Settling in to Skopje

Saturday, March 30, 2019
Skopje, Skopje, Macedonia
After getting a great night’s sleep Trisha and I were better acquainted to our home for the next week, Skopje, Macedonia. Skopje is the capital of the North Republic of Macedonia (this is a brand-new name, forced upon them just in the last month by Greece), in the center of the Balkan Peninsula. Over centuries it has experienced Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman rule. An interesting fact that I was unaware of before we arrived is that it is the birthplace of Mother Teresa!
 
Trisha’s fellow, Natasa, had offered to take us to the wineries on Sunday. We thought we’d be hopping around close to the city but it turned out to be a 1.5 hour journey out to the border between Macedonia and Greece. On the way we stopped by the old city, “Stobi.” Stobi is located close to the battlefield where Philip V defeated the Dardanians in 197 BC. Stobi was a trade center for salt and the largest city in the northern part of the roman province Macedonia. The remnants of the city are some of the largest, and best preserved ruins I’ve seen. There are a variety of mosaics that look like they were created a week ago! Funnily enough when we got out to the ruins, we were surprised to hear someone with an American accent (turns out she was from Atlanta) giving a tour of the ruins. Her narrative was then being translated back to Macedonian for the group… Seemed backwards and so random and we have yet to know why this was happening.
 
We arrived at our first winery, Popova Kula which means tower of the priest. It was a gorgeous destination, with rolling hills and brush that was reminiscent of the Arizona desert. The sun was shining and it was incredibly peaceful. Next, we visited Queen Maria winery, just down the hill from Popova Kula. There we met a few of Natasa and Zlatko’s friends. They treated us to a never ending stream of traditional Macedonian fare: Shopska salad, sheep’s cheese, Greek salad, and allllllll the meat. We learned that this traditional fare in a relaxed atmosphere is called a Kafana. Kafana is more of a feeling than a place – somewhere to meet friends and family and enjoy hours of eating, drinking and catching up. I truly have to say that Macedonia has some of the best food I’ve ever had traveling. It’s full of fresh vegetables, mouth watering cheeses and some of the best wine I’ve tasted. It’s been a delight to eat here and I will miss all of the tasty cheese and wine.  
 
The next day our “work week” began. Natasa and Ana had packed a very full schedule of meetings and events for us here. Here’s a snapshot of our agenda:
 
Monday
-        Lunch with Jovan Despotovski, Director of the Fund for Innovation and Technology Development
-        Womenpreneurs stories and Startup Macedonia at Public Room
 
Tuesday
-        Innofeit with university staff, students’ associations, students, companies
-        Meeting with CEED Macedonia’s staff, discussing business support organizations’ management and fundraising
-        Meeting with Dijana Despodov, Executive Director of American Chamber of Commerce - AmCham Macedonia
 
Wednesday
-        US Embassy Skopje Reception / meeting
-         Macedonian ICT Chamber of Commerce workshop with their IT companies in the growth phase (MASIT)
 
Thursday
-       Workshop with start-ups from CEED Hub’s acceleration programs
 
This doesn’t include the numerous lunches, dinners and receptions where we mixed and mingled with our new friends and business peers. It was a very full week, but every meeting was interesting, thoughtful and allowed the exchange of ideas and best practices. My favorite was the meeting with the Embassy. I had never been to an Embassy and it was a great experience. We met with Ben Lingeman and Gazmend Ilazi from the office of public affairs. We had a great conversation about the World Chicago program, but also about the overall status of the tech industry in Skopje and the opportunities within.
 
I also really enjoyed meeting Anita Nikova with MASIT. She actually has family in Crowne Point, Indiana and was familiar with Chicago’s ecosystem. We had a great lunch discussing the differences in culture between our two cities and how to better encourage transparent conversations and experience sharing within startups here in Macedonia.
 
Finally the workshop with the CEED Hub startups in the acceleration program was so much fun. It was great to be able to have valuable touch points with a few startups with traction. As that’s what Catapult focuses on I felt this is where I provided the most value during my time in Macedonia.
 
On our last day in town, we had the opportunity to tour the office of Piksel, the startup of Natasa’s good friend, Filip Ristevski. We met his co-founder Dimitar and had a great hour of sharing ideas on funding and product development. They took us out to a Kafana for our last lunch in Skopje and it did not disappoint. Dimitar is applying for the World Chicago program so we had valuable conversation about the program and what he could expect to get out of it.
 
Finally the end of our time had come. Ana and Natasa took us out for dinner where we had more wine and great food. They gifted us small books with photos of the architecture of Skopje, which I’ll treasure. I’m glad to head home and sleep in my own bed, but I will miss this place and these people. It’s been an extremely rewarding trip, full of expanding horizons and illuminating ideas around innovation. It’s not something I’ll forget and I am so thankful to World Chicago and the State Department for allowing me to be a part of the program.

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