Summit 2022

Summit Schedule

Full schedule of keynotes, panels & training sessions

Day 1, Tuesday

17 May 2022

Day 2, Wednesday

18 May 2022

Day 3, Thursday

19 May 2022

10:00 - 10:20

Official Opening of the Summit
Nikica Mojsoska-Blazevski

CEO Macedonia2025

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Prof. Dr. Nikica Mojsoska-Blazevski is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Macedonia2025. Nikica’s prior experience was in academia, where she served two terms as dean of the business school, as well as in public administration where she held the positon of Head of Macroeconomic Department at the Ministry of Finance of Macedonia.

Nikica has extensive experience of over 19 years in research, consultancy and advisory in economic policies, labour markets, social systems and education in Macedonia, as well as the Western Balkan region. She has worked with major international economic organizations and institutions, such as the World Bank, ILO, RCC, UNDP, UN Women and the European Commission. She has served as an economic and labour market advisor to the government institutions in the Western Balkan region. Mojsoska-Blazevski is author of many journal articles and several book chapters, and member of the world-renewed research associations.

Nikica is a member of several professional organizations, including the Management Board of the Economic Chamber of North Macedonia, Audit Committee of the Sparkasse Bank-Macedonia, and Board of trustees of the Macedonian Foundation for Enterprise Development, as well as of several academic networks.

John Bitove

Co-founder and Member of the Board of Directors at Macedonia2025

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John I. Bitove has a distinguished record of accomplishment in corporate, sports and community endeavours. He is the sole shareholder of Obelysk, which has major investments in wireless, satellite radio, real estate, restaurants and other businesses. In 1993 he founded the Toronto Raptors Basketball Club.  As a co-founder of Macedonia2025, John sits on many charity boards and founded the S’Cool Life Fund, to support public elementary schools across Canada. Since the launch in 2005, S’Cool Life Fund has raised and donated over $3 million helping to make school life more enjoyable for thousands of public elementary school kids.

10:20 - 11:20

SESSION 1: Building a Prosperous Future: The Role of Regional Cooperation
HE Dimitar Kovacevski

Prime Minister of N. Macedonia

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HE Ana Brnabic

Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia

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11:20 - 11:50

Networking over coffee

11:50 - 12.30

Fireside Chat: Digitalization - Frontrunners and Champions
Üllar Jaaksoo

Founder/Partner at Digital Nation Ltd

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More than 25 years of experience in business development and strategic management in the private sector both in Estonia and abroad. Successful experience in managing and advising public institutions. Expert on digital society and digital innovation.

Acknowledgments
Order of the Estonian White Star, Class IV. Order of the Commander Class of the Romanian
National Faithful Service. Medal of the 2nd class Estonian Chamber of Commerce.

Nataša Škrbić

Program Director for Startup Ecosystem at Initiative Digital Serbia

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Nataša Škrbić is a Program Director for Startup Ecosystem at Initiative Digital Serbia. Being a startup founder herself and specialising in development management for her Master’s at LSE she recognizes startups as drivers of personal and economic growth. As a coordinator of DSI Business Angels Group she supports startups in their growth and fundraising efforts. As part of DSI she has also coordinated work on the first National Strategy for the Startup Ecosystem Development, creation of the One-stop-shop portal for startups and has contributed to policy recommendations regarding the startup ecosystem development.

Vasko Kronevski

CEO at Nextsense

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Vasko Kronevski, B.Sc. Degree in Information Technology is an established entrepreneur and digital transformation strategist focused on the economic growth of organizations utilizing digital transformation solutions.

He has been developing his expertise in digital transformation and ICT business since 1996, being General Manager at software development companies. Vasko is CEO and co-founder of Nextsense, ICT company specialized in digital transformation solutions founded in 2001 and digital transformation leader in the CEE region. Vasko is responsible for shaping the vision, strategy, and directly involved in the digital transformation products strategy.

