Technology – Generation M

Walking down the roads of the village Ivankovci in Veles, one can truly appreciate the way that the picturesque architecture complements the trees and grasses on the hillside. With peaks reaching up to the sky, the air is pure. The lifestyle is simple and comfortable. But, a trip to the more developed metropolitan areas, such as Skopje, reminds one of the stark differences between the rural and the urban realms of Macedonia. And one important difference is affordable Internet access.

Access to affordable Internet, a privilege that many of us who have gone to *stranstvo take for granted, was scarce in the beginning of the 21st century for Macedonian citizens. This scarcity was particularly problematic because while the rest of the world was quickly integrating the Internet into every aspect of daily life, students in Macedonian schools rarely if ever had access to the wealth of information available on-line. In just under a decade, however, all of that would change.

With the support of USAID, the approximately 460 primary and secondary schools throughout Macedonia now have access to this important resource for education in the modern world. USAID also provided many of the same resources to institutions for higher education. Modernizing education in Macedonia by providing Internet access was accomplished through several programs, spanning the years from 2001 to 2007. The time-line of events and initiatives is as follows:

2001: USAID provided funding to South East European University in Tetovo, Macedonia. This allowed the University to acquire up-to-date technology for its’ computer center and library, as well as hire instructors that teach business administration and computer science and technology courses.
2002: The USAID’s Creative Teaching and Learning Project installed 63 media labs with computers capable of accessing the Internet in 45 primary schools and 18 secondary schools.
2003: Due to the progress so far, only 4% of the whole population had Internet access.
2005: Through the E-School Project, USAID installed computer labs in the primary and secondary schools in Macedonia. First, the 2,000 computers donated from China were installed in all 100 of the secondary schools. Then, another 3,300 computers were installed in wireless labs in the 360 primary schools.
September, 2005: USAID’s Macedonia Connect Project helped provide Macedonians with accessible and affordable broadband internet. Due to this step, 550 primary schools, secondary schools, university departments, and educational-support organizations have access to high-speed internet.
2007: The project wrapped up, and approximately 95% of the population had access to affordable Internet.

Wi-fi kiosks attached to schools in villages of Staro Nagoricane municipality.

Granting the rural citizens access this increasingly important commodity certainly helped curtail the education gap between urban and rural Macedonians. Moreover, it also provided the country’s ethnic minorities, the Romani (2.66% of the population) and Albanians (25.2% of the population), access to the same quality education. For a long time there was quite a disparity between the lifestyles of ethnic Macedonians and the aforementioned ethnic minorities. These minority groups primarily live in the countryside, alongside Macedonians of a low-income background. Due to generations of segregation, the Romani and Albanians had experienced a lower quality of life. In their efforts to aid the Romani population, USAID, in cooperation with the Macedonian government, enacted the Roma Education Project, with its goal being:

To close the gap in welfare and living conditions between the Roma and the non-Roma.

To this end, USAID in 2004 provided 269 Romani students in secondary schools and 31 Romani students at university with scholarships intended to encourage higher levels of Romani enrollment in institutions of higher education. The project also established Roma Educational Centers for out-of-school aid in Skopje, Kumanovo, and Prilep. As for the Albanian population, Zoran Popovski, Secretary of State for Education and Science, said of the Macedonia Connects initiative in a 2005 interview with the BBC that:

It should serve as a very useful tool for interactive communication between multi-ethnic schools.

Internet connectivity in Macedonia, thus, not only serves to connect wealthy urban students with educational opportunities that match those available in many Western industrialized nations. It also enables the citizens of Macedonia to break down barriers constructed due to generations of wealth disparities and ethnically segregated schools and villages.

Now, on to the technical side of the matter. You may be wondering, “just how exactly did they manage to go from 4% to 95% of the population having Internet access?” Well, close that tab and look no further. Joe Duncan, who serves as the G.B.I. Program Lead for USAID, provides the following explanation:

This connectivity was undertaken through a competitive process where a local Internet Service Provider (ISP) was able to build this nation wide network in just 4 years. Motorola provided the wireless technology solution set, Canopy, a pre-WiMAX solution.

Put into layman’s terms, local ISP’s, such as On.net, create Wi-fi clouds through Strix Systems radio-mesh technology. These “clouds” encompass whole towns and villages and are accessible to anyone with a wireless-enabled laptop upon purchasing a card with wireless credits. Glenn Strachan, Macedonia Connects director, explains that “people will be able to view the various wireless solutions within any given spot in Skopje or Bitola and connect to the Internet just as you might in New York City.”

Some of the available Wi-fi hotspots from village Vrapchishte to village Zrnovci.

The transition from only a minority of Macedonians having Internet access at the beginning of the century, to nearly all citizens having affordable access in just under a decade placed Macedonia as 92nd in the world in regards to number of Internet hosts, and 79th in the world in regards to fixed Internet broadband subscriptions.

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*stranstvo: abroad

*pictured above: image of Ivankovci, near Veles, Macedonia.

