We want to build young people with real values, integrity and open mind, President Ivanov said at the opening of the World Business Angels Forum, which is held in Istanbul, the Republic of Turkey.

In his address at the Forum, attended by over 1200 participants from 70 countries, the Macedonian President spoke about the goals and values of the School for Young Leaders, which was proclaimed the best socially responsible project in Europe for 2017 by the World Business Angels Forum.

He emphasized that the goal of the School for Young Leaders is to enable the most talented and most successful young people in Macedonia and the region get what they cannot get within the formal education system.

"We intend to create leaders with real values, integrity and open mind. Only open-minded young people will be able to think beyond the grids, find new and innovative solutions on the road to individual and collective success", Ivanov said, adding that the participants of the School have the opportunity to gain interdisciplinary and applied knowledge, practical advice, guidance and mentorship from top world leaders.

Ivanov said that the School for Young Leaders is a start up school for future social leaders of Macedonia that can contribute through networking to positive changes in the society.

"Perhaps the most important thing we want young people to learn is the lesson of moral leadership. It became popular to say that it does not matter whether a political or business leader is moral or not, as long as he does the job well. The ability, not the character, is what matters. But pragmatism without morality leads to short-term solutions with long-term harmful consequences. Leaders without morals are part of the problem, not of the solution", the Macedonian President said.

Ivanov revealed that he fostered the idea of organizing such a School when he was a professor and, thanks to his students, he became President of the Republic of Macedonia and that it is financed by the private sector, being an example of a public-private partnership that invests in the society and the future.

He reminded that over 320 young people from Macedonia and the region have participated in the School for Young Leaders, which is his personal initiative and a project organized under his auspices, as well as over 180 top world lecturers in the field of politics, business, innovation, communications.
In his address, Ivanov also referred to the digital transformation of companies, politics and universities, which, as he said, are part of an unstoppable process of birth of a new paradigm that should offer innovative and creative solutions to the global challenges.

Tonight, within the World Business Angels Forum, the Macedonian President will be awarded the World Leadership Award on the occasion of the proclamation of the "School of Young Leaders' for the best socially responsible project in Europe for 2017.

The World Business Angels Forum is an international organization that facilitates access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises, innovators and start-up businesses from the very beginning, with the ultimate goal of creating jobs and greater social justice. Over 120 speakers from 30 countries are participating in this investment forum, which is also attended by representatives of many world companies.