Vasko’s carrier development encounters more than 25 years of professional experience in driving digital transformation processes for prominent enterprises in the telecom and finance industry, as well as governmental institutions across Europe and wider. During his professional journey, he established a valuable partnership with business, government, and academia to generate opportunities and build capacities for sustainable economic growth, helping them build a stronger organization and improve their business opportunities. He is skilled at identifying key economic challenges of organizations and guiding them in implementing digital solutions.

His strong vision and expertise in ICT and sustainable economic development placed him among the most engaged experts and digital strategists on international projects and speakers on a wide array of high level (reputable) conferences.

As a strategist, strong analyst and mediator, Vasko has been a member (past and present) in many distinguished professional bodies: World Information Technology and Service Alliance (WITSA) Member of Board; MASIT – Macedonian ICT Chamber of Commerce, Chairman of the Assembly, President of the Board; Vice President; Steering Committee Coordinator; South East Europe ICT Forum Private sector board member; Member of EBA-European Business Association; e-Democracy Conference Chairman.

12.30 - 12.45

Digitalization as a Sustainable Development Strategy
Goce Mitevski

Chief Commercial Officer B2B, Makedonski Telekom

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Goce Mitevski is a Chief Commercial Officer responsible for B2B segment.

He is 20 years dedicated on strategy and transformation topics of telco business with growth, innovation and digital transformation as main areas of dedication, bringing strategy to life, bringing people to purpose and accelerating performance.

Finished Professional Program Strategy studies at INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France

MBA joint program of University of New York & IUKB Institute – University of Kurt Bosch, Switzerland, as well as the International School of the Industrial Relations, organized by the University of Cagliari, Italy.

 

Solid experience within the telco industry with reference consultancy, strategy planning and business development projects.

Leading through growth and outward mindset, eager to improve peoples’ lives, businesses & society improving digital readiness, understanding value of tomorrow, and positioning own-self in a most suitable way toward future values’ creation, continuous nurturing DNA for passionate pursuit of superior customer experience.

12.45 - 14.00

SESSION 2: Digital Transformation, Digitized Society
Marko Danon

Head of the Competitiveness Unit at NALED

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Marko is an economist with more than 10 years of experience in major domestic and international organizations, in domains of economic research, banking and academia. He has earned his PhD degree on the subject of ‘’Factors of regional competitiveness’’ at the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis in 2015, as well as his master’s degree on the subject of ‘’Role of corruption in FDI attraction – case of Central and East European countries’’ at the same university in 2010. He has joined NALED in 2021, as Head of Competitiveness unit, after having spent two years as senior economist in CEVES, and in parallel as a Serbian national consultant with UN Department of Social and Economic Affairs. Beforehand, Marko spent seven years in banking, of which two were in the role of an asset liability manager and five as a macroeconomist in Addiko bank. Apart from this, Marko regularly holds lectures on macroeconomics and finance at some of masters programs of the University of Nice, as well as on programs of the Mokra Gora school of management. He has authored a significant number of studies, analyses and scientific articles in Serbia and abroad. Marko is fluent in English and French.

Ines Kaps

Senior Manager, Head of Change Management & Communication, MSG Advisors

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Ines Kaps is Head of Change and Communication at msg industry advisors. As a transformation expert she has more than 20 years of Digitalization Consulting on her belt. In her international Projects she combines effective project management with impactful change management.

Ines is also the founder of WomenLoveConsulting and is providing consulting firms a stellar promotion coaching program for their female talents. Ines has distilled her successes and failures of her consulting career in boutique and big4 consulting firms to empower women to thrive in their career. In 2022 she became an international bestselling author and speaker. Ines is married to the best husband in the world and loves her life.

