because there were many others who made this event possible.

Entrepreneurship policy in a different context

By design, I have been fairly involved in entrepreneurship-related things during my visit here. I have spoken with government officials, entrepreneurs, NGO leaders, educators and private citizens and I have learned some things.

Among the more important things learned are that: 1. ) the role of entrepreneurship as public policy for economic growth needs to be broadened and 2,) the context of economies in transition influence a great deal how we assess especially the longer term impacts of entrepreneurship promotion programs.

The broadening of the role of entrepreneurship programs as economic development policy
The argument used to support government intervention to generate more entrepreneurial activity is founded in the thinking that entrepreneurship per se generates not only direct economic benefits like jobs and income but it also produces positive economic externalities. And, economic theory suggests that when the production of something generates positive externalities, market solutions result in too little of that activity being produced – to the detriment of society.

When applied to entrepreneurs, externalities theory tells us that the market is not likely to produce enough entrepreneurs, the assumption being of course that entrepreneurs generate economic growth. Getting more entrepreneurs requires some market intervention like government programs and other incentives to get more than what the market alone would produce. This is the realm of public policy.

Entrepreneurship as public policy also has gained favor stemming from the pragmatic needs of policy makers to have some policy alternative they can use to grow regional and local economies. Old regional growth policies aimed at attracting existing businesses from elsewhere through elaborate and generous tax incentives are proving to be not successful.

Policy makers around the world have become increasingly aware that not every region in every state is going to get that next Toyota or Volkswagen plant - no matter what the size of tax incentives a region or nation is willing to offer. Regions are not likely to be able to use incentives to grow jobs in a region by importing them. Consequently, to grow, regions may have to rely on growth from within through entrepreneurship, small business growth, jobs and income expansion.

The above text is pretty much orthodox thinking as it relates to places like Northeast Pennsylvania. Entrepreneurship policy and programs in Macedonia presents us with a different context in which to look at policies and programs related to entrepreneurship and economic growth.

Macedonian Context: Economy in Transition
Macedonia falls into a category of a developing transitional economy and as such I suggest that in a developing, transitional economy any entrepreneurial activity is good. Entrepreneurship literature might suggest that to have growth, a nation or region should allocate resources to activities that promote entrepreneurship of the kind that actually contributes to the growth of the regional or national economic pie. It is of the kind of entrepreneurship Professor Baumol labeled “productive”*.

To be sure, productive entrepreneurship is desirable and some evidence of it can be found in Macedonia. USAID support has produced a major study that has identified sectors where entrepreneurial activity could generate growth based on certain comparative advantages. The identified sectors are: Electro-mechanical (light manufacturing), Fashion industries (apparel, footwear and furniture) and Information and communication technology. And policy and program dollars are following this path as support is available to existing firms in these sectors. But the curious part of this effort is that there are no direct linkages between this work and the entrepreneurship support programs of the national government support. While they are no precluded from seeking support from other government programs, there is no direct support available that set aside as incentives to start up new ventures in these three sectors. At best this renders the policy incomplete.

Productive entrepreneurship while most desirable may be the most difficult to generate in an environment of ineffective government, poor education infrastructure, weak legal and financial systems, poor transport and postal systems and corruption, etc. It might be true that at certain stages of economic development, public policy aimed only at producing “productive” entrepreneurship may be unrealistic. The basic economic infrastructure may be insufficient to allow for productive entrepreneurship to drive economic growth.

Baumol also described a brand of entrepreneurship labeled “unproductive”. The label sounds pejorative and I think not wholly satisfactory in the context of under developed transition economy like Macedonia. In keeping with Baumol’s description, unproductive entrepreneurship is “less good” than productive because they only end up dividing up a constant economic pie and clearly are not growth engines. In an examination of the status of entrepreneurship in Macedonia most of entrepreneurship is of this kind. But, unlike what the term “unproductive” implies, the context of Macedonia in transition from command to market causes us to look at so called unproductive entrepreneurship in a more favorable light for two reasons: 1.) unproductive entrepreneurship can have use as employment policy and 2. ) unproductive entrepreneurship can build a business culture which has significant positive intergenerational effects.

