SG x Womanpreuner stories: Startup & innovation ecosystems led by women in the Western Balkans

So many stories are worth sharing… Some are also worth celebrating!

Womenpreneurs Stories is an initiative that aims to celebrate inspirational women in business, share their stories and inspire. Startup Grind together Swedish Institute and HUB387 brings you great women from innovative ecosystems to share their stories. 

Looking forward to the future, we definitely need more women in leadership positions. Because women at all levels of the organization need peers to look up to and to seek out.

The contribution that women as innovators, entrepreneurs and catalysts  of change can give to economic growth in the Western Balkans is very important.

Many are already involved directly and indirectly in supporting an environment in which women in the Western Balkans are recognized and fully enabled to contribute to the development of the emerging entrepreneurial ecosystem. Why? What has been achieved? What else can we do? Come and join the conversation with our entrepreneurs, founders, mentors, connectors.

The event features founders and CEOs who will provide practical advice and best practices on starting a startup, fundraising and mentorship.

At the 1st SG x Womenpreneurs Stories event, the following ladies will share their inspirational stories during the panel.

Nina Nikolic is #SwissEP Eco-System Facilitator and Manager of Entrepreneurs-in-Residence initiative in Macedonia. Nina's mission is to develop and strengthen the startup and innovation ecosystem in MKD. She has been doing that since 2014 through the #MKstartups community and as an advisory board member and co-founder of the association Startup Macedonia. Nina's passion for supporting the startup community in Macedonia & the region is infectious. Her dedication to bringing together eco-system actors has led her to become a super-connector of people across the country and beyond. As a member of the #SwissEP team, she has an impactful job to do and for her, it means so much more than earning an income.

Nana Radenković is Co-founder of Nova Iskra, where she is actively engaged in creating mentoring programs, trainings and workshops for individuals, organizations and companies interested in taking an active role in the processes of transformation, not only of their projects and businesses, but also in a wider sense, through the creation of new ways in which they could learn, live and work in the future. She holds an MA in Management in Culture, Interculturalism and Mediation in Balkans (University of the Arts Belgrade), with great experience working in the private, public and civil sectors. She is a professor at the Faculty of Media and Communication in Belgrade and a mentor within the Nelt Educational Program and Creative Mentorship Program.

Ziba Zareie has the task to communicate Sweden and Swedish skills, experience and values in sectors such as smart cities, mobility solutions, circular economy and life science. She works mainly with the Government’s export strategy since SI has discharged a number of assignments specifically intended to help implement the Government’s export strategy. Ziba’s role at the Swedish Institute is to find platforms for more Swedish companies to enter the global market. Ziba was the Deputy CEO at Greatness PR where she was an adviser to some of Sweden’s largest corporations. She was the former Executive Director of the Swedish – American Chambers of Commerce office in Sweden (SACC-USA) where she worked for many years with establishing Swedish cleantech companies in the US market. Ziba also spent a few years in Washington D.C. with SACC-USA, where she was in charge of 

Corporate Programme.

Dajana Dzindo is co-founder and executive director of Foundation 787 which supports women and youth in B&H in starting and growing their businesses. She is also coordinating the "Western Balkans Women in Business" program with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) where she also serves as a woman in business expert and works in the field of development finance. Her previous work experience is related to economic and CSO development in the USA, North Africa, Turkey and the Western Balkans. Dajana holds an MA in Business Communication from the University of Sarajevo and Zagreb and has professional interests in entrepreneurship, women’s rights and communication.