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