Employment Programs. Unproductive entrepreneurship programs can be used to sop up excess talented labor. Indeed, the Macedonian Ministry of Economy has a specific program that provides 2500 Euros to unemployed people to help them cover the costs of registering and formalize their own businesses – any business. This program as of 2008 provided 530 grants to register new businesses and an additional 170 grants for formalizing plans.

In an economy that is not yet able to provide enough jobs for its skilled and educated people, entrepreneurship of ANY KIND appears to be a clever way to get people to use their talents as entrepreneurs and be self-employed. The annals of entrepreneurship in the US are filled with stories of people who used being fired or laid off or downsized as an opportunity to start their own business. Why not incentivize the unemployed in Macedonia to start their own businesses? In this sense, unproductive entrepreneurship may fall short as development policy but may be good as employment policy.

Business Culture. Programs that encourage, create and support private entrepreneurs create a business class that did not exist but which are vital to the future of transition economies. The transition from more than 50 years of command type systems to market systems with private ownership of business, can be made easier if there is an indigenous business class to draw upon. As in most transition economies in the post-command economy era, there are no few models and mentors for new entrepreneurs to draw upon and few children are able learn business from their parents. Foreign business advisors do not help. There are no locally grown and owned social or cultural or behavioral business models to pass on the next generation. So, government programs that increase the number of business owners – could be seen as laying a foundation in the form of a business class on which future generations can draw.

Overall, current entrepreneurship programs in Macedonia will surely help identify entrepreneurs who do have the potential for business activities that could generate growth – export sales, import substitution and locations for foreign investment. If Baumol is correct and there is a fixed amount of entrepreneurial talent available to Macedonia given its population, then Macedonia cannot afford to miss even one potential entrepreneur.

With this perspective based in the context of a transitional economy entrepreneurship takes on a much broader role as an engine of growth. This broader model is probably something worth much further investigation over the longer term- especially the intergenerational transfer of business culture. Also, to what extent is entrepreneurship as employment policy setting the stage for subsequent entrepreneurial activity that does produce economic growth, more jobs and more income wealth and prosperity? I don’t know that such a question has ever been addressed before.
_____________________________________________________________________
Note: In Baumol’s work, reference is made to a type of entrepreneurship labeled “destructive”. Destructive entrepreneurship refers to activities that might fall into the realm of illegal or corrupt or use of power for personal gain. This idea is elaborated upon in a paper by Desai and Acs which explores the extent of destructive entrepreneurship in developing economies where opportunities for profit outpace the evolution of institutions” [page 3]. While I agree with their observation that this kind of entrepreneurship may be a very large part of entrepreneurial activities in Macedonia, I do not have enough information about these kinds of activities to offer any comment but I did want to acknowledge their existence in Macedonia. Some estimates of the underground economy say that, if measured, it would add about thirty percent to the reported national GDP.

References
Baumol, William, J. (1990), “Entrepreneurship: Productive, Unproductive and Destructive”, Journal of Political Economy, 98(5), 893-921

Desai, Sameeksha and Zoltan Acs (2007) “A Theory of Destructive Entrepreneurship”,
JENA Economic Research Papers, 2007-085

Looking at US Elections from Afar

The US presidential election was a political out-of-body experience for me. I sat in my Tetovo, Macedonia flat watching events unfold in another country – my country!

Of course I stayed up all night watching the returns on CNN Europe. Because of the time difference, the election results did not start coming in until after midnight. So, it was not until 5 AM - with me in a caffeine-induced stupor – that I heard the announcement that Obama had reached the 270 electoral votes mark.

It was rather exciting, so I flipped through the channels to see what other stations were doing for coverage. I counted five different stations doing live coverage of the elections in five different languages. I was impressed with how much LIVE coverage was being given to the election from places like Kosovo, Albania, Croatia and Serbia not to mention BBC and local Macedonian stations.

