Creating and developing technology ecosystems and talent

What do you do?

For more than two years now, I have been the founder and CEO of Technovator. All this time, together with the team, we develop our talents, support entrepreneurs and contribute to the development of the innovation ecosystem in Moldova. But in general, our goal, and especially my personal one, is to develop innovation by creating a favourable environment for it.

 Do you have a lot of experience? How did it all start?

The greatest contribution to my professional development was my experience working at the National Association of ICT Companies - ATIC, the implementer of the Tekwill project. Here I learned how to develop the ecosystem, the IT industry, both in terms of infrastructure and the community of technology initiatives, startups, IT companies, donors, universities and international programs.

What have you been doing at Tekwill?

In the beginning I was in charge of organising events. Over time, the project grew organically and a specific department was needed. So two new areas emerged - education and entrepreneurship. As I was attracted to communities, I became involved in them and managed the entrepreneurship area. In our strategy, we developed a funnel: introducing talents to technology, encouraging them to observe the life of startups, motivating them to get involved and various methods of support, but after the COVID year, we also added a digital development component for SMEs as one of the areas of technology entrepreneurship.

How did you become a part of Tekwill?

As I said, I originally came to ATIC as an event organiser. I wanted to start my own company and become an organiser of one of the biggest events in the country. I had experience as an event organiser such as engineering events, wine days, openings, fashion shows, but I wanted to be more involved in the content of the events. I saw that the biggest event in the country - Moldova ICT Summit - was planned to be organised and I felt that someday I would be involved in its creation. But at that time I had no idea that I would become the main organiser of this event myself.

After graduating, I was offered to join the team. I was faced with a dilemma: I knew I wanted to develop my own event company, but at the same time I really liked the team and the approach to work at ATIC, and the offer sounded good: to do what I wanted to do, with connections, openness and resources. I started to organise various initiatives, programmes and campaigns until the Tekwill project came along. Apart from the fact that the building itself seemed very big to me - 3600 square metres - all this space needed to be filled with people. Until the last week we had a dilemma, we didn't know if we could attract people to this corner of the city. In other words, the main commitment was to fill this space with people, startups, programmes. Tekwill is a centre of excellence, a project that provides the country with talented people, initiatives and opportunities for startups, communities, small, medium and large companies.

I was wondering what kind of education you have? 

She came to Chisinau at the age of 15, studied at vocational school No. 1 as a cook. I got my diploma and worked as a chef in several cafes and restaurants in the capital. Moreover, I studied at the Faculty of Food Industry, not knowing then that there were other faculties and other opportunities in the country. I continued our family tradition, as did my siblings. If I had done my research, I probably would have chosen something else. I decided to enrol in a more fashionable speciality, viz. Industrial biotechnologyit seemed like a promising career. I thought that studying new technologies seemed more interesting than being a simple cook. Unfortunately, we don't have many laboratories in our country, so it was at that time a routine job that didn't really spark any interest. But to this day, I still believe that biotechnology and the food industry are promising because it is what defines us, we have potential and we have to find different innovative methods to develop this field.

After that, I entered the Master's programme at the University of the Academy of Sciences, specialising in Bioeconomics and Economics of Nature Management. At that time it was not yet such a global issue, but it was interesting to me. Even though I attended classes and received a stipend, I didn't see where I could work. I tried to participate in many projects, I was a member of several NGOs.

As a university student you were part of the BEST community, right?

Yes, that. What attracted me was that there were a lot of foreigners, they spoke English, they were emancipated, simple... I was much more elegant then, I wore heels... in other words, we had different vibes. Even though I didn't really understand exactly what this organization did, I applied, I was selected and later I was on the board of directors. Everything I did there was very important to me. People asked me if I was paid for it, they didn't understand why I was volunteering. But I knew that everything I learnt there would be useful to me and that one day I would implement the knowledge I had gained. There I learned how large international organizations work, how to work with people, and gained real corporate experience.

What followed that experience?

During my Master's studies I learned about the ITMC (Internship, Training, Mentoring and Coaching) program and wanted to get involved in this project. This is where final year Master's students come together and make connections with various serious companies and organizations. One of them was IIEPO, an organization that provides in-country investment and exports. There was also the Electronic Government Agency, Magenta and Total Leasing. After graduation, you had to do an internship. I got into IIEPO, that's when I decided I wanted to do event organizing. I told everyone about this great desire of mine, and then I happened to hear Oksana Kashu from Electronic Government Agency, who told me that ATIC needed help in this field, and I met Anna Chirica. And, of course, I immediately accepted the offer to join the organization of the TIC Summit in Moldova.

