“It is not just networking… we are a community of so many interesting and positive individuals.”

Always actively looking for new challenges and exploring new ideas is the basis for life-time-education and personal growth. It is the only way to keep up and be on-top of fast changing business and social environment. 

Routine was always something I was avoiding with all effort. I need constant change, new knowledge, new surroundings, colleagues, friends, new business partners and clients and new business opportunities.  

Hence, MBA program was on my to-do list for quite some time since I had a feeling, I can get all those things in one place. And I was not wrong. 

Working on domestic market as a sales director for 6 years already, building the system from scratch, the time came to go forward. As our company was growing intensively, and we were already looking toward potential export markets, an opportunity arose for me to enroll in Cotrugli Executive MBA program, through an “MBA challenge” organized in Ljubljana. I grabbed the opportunity and got it. I also got the full support from my company, which was crucial to get the most out of theoretical part of program and transferring it to our real business. 

It was a life changing experience as I like to say it in one sentence and what every individual can expect from this program is that it will open your mind even further. Ones mindset will broaden if only you are prepared to grasp and objectively accept all the knowledge and information presented by the faculty and even most important from your colleagues. I must say it was the best team of so many different individuals that I ever meet, and I loved working with every single one of them, since all were full of ideas and different but positive perspectives. We became not just colleagues, but friends for life. With some of them we also became business partners, since we started and managed a small business together as a derivate of our final graduation project. 

Region we are all working in is relatively small, but also quite strong. Mixing nationalities from our Balkan region, working also with Serbian generation, cross modules with older and younger generations, was one of most important and smart things Cotrugli has offered us. Through this we all received a powerful network of colleagues and friends from all important business segments and all over region. This is something that cannot be “priced”. 

What was my most important takeaway from all of this? It is hard to say. Today I am managing successfully a fast-growing segment of export sales in our company. We are present all-over European market and we are also entering overseas markets already. I personally achieved this with a sort of personal ease and calm. Nothing can surprise you. You easily cope with different tough situations every day. You have all the answers in your pocket. You simply have the upper ground on every situation and every interlocutor. This are the foundation that COTRUGLI Executive program strengthen for me. I have a full control over myself and over business development topics. 

Years go by quickly, but knowledge and friends stay. Following alumni activities keeps me in touch with all that was so positive and unforgettable. It is not just networking… we are a community of so many interesting and positive individuals.