I can’t say that I was surprised by the extent of coverage. In the weeks leading up to the election, local residents were quick to ask my thoughts about the election and to give theirs. Some of their comments had to do the two candidates’ friendship with Greece and what that implied about their sympathy – or lack of it - with Macedonia on the issue of name. Many thought McCain would be more sympathetic to the Macedonian side on the name issue. Other Macedonians were curious about whether America was ready to elect a black president. Regardless of the issue, local residents had a much greater level of awareness and interest in the election than I expected.

As I recall, during the time of my last residency in Eastern Europe (1994), there were no conversations about the US that revealed this level of interest and political awareness. I suspect that cable TV and stations like the BBC and CNN (now in most homes here) can account for some of the interest and more importantly the informed nature of that interest. Also, Macedonia’s application for membership in the EU has made many here more aware of how their future is tied to other countries – in both Europe and America.

About these conversations about America. Yes, they are more informed. But, at the same time they are also much more complicated than they used to be in 1994; going far beyond a simple curiosity about a mysterious place called America. America is no longer a mystery to most Eastern Europeans. And they were not the kind of conversation I had decades ago about an America where streets were thought to be paved in gold. No one here thinks that anymore. Gone also are the days where America was talked about as a place to be revered, the America that saved Europe in THE war, aided poor countries and occupied a high moral ground. The Bush years all but washed away the latter views and replaced them instead with talk about America’s warts and shortcomings: a free press that has all but sold its soul to the party in power, the misadventures in Iraq, the feckless hunt for bin Laden, the “cowboy” who alienated European allies and the American financial excesses now wreaking havoc with the world’s economy and so on.

Yet, amidst this new and more sobering view of America, there remain many here who
speak sadly of the fact that the it is now likely that they may not ever have a chance to visit, let alone emigrate to America. On local TV there are businesses that advertise trying to sell hope to Macedonians - hope that they can get a visa to gain access to America. I can tell you, visas are not for sale.

Why is it significant that many in eastern Europe no longer see America as a possible dream? Because when many live in an economy unable to provide jobs to its talented people (40 percent overall unemployment and by some estimates as high as 60 percent for those under 30 years of age), the absence of America as a dream makes life here just a little less hopeful. Today, the reality is that US immigration policies offer them little hope for realizing the dream as my parents did in the early part of the 20th century.

Life is also a little less optimistic for Macedonians because in a real sense many feel left out, even within Eastern Europe. Bulgaria, for example is now an EU member and as such does not allow free and easy border crossings for non member Macedonians. Albania to the west is in no better economic condition that Macedonia. The same for Kosovo to the North. No reason to go those places. Political tensions remain with Serbia especially after Macedonia’s official state recognition of Kosovo. To the South is Greece with whom Macedonians have an uneasy relationship because of the Macedonian name and because Greece like Bulgaria is in the EU.
Nowadays, the most hopeful thing for many Macedonians is entrance into the European Union. Some unrealistically see EU membership as THE thing that will change life for the better. For their sakes, I hope they are right; but I know better. The move to prosperity will be harder than a simple political accession into the European Union.

