Senior Associate, Ernst & Young, USA

Yearning for better education, and with the hope of ending the vicious circle many a person fell in as an unemployed individual with a university diploma, master’s degree or doctoral degree, I left Slovenia when I was 19. After finishing the study of the economics, I came to New York, where I now work as a consultant to various financial institutions in the field of structured finance. It has been 10 years since I have started to follow the events in Slovenia from across the ocean.

I still love to come back to Slovenia as it will always be my home. However, the fact that almost a quarter of (registered) young people are unemployed worries me. Every year, the brain drain rate increases and it seems that leaving Slovenia is the only solution for young people, who would like to work and create something for themselves. In Slovenia, young professionals do not get many opportunities, much less understanding. Although we all live in the era of capitalism, there are some unwritten rules followed in other countries, such as regular salary, payment of contributions, support from the employer and mutual respect, but mostly the fact that we all get the same opportunity, no matter where we come from. 

Slovenia is getting more and more recognition around the globe mostly because of our athletes. I hope that the Slovenian leadership will continue to invest in them and allow them to develop on the highest possible level. Their successes contribute to the recognition of Slovenia, which attracts interest of the world's leading powers and foreign investors with whom we have to connect and collaborate in order to create new jobs and a chance of progress. For quite some time now, the world has been a global village and it is very important to encourage such thinking every step of the way. Slovenia is also making great progress in the field of technology. For the future, I would like our leaders to focus on the development of young people and on finding solutions to bring the knowledge and experience acquired by us, the children of Slovenia, back to this small country that we all love so much.