Endeavor Bulgaria’s Dare2Scale program has expanded to the Western Balkans with a mission to fuel entrepreneurship in emerging markets. By uniting local ecosystems into a strong regional network, Dare2Scale aims to unlock growth opportunities and empower high-impact entrepreneurs across diverse industries.
This year’s Western Balkans Dare2Scale cohort includes companies from various fields that are aiming to make meaningful impacts. Aqtos, founded by Damjan Dano, helps small and medium-sized businesses with digital transformation, drawing on Dano’s experience in tech. Happy Productions, led by Adthe Trepca, supports nonprofits in expanding their social media presence with creative video content. Inellipse develops software for industries like telecommunications and green energy, focusing on innovation and growth.
Paket.mk, founded by Dragan Josifovski is N. Macedonia’s leading online grocer, emphasizes convenience and partnerships with local producers. Synapse Aviation by Filip Arsov improves flight safety through its Airport Briefing software, and Xessable offers software outsourcing services with their frontman Vladimir Mihailovski, prioritizing quality and long-term client relationships. The last member of the Western Balkan cohort for 2024 is Inellipse, IT company with two decades of experience led by Ilija Jolevski.
In an interview with IT Logs, Endeavor Bulgaria’s marketing and content manager Ida Boeva explains why expanding Dare2Scale to the Western Balkans was a natural step, highlighting the region’s growing entrepreneurial energy and the demand for cross-border mentorship and resources to support scalable, high-impact ventures.
What was the main reason for Endeavor to expand its Dare2Scale program to the Western Balkans?
Ida Boeva: At Endeavor we have one simple mission – to build thriving entrepreneurial ecosystems in emerging and underserved markets around the world.
We’ve broken down this mission in three levels:
- After selecting high-growth founders, we help them scale faster and invest in their growth, while giving them a platform to pay their success forward to the next generation.
- In each of the 45 markets that Endeavor is present in, we strive to build a thriving entrepreneurial community and a strong ecosystem.
- We help create and cultivate synergy between individual ecosystems in different regions, in order for them collaborate as a unified structure in order to create more opportunities for the entrepreneurs in these geographies.
We are committed to unlocking new opportunities for entrepreneurs in the Western Balkans and contributing to its sustainable development. We already have traction with companies from the region, including Native Teams who are part of our Regional Support Program, and a few North Macedonian companies who were part of past Dare2Scale editions, so when we started receiving inbound interest regarding Dare2Scale from companies in the region it was only natural.
Regarding the cohort composition – how do the diverse industries represented in the cohort contribute to the overall goals of the Dare2Scale program?
At its core, Dare2Scale is an industry-agnostic accelerator. We believe that entrepreneurs with any type of businesses can benefit from the highly-customized program. One of the things we notice most frequently within the program is knowledge sharing between the companies in the cohort.
When entrepreneurs come from diverse backgrounds, their unique perspectives spark insightful discussions, challenge conventional thinking, and foster creative problem-solving. This cross-industry exchange is a cornerstone of Dare2Scale, driving innovation and growth for everyone involved.
What role will prominent business leaders and role-models play in addressing these priorities, and what specific expertise will they bring?
The priorities of every cohort in Dare2Scale are different, and so are the modules of the program to help address these priorities. In this Western Balkans cohort, we have the pleasure of working with senior PwC consultants from the North Macedonia, Albania & Kosovo, and Bulgarian offices, as well as a number of other mentors from our regional network. Mergim Cahani, founder and CEO of Gjirafa, one of the fastest growing companies in the Balkans, is partner and workshop leader of this cohort in the Western Balkans.
The way the program is structured, each company works on their individual priorities during one-on-one mentorship, and the workshops are tailored towards topics that will help support the companies with know-how on important topics such as recruitment and retention, fundraising, sales, and more. Therefore, each of the business leaders we have invited as workshop leaders or mentors, holds expertise relevant to the needs of our cohort.
What are the long-term plans for the Western Balkans edition Dare2Scale beyond 2024, and how does Endeavor envision the program evolving in the future?
This Western Balkans cohort is not yet standalone, but rather an extension of the sixth edition of the current Dare2Scale program. Long-term our vision is to integrate our operations in the region in one unified structure which will reflect our mission of fostering a strong regional ecosystem. This will create more opportunities for companies in the region to leverage cross-border networks, know-how, and resources.