Final Thoughts

As the rest of my class has noted, Macedonia is a beautiful country, full of culture and hospitality, especially from people like Dr. Behxeti and Blake Childs. After a week in the country, the most surprising realization I had was the fact that the states of Macedonia and Northeast PA economies were essentially no different. Emile also noticed this connection when she said “Macedonia and Northeast PA are very close” in her Blog. To be honest, this was not a realization I expected, especially since Macedonia was a post communist society, and Northeast PA was part of the United States free market economy. However, a number of similarities between the two regions make the comparison possible. For example:
· Both regions are transitioning. (Macedonia from a centralized system of communism and Northeast PA from mining and exporting coal)
· Both regions are in a position to transition because of a number of developable and exportable products. In Macedonia, agriculture and competitive labor for both domestic & international business. In Northeast PA, education and technology.
· Both regions are providing benefits to business through tax free zones, tax breaks, and incubators to facilitate this economic transition.
What these examples begin to show are the similarities between countries that many people, including myself, miss today in the United States because of our blindness to other countries and their economies. Frank, while I agree with you, these similarities between our countries (especially from a program stand point) should not have been so surprising. In reality they really were. Possibly it is the physical distance between countries, or the general perception of our economy is so strong that we do not need to look at other economies. Also, American society may lack knowledge or understanding of how an economy develops. Whatever the reason may be, people overlook how similar our country is to other developing countries around the world, and how much can be learned from looking at these other economies.
The last observation I would like to make is the impressive educational facilities and programs Macedonia has in place. Both the State University of Tetevo, and the Private University of Tetevo reminded me of Misericordia University, in terms of appearance, culture, and education. As Eric discussed in his blog, business education is taken seriously in Macedonia. Especially since people from the national government, the city of Tetevo, the city of Skopje, local entrepreneurs, and the USAID, all took time to come and present to our class. This dedication to education in Macedonia is another parallel to Northeast PA and the United States proving our countries are not that different.
In conclusion, my experiences in Macedonia have taught me a number of life & educational lessons. In terms of our class, whether or not economic development can be influenced by public policy promoting entrepreneurship? The answer is yes. The most eye opening part of this answer is the fact it does not matter which part of the world you are in or how developed an economy is, entrepreneurship can spark development (Macedonia) or continue it (the United States). In terms of life lessons, the world is a big place and there is a lot to learn from it. I look forward to exploring it even farther and I especially look forward to returning to Macedonia.
By Billy desRosiers

Public Policy, Promotion, and Publicity

As Emilie had noted, there appears to be strong support for entrepreneurship in Macedonia. This was evidensed not only by the number of agencies involved, but the passion of some of the speakers. For example, one of our speakers showed up for class prepared not only with a presentation, but with another speaker he had recruited to provide still more insight. A number of our speakers were not even from Tetovo; they drove from the capital Skopje to meet with us.
In retrospect, the similarities Macedonian programs to those available in Northeastern Pennsylvania should not have been as surprising as it seemed. A few of the NGOs and government agencies operating are modeled after, or even associated with, successful Western economic development programs, such as: Junior Acheivment, and an Angel Investor Network. Even funding, at least a portion of the initial amounts, was provided by US and EU agencies; who see economic development in Macedonia as important for the future of the Balkans.
The most obvious difference between the two reagions was the level of establishment of the programs. Many of the US programs have simply been around a lot longer; many in existance well before Macedonia's fairly recent emergence as an independent country. For example, in Tetovo, we visited a business incubator that was about to open; they were still finishing the rooms. This compares to a number of operating incubators in the Wilkes-Barre area.
The most striking similarity was the need for publicity. A few of the speakers in Macedonia had asked our fellow classmates whether they were even aware that such programs esisted. Usually they were not. When asked about public policy towards Entrepreneurship, our contact at the Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce said the biggest need was awareness. There are useful programs available to entrepreneursin both areas, but not everyone knows they even exist.
I would also like to echo the appreciation already expressed by my classmates for the hospitality shown to us in Macedonia; especially the State University of Tetovo and Dr. Behxeti. Also worthy of mention are Blake, who helped logistically in Tetovo; Alexander, who helped with arrival, departure, and a glimpse of the capital; the many speakers who took time out of their schedules to meet with us; and even our other classmates (those regularly attending the Univesity), who were flexible enough to rearranged their schedules to accommodate our limited time in country.

