OLGA RAJČIĆ

Olga Rajčić is an entrepreneur with a community-oriented spirit.  She holds B.Sc in Business studies from Cardiff Metropolitan University and M.sc in Management of Human Resources  from Sheffield University. She is a continuous learner, thus she has attended various professional development courses in various fields (communications, green and social entrepreneurship, digital marketing)

After finishing her master studies she comes back to Macedonia to continue the tradition of the family business. The hunger for knowledge, new impactful projects and new experiences is what led her to attend the Startup Weekend Skopje 2018. “At this event, I met Stefan and Teodora (Challenger’s co-founders). This weekend has changed my career completely and took me through my entrepreneurial journey”, says Olga. Today she proudly holds two positions as a business development manager in a family-owned business and a co-founder of GREEN IT DOO -the creator of Challenger App.

Over the years she took other professional roles, the most recent one being a project manager of the local incubator for social entrepreneurs in North Macedonia implemented by ARNO (part of the regional RISE project). Her main interests are entrepreneurship and giving back to the community, therefore she strives for a socially responsible economy and is actively involved in the area of social entrepreneurship on a national level. Moreover, being a community-oriented person, she volunteered in several NGOs, served as a mentor and judge at various business/startup competitions, as well as a trainer and speaker at various events. All of these roles are what motivates her to keep up with her work. Currently she is part of the women mentorship network Stella and member of Rotary Club International Skopje.

Her passion for further growth and capturing knowledge led her to apply to YTILI 2021/2022 (Young Transatlantic Innovation Leaders Initiative) program. After being successfully selected out of 500 applications from all over Europe, this was one of her life milestones to develop and grow as entrepreneurs by learning from the US startup ecosystem while proudly presenting North Macedonia. This fellowship broadened her entrepreneurial knowledge, thus she felt the urge to give back to her community and applied for a reciprocal exchange (bringing her hosts of Rockies Venture Club in North Macedonia). This September 2022, she was selected for this exchange where together with Peter Adams she organized a series of MasterClasses for entrepreneurs and investors in Skopje. The MasterClasses and the open events would not have been possible without the support of Business Accelerator UKIM and MAAA. All of the classes were attended by 30+ people (each day), which proved the need for such kinds of workshops and events in our startup ecosystem.

In the upcoming months she is going to be fully concentrated on her startup growth (investments, new market entries and some other features) and she announces news connected to this from the Challenger team, at the beginning of 2023.