Ufuk Eren

Founding Partner & CEO at VOLITAN Global

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Ufuk Eren is the Founding Partner and the CEO of Volitan Global ( https://www.volitanglobal.com) , a company based in USA, Turkey and Canada and additional branch offices in 7 other countries, focused on technologies, innovation management and investments in Healthcare and Life Sciences Sectors. Volitan Global is also founding partner of 10x Health Investment Club ( https://10xhealth.club ) which is Europe based Healthcare technologies investment club. He also has leading roles at EY (Ernst&Young) as Healthcare and Life Sciences Sectors Leader for Turkey, and Healthcare Sector Senior Advisor for Central, East, Southeast Europe since July 2014.

During his 20 years of career in Company Siemens, Eren held various roles such as CEO of Clinical Products Division for the Central Eastern Europe and Russia&Central Asia Regions and also CEO of South Asia Region. He was Board Member of Acıbadem Health Group and held management positions at Hospital Groups in Switzerland (Canton Hospital St.Gallen) and in Turkey (International Hospital).

Eren is Board Member in several companies in Germany, Canada, US and Turkey and he is an Angel Investor.

Blaž Brodnjak

CEO at NLB d.d.

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Blaž Brodnjak is CEO of NLB d.d., parent bank of the NLB Group, the leading banking and financial group with headquarters and an exclusive strategic interest in Southeast Europe.

He is a senior corporate banker with more than 20 years of diverse experience at managerial positions on all levels of international banking groups. Blaž has grown operationally into the business from the account officer (sales) level, while he developed managerial skills via heading a business subsegment (department), a segment (division) and the whole commercial activity (board member) in Slovenian subsidiaries of international banking groups (BACA, Raiffeisen and BAWAG P.S.K.). He has also acted as the chief investment officer in the largest insurance company, headquartered in the SEE – Triglav Group, to later function as the division head (B-1) for corporate banking in the EUR 34 billion Hypo Alpe Adria banking group, focused on the SEE region. He has joined NLB d.d. in 2012 as Member of the Management Board and has taken over the CEO and CMO positions in July 2016.

Besides professional banking skills he has substantial experience at corporate governance, having been acting on managerial or supervisory positions in 17 sizeable banks, as well as 3 insurance companies, 1 market leading asset management and one larger international production company in altogether 8 countries.

Outside of business world Blaž enjoys spending time with his family and working diligently in his family vineyard. He is also an ardent advocate of sustainability either in business or in private life.

Aneta Trpevska

State Secretary in the Ministry of Education of Macedonia

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14:00 - 15:00

Lunch

15.00 - 15.30

How We are Transforming our Business
Alexandros Kamaras

Managing Director South East Europe at Imperial Tobacco

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Since 1997, Alex has been leading Imperial Tobacco business in South East Europe, based in Athens.
He joined the company as General Manager Greece. Gradually, his responsibilities have been expanded to include 13 Markets, the most important of which are Italy, Romania, Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and N. Macedonia.

Prior to joining  Imperial, between 1985 and 1997, Alex worked for big multinational organizations, such as Unilever, SC Johnson & Son and L’Oréal, in Marketing positions.

He graduated from Athens University with a Degree in Economics and holds an MBA from the City University Business School of London.

15:30 - 16:45

SESSION 3: The Power of Great Leadership in Business and Sports
John Bitove

Co-founder and Member of the Board of Directors at Macedonia2025

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John I. Bitove has a distinguished record of accomplishment in corporate, sports and community endeavours. He is the sole shareholder of Obelysk, which has major investments in wireless, satellite radio, real estate, restaurants and other businesses. In 1993 he founded the Toronto Raptors Basketball Club.  As a co-founder of Macedonia2025, John sits on many charity boards and founded the S’Cool Life Fund, to support public elementary schools across Canada. Since the launch in 2005, S’Cool Life Fund has raised and donated over $3 million helping to make school life more enjoyable for thousands of public elementary school kids.