by Frank Yamrick

Follow Up

Expanding a bit on what Eric has already noted, it was very interesting to see that Macedonia is very close to Northeast PA in its efforts toward entrepreneurship, economic development, and public policy. I was honestly surprised after hearing from some of the speakers that there was such strong support for entrepreneurs in a country that I hadn't known much about before this trip. I think that as Americans we sometimes don't realize our similarities to somewhere like this until we put ourselves in their setting and culture.
As a class we have conducted many interviews in Macedonia as well as in the States. I think it should be noted that almost every person we heard from feels that a good way to increase entrepreneurial activities is through education. Entrepreneurs may have certain characteristics in common (i.e tolerance of risk, creativeness, etc.), but they are not necessary factors to becoming an entrepreneur. If we can teach the people of our communities, whether in Macedonia or Wilkes Barre, certain skills such as risk management, handling finances, and things of that nature, they may take on an opportunity to open a business that they thought wasn't possible in the past.
There are many organizations in Macedonia, much like those in Wilkes Barre and Scranton that promote public policy to support economic development. Entrepreneurs need public policies to support them in their endeavors to grow and bring business, as well as money, into the local communities. The major difference that we face in the U.S. is that we are dealing with so many government groups within a small area. Macedonia has the advantage of having one set of policy makers to go to, while in PA we are dealing with many groups which makes it very difficult to get everyone on the same page. Hopefully we can lessen this gap by taking the education to an even higher level and informing our decision makers of the important role that entrepreneurship plays in economic development.


Thank you again to everyone that helped us during our adventures in Macedonia. The hospitality we were shown was truly remarkable. A special thanks to Dr. Behxeti for his generosity the entire week. Also, thanks Blake for putting up with us :)

Emilie Pearson

Thank You!

I would like to thank Dr. Bexheti, president of the State University of Tetovo, for the tremendous hospitality he and his staff showed all of us during our time in Macedonia. The hospitality shown by all the people in Macedonia was fabulous and I consider it my second home. In addition, special thanks goes out to Blake Childs of the US Peace Corp. Blake was instrumental in our logistics during the stay. Hey Blake you missed a GREAT trip to Orhid.

By Eric Williams

Summary of Trip

I would like to continue my thoughts from the last post. On Wednesday, the class had four speakers that included a government offical, an NGO (non-government organization) offical, and a representative from USAID(United States Agency for International Development). The most informational speaker of the four was Eleonora Bozinovska from the Agency for Promotion of Entrepreneurship. Eleonora discussed various programs Macedonia had for entrepreneurs. The programs mentioned in the lecture could be successful here in Northeastern Pennsylvania. An example of one program was a voucher system (and no it wasn't for private schooling). This voucher system covered all business expenses of a new business and 50% of existing businesses. This program could be expanded here in NEPA by doing the following;

• Open the vouchers up to new and infant (3 yrs or less) businesses
• Contract with accountants, lawyers, banks, and realtors to provide services at a discounted rate in order to be on the "vendor list".
• Reward businesses with revenue growth and employee growth with additional vouchers in future years.

The other interesting topic of the day was unemployment. The unemployment rate in Macedonia is 38% compared to 7% in the United States. The takeaway from two of the speakers was the answer for reducing the unemployment rate which was create new business OR entrepreneurship.

On Thursday, the class had three speakers. The Business Angel program was discusssed in detail. This program provides entrepreneurs the much needed start up capital. Business Angels is comprised of individuals that invest their own personal wealth for an equity share in the new companies.

Our trip concluded on Friday, where we had the privilege to visit the United States Embassy. During our visit we discussed the importance of USAID in Macedonia. USAID secured funding through 2012 to help Macedonia (3rd poorest country in Europe) comply with the European Union standards. The ultimate goal is having Macedonia be part of the EU.

In summary, the objective of the course was to learn about entrepreneurship promotion as a means to economic development able to be affected by public policy.
It wasn't until the last day when I realized this objective had been met. USAID is a public policy to promote economic development in countries that the United States has a political or economic interest. This policy as it relates to economic development is vital for a successful Macedonia.

By Eric Williams

Trip Pictures

Painting in a church of Peter the Great of Macedonia

In class with Macedonian and Albanian students

Visiting old Macedonia

Macedonian fort in Skopje - Macedonian flag

Cross on top of the hill in background lights up at night for the whole city to see

Student Comments

Frank said...
We, the students, arrived in Tetovo (Tetova - in Albanian)Sunday afternoon and have already attended an opening ceremony for a new Medical University, met the Vice-Prime Minister, visited two universities (both the State University where we are having class and the Private University that is home to the Business Incubator), and started our classes with the local students.


