One month has passed since Vlado Mitev joined our company as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). He moved from Skopje, the capital city of North Macedonia, to Bitola. Moving cities can be challenging, but if it’s worth it, nothing is too difficult. Read Vlado’s story below – his life, career, and motivation to join us.
My story begins in Skopje, a city in the former Yugoslavia. Born during socialism, I had to learn capitalism the hard way. I grew up in a loving family with parents who were doctors of science. They taught me values like honesty, friendship, and hard work. This upbringing helped me excel in school, finishing as the best student in my generation. My competitive spirit, which I still have, guided me through life and helped me achieve my goals.
I was finishing secondary school when I got the idea to start buying and selling programs and video games. I decided to establish my own company with 500 euros borrowed from my father. While working in my company, I was also enrolled at the Mechanical Engineering faculty and actively followed the studies. I learned that when you set your mind to something, you shouldn’t give up, no matter how hard it gets. As a young entrepreneur, I experienced every job position within the company and grew it from one employee to 40. I expanded our services to include hardware sales, assembly, and distribution. This experience shaped me into who I am today.
During my career, I have worked on projects implementing DMS systems and SAP. Eventually, I focused on software and ERP solutions, which led me to the Slovenian ERP company Datalab. I stayed there for around four years as Managing Director before moving to IWConnect.
All these things have shaped me somehow, taught me the hard lessons of life, but the people who are “guilty” for who I am today are definitely my parents. My parents and my family pushed me straight forward, taught me the basics that I need to know and let me accomplish the things that I want by myself, with their support. Tough life, tough business environment and the willingness to succeed in life, all the effort, and tough work have done the rest of the shaping. Learning from my own mistakes, learning from other people’s mistakes gave me really valuable experience which I use to make myself better.
You decided to start a new journey as a CEO at IWConnect. Why? And how did that reflect your family life as you have to move from Skopje to Bitola?
I recognize IWConnect as a really successful company, well organized and with a proven concept and business strategy, but what really won me over was the fact that IWConnect is recognized as a socially responsible company, and cherishes and respects family values, and even more respects its employees and is proud to have them. As I share the same values in life, for me it is an honor to lead a company of this kind. In addition to this is Bitola. Bitola is one of the most beautiful cities in our country and I love it. So, when you combine those things, it is like when you put all parts of one puzzle in their right place – you can see the entire picture and you realize that it is the right step in the right direction.
Moving from one city to another, and leaving your family behind can be tough and challenging, but life is unpredictable and you never know what will be tomorrow – and that’s the beauty of life. I raised 3 beautiful wild never-exhausting boys who are now grown-up kids ready for high school and they don’t need me that much, so I will be with them during the weekends. This change is a fundamental change which might raise the usual questions such as how will I adapt to the new environment, new home, new people? Will I miss Skopje and my friends there?
But I think, I already got the answers to most of these questions even in my first month. I already feel like a part of one big family here at IWConnect, and I found a really nice place which will be my new home. And the most important in the plot of this story is that all these “sacrifices” are really looking so small, comparing to what I really feel.
Paulo Coelho once said
” When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”
This is something that guides me in my life. There is nothing too difficult, too complicated, too far or impossible, it’s all about how much you are motivated and how much you want to achieve your goals. These are the premises that led me from a high school kid with borrowed 500 euros to start a business, through a managing director of several IT companies to a CEO position in IWConnect. What defines me who I am and set me where I am, is the following: Don’t wait for things to get easier, instead, work hard to get better in what you do.
