President Stevo Pendarovski addressed via video link the participants of the “Young Managers and Business Leaders” program, which officially starts today, and is held under his auspices.
President Pendarovski said that these are young people who deserve and will justify the trust, and the state has the obligation to provide conditions for these young people who want to stay in the country, to get the first chance here.
The “Young Managers and Business Leaders” program is implemented in cooperation between the Cabinet of the President and the Council of Foreign Investors within the Economic Chamber of Macedonia. It involves twenty young people and eight companies that have made available their facilities for young people to have the opportunity to gain new, practical knowledge. In the next two months, the program provides training in strategic planning and leadership skills, webinars, case study preparation and visits to various sectors within the companies.
The integral address of President Pendarovski is below.
Good day to everyone,
First of all, let me greet all twenty participants who were selected and became part of this program in a very strong competition of talented young people. Congratulations to all of you!
Let me thank the President of the Council of Foreign Investors, Stefan Peter, and all eight successful participating companies, who with this, socially responsible step, made their capacities available, and accepted to contribute to the further definition of young managers and business leaders, who will recognize world trends and will be added value in the development of our country.
I would like to encourage on this occasion all the other candidates who applied and showed interest to be part of the program, not to give up and use the future opportunity, which will be available soon. Continuous learning and improvement, gaining new knowledge, skills and experiences is the only guarantee for achieving maximum success. The interest you have all shown is proof that your desire for personal upgrading is stronger than the pandemic we are facing.
It is an indisputable fact that young people are the greatest asset of any society. Therefore, our common duty, of the state institutions, of the educational institutions, but also of the business community, is to invest in creating an environment in which young people will have the opportunity for their realization. We live in a dynamic time in which the world is changing much faster than before. As people say, today, the only constant is change. That is why it is necessary to build staff that will be ready for new and rapid changes. A prerequisite for this is to have a system that prepares young people to solve problems, create functional policies and manage situations, instead of memorizing ready-made solutions, which cannot be applied because they often have no contact with reality.
The Covid-19 pandemic we are facing is the latest instructive example for all of us, from which we can learn a lot.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Such projects are not a substitute for the education system, but they should receive our support, because they are a significant addition to theoretical education and an opportunity for students to be directly involved in the processes, in policy making and functioning of appropriate departments in companies. So, there will be a double benefit from this program. On the one hand, companies will have the opportunity to hear the thoughts of young people, and young people, on the other, will have the opportunity to gain new, practical knowledge.
The ultimate goal of all of us is to keep the graduates here and therefore we should give priority to quality and professionalism over improvisation and half-heartedness. Only in that way will we prevent the emigration of quality and capable staff.
Dear participants,
I believe you will be up to the tasks entrusted to you, thus will justify your choice. I am sure that companies will have something to learn from you and will use your potential accordingly. Maybe your ideas will be the inspiration for development of future business plans, as you, I believe, will be the inspiration for other colleagues in the future to be part of such and similar networking programs.
At the end, I would like to stress that I am really honored and pleased to be the patron of the “Young Managers and Business Leaders” program. I wish you successful work and I sincerely hope that we will meet in two months at the ceremony of awarding the certificates, where I expect to hear your personal impressions and gained experiences.
Good luck!
