?THE COMPETITION „GREEN IDEAS 2021“ IS OPEN FOR APPLICATIONS?

At the online event held on April 6th, ARNO marked the official start of the green ideas competition and called on citizens who think they have an idea for a green, sustainable business to apply by May 12th.

At the event we shared information about the conditions, application criteria, application process, and through the eco-magic of the magician Kristian Shopov, we encouraged everyone who has a green idea to submit an application. Additionally, interested applicants were invited to apply to the workshops for obtaining assistance and mentoring in the process of completing the application forms.

The event was attended by representatives of the “Fund for Innovation and Technological Development” and the Organization “Macedonia 2025” who spoke about the importance of supporting the development of green and social economy. The representative of the Association for Management and Consulting “MKA2000” praised the long-term cooperation with ARNO and announced the awards for the three national winners – vouchers for consulting services from MKA2000.

Last year’s regional winner Sofija Daceva – WISE Group shared news about the progress of her idea – wine waste processing – (kominje) to a food additive. Sofia talked about the path of starting a business that operates on the principles of circular economy and the desire and potential of young people to implement their  ideas in their home country.

“We have nothing very clever to say in a pandemic in which jobs, human lives, are lost. We can only loudly confirm that we see the future of the economy in social and green entrepreneurship, in business models that clearly demonstrate care for the people and hold an honest attitude towards the environment. Our citizens have the capacity to be both honest and innovative, we witness that by winning regional awards every year. We want to offer the citizens a challenge to think about green businesses in this difficult and uncertain period, and we also want to offer support to the domestic green economy,” said Irina Janevska from ARNO.

 

“Green Ideas” is an annual competition that supports the development of small, locally sustainable business ideas in the Western Balkans and Greece. Each year, three representatives from each country compete in a regional competition. The four representatives who win the regional competition receive $ 10,000 or $ 5,000 each to implement the idea in their own country.

This year as well, ARNO will award 1000 dollars for the business concept and 2000 dollars for the business ideas that will be selected in the finals as three Macedonian winning ideas.