How did the Tethnovator projects start? What were the first steps?

I started Tehnovator projects with talent development programmes: Startup Students, AgTech Innovation Lab, then the Product Management course. But I had the misfortune that my first projects coincided with the war in Ukraine. And then we went through the second stage of restructuring project types, started working on careeraid.tech, the Product Management community, and collaborated with Busines Hub Tiraspol on the project "Incorporating the Left Bank IT ecosystem into the Moldovan ecosystem" as part of a competition launched by PNUD.

What do the Tethnovator projects mean to you?

It's a revelation to me how many nuances are behind it, for those who design innovations and business environments. It is fascinating to see how a project develops from concept to result and what impact it has. I like to associate business with an ecosystem, with a forest that gradually grows out of small, organised thickets, and over time grows vegetation, big trees, birds, animals and a harmonious environment.

Did the war have an impact on the company's activities?

Yes, of course. But in any circumstances, you have to find a way out of the situation and move on. So, the war pushed me and my team to create the Careeraid platform. I remember coming to Parliament, to a room where volunteers were helping refugees from Ukraine. When I saw that they and more than 2000 other young people were mobilized to help, I knew that I had to come with a concrete help, namely to bring together the talents of Ukraine and IT companies in Europe. That's when I met you, and together we launched Product Management Community in Moldova. As part of this project, we organize monthly meetings, bootcamps, master classes and are preparing for the second conference Product Management Conference 2023.

I know you have a lot of experience in organising travel to international events. What projects have you managed? 

What I do at Technovator sometimes resonates with my previous experience. I have spent a lot of time increasing the number of startups in Moldova, so I would really like them to keep creating. Many of them need a push, support. Companies need to be aware of what is happening around them, to see how other startups work, to make as many connections as possible, to see the world outside the country, because that is how you can develop. For example, the experience with XOR, when we brought in Dave Perry, who had previously invested in them. He contributed a lot to the growth and development of the company in a short period of time. This was an important experience for me, because I realised how the right connections bring a startup to the next level.

For example, we organised the visit of 10 startups to the Pirate Summit in Cologne in 2022. This year we are going to TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco, where we will have a special pavilion for Moldova. There will be 8 startups there and we will organise Demo Day for the community and investors, as well as have Silicon Valley meetups. I hope we will go somewhere else, with startups and positioning of the country.

Another project in which we support startups and entrepreneurs is the Business Tracking platform, where professionals who understand business, development, marketing, product and project management work. We have a methodology that helps startups and companies grow at an accelerated pace. We are currently working on expanding the number of Business Trackers in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia.

This is an important help for businesses in Moldova. Another important event was GigaHack. Tell us how it was there, what results did you get?

Deptech GigaHack comes from the experience of organising hackathons. We had this concept for 500 participants in our plans for a long time. However, after several discussions, we decided to start with something smaller. To start with, we decided to make it for 250 participants. We positioned it not only as a general hackathon, but also as focused on new technologies, namely deeptech. We paid a lot of attention to defining the tasks that the participants had to work on, each of them we prepared in advance with our partners, it was a really big job. We made sure that each task had a clear description, data, etc.

The hackathon as a business potential became very attractive to those who came to our country at the level of ministry representatives from Romania, France, Estonia, in particular the USAID-supported Future Technologies Project, Sweden and the UK, WNISEF, provided significant assistance, which is focused on Ukraine and Moldova. In the future, we intend to attract as many talented people as possible, both from home and abroad.

How do you manage to combine all this? Do you have time for your family? Do you have any life hacks?

I can't say I'm the most exemplary mother and wife, but my parents help us a lot and I'm very grateful to them. I have a strange habit that I do not recommend - I am used to working at night, I have no choice. During the day I have meetings, and when I need to organise something, write letters, send emails... I do all this at night. Now the team has expanded, everyone has their own tasks, there is an opportunity to hire more people, which will allow me to work on a permanent basis.

How many people are on your team?

At the moment we are five full-time staff and three people in partnership.

What helped you become the person you are today? Who are you grateful to?

I think the most important thing is people's trust, their support, their advice. What motivates me most of all is my family, friends, mentors, from whom I can learn, with whom I can complement myself. I like to develop myself, go beyond my capabilities, learn about the world, innovations, science and technology.

Thanks so much for the conversation and good luck with your new projects!