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Hi, my name is Milenko and I was an Ambassador at the 2012 One Young World Summit in Pittsburgh, representing Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Summit, which impacted my life so much and marked initial steps of my journey, brought me to London one month ago as a winner of the UK Trade & Investment Sirius competition for the brightest global startups projects.
The journey started four years ago. In 2010, I was an ordinary student in Greece. I was only doing what was expected of me: attending lectures, passing exams and hanging out with friends. That was fine, but I started feeling that being just an ordinary student would not be enough to avoid “youth unemployment,” a problem, which has become very intense globally in last five to six years.
Previously awarded with the Greek Government scholarship, I had the idea that there are thousands of student opportunities around the Globe where I could apply, meet new proactive young people, learn real life skills and become much more employable after I graduated. After over two years and many rejections and failures, the strategy worked amazingly well. I managed to travel to over 22 countries, attend various student events and internships, and receive two jobs offers. Also, I was awarded with a grant from an extraordinary woman, Ms. Gianna Angelopoulou, CEO of the Athens Olympics 2004.
The 2012 One Young World Summit impacted my journey in the most amazing way. I still remember applying for One Young World’s All Bar None in February 2012. Only a few months before, I decided to launch the site HeySuccess.com and help youth learn about global and regional student events, internships, scholarships and competitions easily accessible for those who want to take their future into their own hands. I completed my application for the 2012 One Young World Summit and once accepted, excitedly embarked for Pittsburgh, not realizing at the time that One Young World would be a life-altering experience.
Along with networking and learning practical skills, which you can find at other global youth events, every One Young World Summit is unique because it inspires you to take action. By hearing stories of other extraordinary people who breached the status quo at One Young World Summits you will be encouraged to bring your ideas to life… I was! The 2012 Summit added additional courage and inspired me to make my vision a reality. Very soon, the first version of HeySuccess.com was launched, and we started to work towards bigger and better goals—creating more opportunities for the youth. This journey helped me learn one precious lesson—if you want something and work hard, you will be surprised how much unexpected support and new opportunities arise when you are least expecting.
After launching the first version of the site, I could see what works and what needed attention to improve HeySuccess. Our efforts were recognized and in 2013 we were granted the One Young World Social Business Accelerator, which enabled us to travel to universities around Europe spreading the message of HeySuccess.
All the support enabled us to launch the second version of HeySuccess.com almost one year ago. In the last twelve months, we have brought over 6,700 global opportunities to youths and impacted over 35,000 people in over 150 countries around the world. We receive dozens of testimonials every month from young people whose life changed thanks to opportunities found at HeySuccess.com. Some key impacts include Sheriffo from Gambia, Demetris from Cyprus, Antonella from Italy and Ana from Russia.
That’s not everything! Three months ago, UK Trade & Investment awarded HeySuccess on of the best startup packages in the world. Thanks to the grants and support from the UK Government, we will be able to surface more opportunities globally for the youth. Our efforts are aimed at giving youth opportunities to find global opportunities and help companies and organizations find global talents.
Everyone can do it! Regardless of your starting position, your journey is what you make of it. The recipe is simple:
Take advantage of all global & regional opportunities at HeySuccess.com (Stay tuned, we are preparing many cool things).
- Utilize all local opportunities within your university, city and country.
- Surround yourself with positive and energetic people.
- Make it happen, whatever project you have in mind, begin the process.
Leave the rest to magic, it will start happening automatically during your journey! Enjoy the world of unlimited opportunities!