Emilie said...
So far our trip to Macedonia has been wonderful. We are really enjoying taking in the culture and learning about their economy. It is interesting to see the similarities in thoughts toward entrepreneurship, and the differences in culture. When meeting with the director of Macedonia's Incubator, he shared many ideas of economic development through promoting entrepreneurship much like the ideas we got from interviews conducted in Wilkes-Barre's Incubator. It is neat to see that two very different places can have the same takes on business expansion.
The people of Macedonia are VERY hospitable, especially to Americans. You cannot go anywhere without being offered (and expected to accept) a drink or something to eat. They love having visitors, and showing them all that Macedonia has to offer. We have been given the opportunity to meet with a handful of government officials, as well as being invited to the opening day ceremonies of the new medical school at the State University of Tetovo.
We did fit in some time to do a little sight seeing. While in Skopje (the capital of Macedonia) we visited the older part of the city, stoppig by a few churches and architectural structures to really get the feel for the lifestyle. The mountains and landscape here are beautiful. It is like seeing a postcard picture live - Amazing!
We have more meetings and class time scheduled for the rest of the week. I am definitely enjoying my time here and looking forward to the days ahead.


Eric said...
We, the students have arrived in Macedonia. It has been both an educational and culture adventure. Our first day we spent in Skopje, the capital of Macedonia, relaxing by eating ethnic pizza (a little different than American) and drinking local beer (similar taste to Miller Lite and Coors Lite mix).
The second day Aleksandar Angelovski, brother of Maki McCann, gave us a tour of Skopje and the surrounding area. On our tour we visted a church that was built in the 12th century that overlooks the city. The paintings on the wall were beautiful and in very good condition. From there we went to the city fort and had lunch at a local restaurant. The food was very good.
Our third day (Monday) we went to the opening of The State University of Tetovo's Medical School. We had a chance to speak with Vice-Prime Minister of Macedonia. That position would be the same as the Secertary of State in America. During our conversation he revealed he attended the University of Pittsburgh for his master degree. We then attended class were Dr Shumansky discussed what entrepreneurship, economic development, and public policy was in context of the U.S. and Macedonian government. After class we visited the Macedonian Business Incubator. This incubator is just starting and is currently in the review of the business plans submitted phase. When comparing the incubator in Macedonia to the incubator in Wilkes-Barre I found that they both offer the same services to the start up businesses. Some services are; low rent office space (which include utilities, desk, computer, and internet access), tax support, and business planning support.
Our fourth day started with class where we defined social, economic, and political objectives within our regions. Region for the American students is defined as Northeastern Pennsylvania with a population of 1,500,000 people, and for the Macedonian students the region is the country of Macedonia with a population of 2,500,000. Although there is a difference in population both defined regions are looking for their "economic" niche by promoting entrepreneurship with public policy. Both regions need to determine their resources such as land, labor, capital, and entrepreneuship when establishing their public policy.


Billy said...
After months of anticipation we are finally here in Macedonia.The mountains (many snow covered), scenery, and people (very pleasnt and kind) are all amazing. It would be a crime for me to forget the food here. Fresh fruit, vegitables, and bread, are the connerstone to any meal here. Also when you are waliking up and down the streets you are bombarded with the pleasant smells of gyros, meat, and other Macedonian cusines I cannot pronounce. After two days in the capital our group moved to a smaller city, Tetovo. Here we continued our alcuturation in Macedonia while begining our studies. At the university, we had the pleasure of meeting other economic students like oursleves as well as meeting with the director of the business incubator here in Tetovo.
Comparing our observations of Macedonian business here with business back in the US, it is safe to say we are not that different. For example, both our countries look to influence the economy through business creation. Furthermore, both our incubators provide simmilar services like: cheap rent, phone, internet, and consultants. These services represent the common problems most business have when they start. Wehther they are in North America or Eastern Europe.
Tetovo and Macedonia are exciting plaes to vist. I mean today we are looking to travel up a mountain to vist a very old Turkish fort. Back at the capital we had the chance to vist a very old church and fort before comming to Tetovo. I hope to have more information to post over the next few days in terms of what we are learning about public policy and economic development so I can continue my comparison to the United States. Also I hope to have more cultural experinces here to write about.


