Make sure to use this opportunity to meet, network and get inspired from our CEI mentors.
Thanks to the CEI project, you will be able to get perspective and guidance from outstanding female experts and leaders from the whole region of Central and Eastern Europe. This time, it is our pleasure to introduce two mentors from Serbia.
Serbia has been known as a country of combining old traditions with new technologies. At the same time, women in Serbia face many obstacles. Based on EU research, women entrepreneurs in the Balkans face prejudices and get little support from their husbands. Pleasure to introduce to you two Serbian mentors promoting female entrepreneurs and innovation while advocating for unpaid house and care work to get more attention.
Valentina Mladenovič is the founder of Cubizma, a studio where arts and geometry meet digital fabrication and crafts.
Imagine combining tradition and modernity. All Cubizma creations arise from the synergy of traditional and contemporary design and technologies. They are made from a new generation of plastic material – bio based and biodegradable PLA and are produced by the 3D printing technology and entrepreneurship. Valentina’s story confirms the research that every third woman desires to have their own business but only 9% succeed. That is why her mentoring topic is called “Leave the business comfort zone in the fifties”.
Do not think that it is too late to fulfill your dream. Get inspired from Valentina’s story, so “You can spread your arms and take what you want. The whole beautiful world is yours”. These were the words of her father that she started to live by 30 years later.
Jana Hudecova Zabunov is the Director of Women’s Entrepreneurship Academy. She is an experienced fundraiser and a project manager of national and international projects supporting business incubation, life-long learning projects, women’s entrepreneurship programs and dual initiatives. She will be launching a business accelerator for innovative women for the third time, the only accelerator of this kind in Serbia. Jana Hudecova Zabunov is also advocating to make women’s unpaid housework and care work visible and paid. Her mentoring session is called “Never too old, never too late to start from scratch once again”. And you might like that she references famous Czech runner Emil Zatopek “if you feel you have not enough strength, just speed up”.
Learn how to be authentic, brave and positive. And to walk the talk, Jana Hudecova Zabunov plans to smile more and not to take life too seriously in 2022. Get your dose of energy and inspiration from a lady whose smile is genuinely contagious.
