Pathfinding capacity building in Belgrade

In May 2016 in Belgrade, Kapacity.org director Natasha Cica was a guest expert at two pathfinding capacity building initiatives.

The first was #3 Youth Digital Business Forum on 19-21 May at the National Assembly of Serbia, hosted by the New Diplomacy Centre Belgrade and officially opened by the Israeli Ambassador to Serbia.

Natasha facilitated the opening panel exploring New Perspectives on Entrepreneurship – Working in a Digital World. The workshop featured a cluster of speakers from Serbian-based digital innovators including Kutpoint, TeleSign, CARGO, WorkPuls, Kakonamaster, WannaBe, Portal Mladi/Poslovi, EduLab and Fab Initiative, with the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and experts in economic diplomacy, cybersecurity, investment and monetising innovation – and participants came from India, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, the United States of America, Serbia and more.

The best tagline of the day – ‘just use the small magic box in your head.’

The second was the conference of the Forum of Serbian and Kosovar Businesswomen on 30 May at the Hotel Palace Metropol – focused on bridging the gap between Serbian and Kosovar institutions.

This initiative was a partnership between Transconflict in Belgrade and Democracy for Development in Pristina. Official guests included the British Ambassador to Serbia, the Serbian Liaison Officer in Pristina and the Kosovo Liaison Officer in Belgrade. Natasha spoke on a panel discussing the role of women’s entrepreneurship in strengthening the Belgrade-Pristina relationship and economies – with Besa Zogaj Gashi (Deputy Minister of Economic Development in Kosovo) and Nikola Milivojevic (advisor to the Serbian government on gender equality).

The dialogue between participants was both frank and respectful – another reminder that people of goodwill can always generate something uniquely positive.