Frank said...
There were a few noticable differences between the capital Skopje and the city of Tetova where we are studying. The first is the language; with Macedonian being the primary language in the capital, while Albanian is much more prominent in Tetova. We had a conversation or two in the capital concerning local business, as well as, possible business ventures into Macedonia. The tone was were very encouraging; with little concern of beaurocratic hinderance nor legal issues. An established networking system appears to in place amongst the business community. While we were eating at the resturant owned by a friend or our contact, we discused other businessmen in industries that were of interest to us - all of whom were also personal friends. I was given contact information for a small CNC machining facility - (which relates to my business responsibilities in the US).The description we were given of the business enviroment in Tetova was not as "rosey." This is not to say that it was negative, but, probably just more realistic. There was more mention of beauocracy concerns. I should note however, that much of this description came from an ex-patriot who was pointing out differences between the local system and usual expectations of US businessmen. As we met in class and discussed the economic concerns of the area, it is interesting that they are not really that much different than those of Northeastern Pennsylvania. As such, there is a similarity between some of the entrepreneurial development programs starting here with those in the US.

FIRST WEEK IN MACEDONIA

I have been traveling for two weeks and arrived in Macedonia just a week ago. Have some observations to make, based on travels in this part of the world for more than 30 years now.

1. Macedonians are watching the US elections very carefully – especially to see who may be their friend and who may not. The friendship test is all about who will be most likely to support them in their dispute with Greece over their country’s name. I share this observation so I can tell you the following stories.

I had a one of those really great chance meetings that happens when traveling. It was my conversation with him - his name is Vlado - that gave rise to the above observation. On to the story.

When I arrived at the Greek-Macedonia border, I learned that the Greek border guards were on strike and there was no transport from the Greek border checkpoint to the Macedonian checkpoint – a distance of about 1000 meters. I started to cross on foot and to my delight my Greek cab driver ran about 100 meters in front of me into the zone between the two border checkpoints and flagged down another cab being manned by an enterprising Macedonian who obviously saw the strike as an business opportunity and located his cab in a place where travelers such as I would need help in moving body and luggage 1000 uphill meters. Cost me 5 Euros for the help and worth every cent!

Back to the meeting. I needed to make a phone call to my colleagues from the University who were to pick me up at the border – but could find no public phone. I found this gentleman about to enter his business office (in Macedonia at the border) and asked his help in placing the phone call. He said yes, cheerfully. Phone call was successful.

Using the universal technique of saying thanks, I offered buy him a beer at the bar next door to his office. Before the offer had spun off my lips he was shutting down his office and walking with me, side by side, to the bar.

We chose a table outdoors. I bought a few bottles of Skopsko (the home brew), fired up fine Cuban cigar I bought in Istanbul and the conversation begun.

The conversation was a marvelous thing. We drew upon four different languages (English, Macedonian, Slovak and Serbian) and proceeded to have a rather interesting conversation about candidates Obama and McCain. Bottom line is that according to Vlado, whoever was elected he hoped they would be sympathetic to Macedonia’ s desire to use the name Macedonia. This name issue should be taken seriously by the rest of the world and hopefully Pres Bush’s special advisor on the matter, Mr. Nimetz (sic), can help bring the problem to a close to the satisfaction of both parties. National pride is the issue which makes the name more than symbolic.