Gjorgje Vojnovic

Chief Executive Officer, Triglav Osiguruvanje AD, Skopje

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Gjorgje Vojnovic is the CEO of TriglavOsiguruvanje AD, Skopje and President of the Association of Financial Organizations at the Economic Chamber. He started his professional career at the age of 15, as a basketball player. Throughout his career he played for several Macedonian and international basketball teams, and was a representative player for the National Basketball Team. While advancing in his sports career, Vojnovic gained a University degree at the Faculty of Physical Education, University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius, Skopje. He finished his Master’s studies at Sheffield’s University City College in Thessaloniki, with a dissertation in marketing. In 2006 he was appointed as General Manager of the official Ford importer in Macedonia and in 2007 started working in the financial sector as a Member of the Management Board in the leasing company Hypo Alpe Adria Leasing. In 2012 Vojnovic was appointed as CEO in Triglav Osiguruvanje AD, Skopje and ever since is working in the insurance sector. He attended and completed the Advanced Management Program at Northwestern University-Kellogg School of Management in 2018.

In addition to his professional engagements, he is a member of numerous associations and institutions and devoted to humanitarian projects.

Blagoja Milevski

Head Coach of the Macedonian National Football Team

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Born on 25.03.1971 in Skopje, Macedonia

Coaching License: UEFA Pro License

In his youth he left to play for Crvena Zvezda (Serbia), and continued his football career in Iraklis (Greece), Trikala (Greece), Slovenian Maribor, Pobeda Prilep, Paniliakos (Greece), Macedonia Gjorce Petrov, Ashdod (Israel), Cementarnica Skopje, again Macedonia Gjorce Petrov and the most trophy winning Macedonian club Vardar for the end of his career as a player.

He started his coaching career in FC Vardar. He was an assistant in the professional staff of the generation that won the championship title in the 2011/12 season.

As head of the professional staff of FC Vardar, he won the MFL championship title for the 2012/13 season and the Super Cup title in the Macedonian league.

In 2014, he was appointed selector of the national team of Macedonia under 21.

Under the leadership of Blagoja Milevski, the Macedonian national team under 21 became the first football team from the country to qualify for a major competition.

Macedonia finished first in the qualifying group and secured a place among the 12 best youth national teams at the European Championship 2017 in Poland in a group with Spain, Portugal, and Serbia.

In 2018, he was the head coach of the Israeli Ashdod. After the termination of the contract with Ashdod, in 2019 he was re-appointed as the selector of the national team of Macedonia under 21.

The Macedonian national team finished the qualifications for the European Championship 2021 in second place, behind Spain and only due to the change in the format of the qualifications, Macedonia was not in the qualifying round for the European Championship.

The Football Federation of Macedonia on August 1, 2021 appointed him as a selector of the A national team of Macedonia.

Under the leadership of Blagoja Milevski, the Macedonian A national team for the first time in football history finished second in a qualifying round for the World Cup.

Macedonia finished the qualifications for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar behind Germany and secured a place in the playoffs for participation in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Awards and recognitions:

Coach of the Year named by the Football Federation of Macedonia for 2013;

Coach of the Year named by the Football Federation of Macedonia for 2016;

Coach of the Year named by the Agency for Youth and Sports for 2016;

Susan Niczowski

Founder and President at “The Summer Fresh Salads Inc.”

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Armed with a BSC in chemistry and a passion for real food, Susan has repeatedly reshaped the fresh gourmet food landscape.  Summer Fresh is approaching a 30 year milestone as Susan started the company in 1991 in the kitchen in her parents home, Summer Fresh has grown to a CFIA, HACCP, and BRC (AA rating) accredited food manufacturer that Canadians love. Susan has stayed true to the original goal of creating food from ingredients that you find in your own kitchen.

Susan and Summer Fresh have been recognized with numerous awards, including RBC Canadian Woman Entrepreneur, W100 Top Women Entrepreneurs, and Canada’s 50 Best Managed companies over 22 years running.

Kiril Lazarov

Head Coach of the Macedonian Senior Handball Team

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19:00 - 21:00

Cocktail Reception (Venue: Skopje Marriott Hotel)

Partners and Sponsors

A big thank you to all our amazing partners and sponsors.

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