Nenad Mladenovski, AIESEC Macedonia president

Practice is the most intensive way of learning and experience gathering
 

The students’ organization AIESEC in Macedonia in March this year received another office in Skopje, within a project dedicated to the process of integration of young people in the EU. What does it offer to the members and what other project is AIESEC working on this year?
The office is a space we use for everyday activities related to realization of our projects. It is equipped with 18 computers and a conference room for meetings. It is located in the city center as part of the premises of the Macedonian Chamber of Commerce.

At the moment the projects aimed at entrepreneurship, information technologies and tourism are in their final phase. These projects have offered an opportunity to all young people interested in practice in a foreign company, to do it. Practice is the most intensive way of learning and experience gathering, as during the practice we are outside domestic atmosphere and far from our closest and in such conditions we are left to our own resources to bear responsibility for all our acts. In such moments we dedicate ourselves to the things that are relevant to us and that we want to realize, considering to be relevant everything that is to follow up in life. Thus, far from the protection of our environment, we build ourselves as personalities, tough enough and ready to face the challenges of the modern way of living.

 

Your activities are directly related to domestic and foreign companies, where the members acquire working experiences and improve their knowledge. What should they possess for successful cooperation?
The will to take part is enough. Everything additional that is necessary to have for successful cooperation is gained in the process of working. We, as an organization, are open for every kind of cooperation, with both corporate and educational sector. So we cannot define any special characteristics that have to be possessed, every project requires something special. But what is the most important in all projects we carry out is to focus on the most significant problems and trends in our country, such as entrepreneurship, IT sector, EU integration, tourism, social responsibility etc. The focus on these relevant fields is in order to cause positive changes in our society. These changes are necessary and are for the good of the whole country.

Mutual understanding will contribute to greater cooperation.

If companies cooperate with the students, they actually invest in their future staff and if the students are interested in gaining practical experience, they invest in their future, as every company wants to employ young people with experience as great as possible. I have heard many times that students complain that after graduating it is difficult to find a good job, just as the companies say that the educational system does not provide necessary results and they have to dedicate additional education to the newly employed. I have also asked myself many times how I, personally, contribute to improvement of this situation and I hope that those who are mostly affected by this issue will do the same.

 

Are you pleased with the students’ interest and the private universities regarding the membership in AIESEC, as well as the interest in cooperation of the business sector from the country?
The private universities have been present in our country for not more than 5 years and I think that our cooperation between them is on the threshold. They are open for cooperation with any kinds of organizations, especially with those run by young people.

Students are our main focus and without them we would not exist as an organization. However, we must certainly consider the fact that our country does not own a big capacity of students due to the small population. We can still say that the interest is at satisfactory level with pretensions to get bigger in future.

Business-sector has always been the main supporter of youth organizations, but there is certainly a space for improvement and advancement of cooperation. It is necessary to work intensively on this advancement, as the supporters of our activities are particularly important, and if we want someone to support us, it is necessary for him to believe in us and everything we do.

 

Entrepreneurship becomes more current in Macedonia and the countries from the region. In what direction do you develop regional cooperation in this field and how do you provide the necessary finances?
All our projects are focused on a global or local trend. As entrepreneurship is a global trend, we have decided in the region of Central and Eastern Europe to take an initiative for international cooperation and organization of a conference that should focus on corporate and social responsibility.

We provide finances in cooperation with the business-sector and state institutions interested in supporting such projects and initiatives. We surely have to mention that providing finances is really difficult, it takes time, work and certainly trust in what is worked on. 
 

Is summer the peak time for work in AIESEC and what are your future plans?
Summer is one of the most important periods for our work. We use it for planning all the activities that are going to be realized throughout the year. Planning the activities is quite important and if everything is done according to the plan, it will mean another successful year.

This summer is going to be especially hot for us, as in the second half of February 2008 AIESEC Macedonia will host the organization’s biggest and the most important global conference, where over 250 people will be present from over 100 countries.

Taking into consideration the size and the relevance of this project for both AIESEC and Macedonia, we hope to find cooperation with the business-sector, state institutions and non-governmental organizations in order to present our country as good as possible.