2. My apartment is in the middle of Tetovo’s daily farmer’s market. Marvelous to see the examples of small business people trying to sell their farm products, handicrafts like wisk brooms and tons of cheap consumer goods imported from China. They offer essentially the same farm products – huge bags of red peppers, potatoes and eggs. No real attempts to differentiate and no idea how the local folk decide from whom to buy. It would be fun to research the decision making paradigms locals use to decide on their vendor.

3. I started traveling in Eastern Europe in the mid 70’s with my father. Back in those days when visiting a new town the first thing we had to do was visit the local police station and register our presence. That practice ended in Slovakia in the 80’s; it persists here. For example, I had to travel to Thessaloniki, Greece to pick up my daughter at the airport. Because I was leaving the country – even if only for a few hours – I had to go to the police station and let them know. Today, this afternoon, I will return to the police station and register my return. I get the impression from some Macedonian citizens with whom I have spoken, that such regulations are withering and will likely be forgotten altogether, soon.

My Misericordia University students arrive in a few days and with the great help by everyone here, we are about to have a great learning experience with conversations with Macedonian officials, local business people and US Embassy staff about growing jobs, income and Macedonian prosperity through the promotion of entrepreneurship. Can’t wait!

Students Preparing for Visit to Macedonia

The photo in this blog is of the group of students who will be travelling to Macedonia during the first week of October. In the center is Dr. Sumansky. To his left (in the photo) is teaching assistant and Macedonia native Ms. Maki McCann. To his right (in the photo) is Ms. Carolyn Yencharis-Corcoran, the International Study coordinator at Misericordia.

Students are (left to right): Ms. Emilie Pearson, Mr. William DesRosiers, Mr. Eric Williams and Mr, Frank Yamrick.

The class has begun reading the volumes of writing on the combined topics of entrepreneurship, economic development and public policy. We have met several times to set the stage for one semester's work leading to student-designed policy recommendations for enhancing regional economic growth and development through the promotion of entrepreneurship. It is our hope to organize and present a student-led briefing for NEPA's economic development decision makers sometime in late January or early February 2009.

One impetus for this course came from the fact that Macedonia, as a nation, is heavily involved in entrepreneurship promotion as part of its national public policy for economic growth. Like Macedonia, many regions of the US and other nations of the world have begun using entrepreneurship to help grow their economies. One example of the increased focus on entrepreneurship worldwide can be seen in the August 2, 2008 ECONOMIST that reported that "An effort to promote entrepreneurship in the developing world is nearing fruit".

Macedonia - like NEPA - hopes that entrepreneruship will lead to economic growth and prosperity. Misericordia students will have an opportunity to talk with Macedonia's decision makers about their entrepreneurship policies and see some of the efforts first hand, such as a new business incubator. MU students are required to visit to Wilkes Barre's own incubator and so will have the opportunity to compare and contrast - first hand - the two incubators as vehicles for entrepreneurship promotion.

Much more to come as MU students go about learning all about the characteristics of entrepreneurs in both countries, theories of economic development that are relevant to each country and to examine closely how culture, law and politics impact public policy.

Stay tuned.

Planning for the students' visit to Macedonia

This note is a start of a blog to be maintained as the "Misericordia Experience in Macedonia" Europe unfolds. Dr. John Sumansky, Misericordia staff member and Fulbright Scholar to Macedonia will be in residence at State University of Tetova from September 2008-January 2009 . In October a group of Misericordia University students will visit for a one-week intense learning experience as part of a course of study in economic development, entrepreneurship and public policy that begins in the US. There they will team up with Macedonian students who also will be studying with Dr. Sumansky at the State University. The following four Misericordia students are enrolled in the course:

Mr.Eric Williams, Home: Dallas, PA
Ms Emilie Pearson, Home: Williamsport, PA
Mr. Frank Yamrick, Home: Dallas, PA
Mr. William DeRosies, Home: Highland Falls, NY


Special thanks to all the staff at US Embassy in Skopje and to Rector Dr. Bexheti and Blake Childs of State University of Tetova for their help in making arrangements to have Misericordia University students visit in October 2008.