Notice: The views and opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of myself, UMD, and generation M.

Kinetiq Solutions: Millennials Bringing Macedonia and the U.S. Closer Together

Many companies strive to connect the United States and Macedonia, but few have made such a successful impression within as short a period of time as Kinetiq Solutions. Kinetiq Solutions is a Macedonian-American company that was founded in the Fall of 2015 by Nikola Jordanovski and Alex Pantich and already has almost 20 clients, a growing portfolio and a steady revenue stream. In addition to its success in the business sector, Kinetiq Solutions has proved to be a valuable ally of Macedonia by working to enhance Macedonia’s international profile and the work of organizations like the United Macedonian Diaspora (UMD).

Pantich, a serial entrepreneur, graduated from Ohio State University in 2014 with a degree in Political Science and Russian. Only 23 years old, he has founded a number of companies, including online magazine The Vostokian, the Buds app, Locale and Kinetiq Solutions. He also participated in UMD’s Birthright Macedonia program as a Program Assistant at theMacedonian Center for International Cooperation and is a member of the Macedonian Businessmen’s Club.

Kinetiq Solutions CEO Alex Pantich and Vostokian Editor-In-Chief Kristijan Fidanovski stand before Lake Ohrid

Jordanovski has consistently proven himself to be one of the best programmers in the Balkans and a prodigy of his Alma mater, The University of Cyril and Methodius in Skopje, Macedonia. He was offered an IT internship in the United States after his first year of study and has continued to work for American companies afterwards. He became a Senior Developer in a large American firm and won a Hackathon – all before the age of 23 when he co-founded Kinetiq Solutions with Pantich.

Pantich and Jordanovski would never have met without a little luck. Pantich was visiting Skopje to see a writer for his political website, The Vostokian, when he was introduced to Jordanovski. The two immediately hit it off and agreed to meet at a hotel where Pantich was attending the opening ceremony for UMD’s Birthright Macedonia program. Immediately after the ceremony, Pantich met with Jordanovski, and the two began hammering out the details of their future business together. During this initial meeting, they came up with a concrete business plan: Jordanovski would manage young Macedonian developers in designing websites and apps for American companies, while Pantich would develop the business in the United States.

The rest is history. Pantich returned to the United States to develop the business, and Jordanovski remained in Skopje to create a development team. Within two weeks of its start, the business became profitable and has since grown to include 10 developers in Macedonia and 3 salespeople in the United States.

Kinetiq Solutions’ first clients were smaller, local businesses. However, the unique self-paced work environment created by Pantich and Jordanovski for sales representatives and programmers/designers alike proved to be extremely conducive to yielding tremendous growth within only the first six months of business. As such, Kinetiq Solutions have now set their sights on developing websites and apps for larger companies and start ups. One example is SJB Visceral Technologies, a venture capital firm located in Cleveland, Ohio, and led by Steven Loiczly. Recently, SJB and Kinetiq Solutions partnered on a mobile application development project which will be released in the fourth quarter of 2016. When asked about Kinetiq Solutions, Loiczly said, “Kinetiq Solutions has been the best partner we could ask for in this endeavor. Their CTO, Nikola Jordanovski is one of the most knowledgeable and hardest-working people I have ever met and the entire team, from the developers in Skopje to designer Brandon Poplstein, has exceeded my expectations at every turn.”

One of the major keys to Kinetiq Solutions’ success has been Macedonia itself. Macedonian IT workers are highly skilled, extremely professional, and, importantly, speak English very well. These factors have all helped Kinetiq Solutions put together a premier team of developers and designers ready to take on any project.

The diaspora community has also played a large role. The company has partnered with Macedonian-owned businesses such as The Jostto Group, Studio Salone E, Apex Media House and the Buds App among others. The first two sales agents working for the company were Mario Hristovski, Gen M’s US Chairman, and Filip Jotevski, Gen M’s Global Chairman. They facilitated the growth in awareness in the diaspora community of Kinetiq Solutions and pushed for the company to be involved not just in the business community but also in the NGO sphere. As such, Kinetiq Solutions has worked with UMD to assist in the creation of info-graphics and websites, among other materials.

Kinetiq Solutions CEO Alex Pantich and Sales Agents Mario Hristovski and Filip Jotevski at the U.S. Embassy in Skopje with the Birthright Macedonia program

A new website for the Macedonian youth organization Generation M is one of the firm’s latest projects. Kinetiq Sales Agent Filip Jotevski, the Global Chair of Generation M, when asked about collaboration between the two, said: “Generation M has benefited greatly from the relationship with Kinetiq Solutions. We strive to empower youth and not only do we help employ them in Skopje, but we showcase their work globally.” The new website is set to launch within the next month and will greatly assist Generation M in spreading their message.

For Pantich and Jordanovski, UMD is an organization that they would like to work with and help to continue promoting their business model of bringing Americans and Macedonians together in a productive work environment. Their international business model is an example to how millennials are changing the work environment and bringing Macedonia and the Western world even closer together.