VIDEO — 4 Aug 2026

Leaving Montenegro, lessons from abroad and coming home as an entrepreneur

A studio interview on RTV Budva’s Otvoreno: leaving Montenegro, lessons from Munich and America, and what has to change in business culture at home.

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RTV Budva

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On Otvoreno on RTV Budva, I talked about leaving Montenegro and coming back. We discussed what made me go, what I learned about business in Munich and America, what I found when I returned and my advice for young people deciding whether to leave.

From summer jobs to the first wall in IT

Technology interested me from an early age, but Bijela, the small seaside village in the municipality of Herceg Novi where I grew up, revolved around tourism. I worked as a waiter, a barman and a beach guard, and those jobs taught me serious work habits: 12-hour days in extreme heat.

After the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Podgorica, getting into IT was hard, because opportunities in Montenegro were very limited for someone without experience. I volunteered for more than a year, did a nine-month traineeship sponsored by the government and then hit a wall, because it was very hard to get a contract in IT. I could keep fighting the same way and stagnate, or throw myself into the fire outside my comfort zone, so I decided to leave.

An honest answer at Telenor and a decision made alone

My first job was at Telenor, the most desirable employer at the time, and people told me to hold on to it. The key moment came when I asked my superior openly what my real chances of advancing quickly were. Thanks to his honesty I learned that advancement was very slow and that people found their comfort and held on to their jobs, as in most companies in Montenegro. My ambitions were different, and he told me that if I wanted that pace, I would have to look for it somewhere else.

I went to Belgrade first. It was a middle comfort zone, with the same language and my sister living there, and there too I reached a point where I needed an environment with harsh conditions and a different work ethic, where I would really have to prove myself. When I moved to Munich, I didn’t consult my parents, because I was afraid of subjective advice. I signed the contract first and told them afterwards, so that I knew it was entirely my decision.

Differences that open your eyes

In Munich, public transport is precise to the second, and things are so optimised that they optimise even what may not be necessary. You also see services and products that don’t exist here and work very well there, and I watched those most closely, imagining whether one day I could open a company in Montenegro that would improve people’s quality of life. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, or live abroad for years and suffer as I did, to learn these things.

Every move was extreme until I adapted, because in each city you rediscover yourself and your habits and adapt to the people whose environment you have come into. The first 2–3 months usually bring loneliness and even mild depression, but you always come out stronger, braver and readier for the next move.

Growing outside the comfort zone and the American pace

I knew there were clear skies on the other side, and that nothing good in my life had come without hardship and effort. Looking back, I could perhaps have had it a little easier, so I wish every young person I advise would get through it 3–10 times faster than I did. They still have to go through it, so I steer them towards environments outside their comfort zone, because that is where character, knowledge and skills grow.

I only compare myself with the previous version of myself. Meeting people I hadn’t seen for ten years, I saw that some absolutely should have stayed here, and I share my story because maybe one person in ten thousand will find the courage to take that step.

In business, American cities impressed me most. Their approach is extremely aggressive, and whatever you start in America, hundreds of companies are already doing it. Here, without competition, you reach a point where you have enough income and stop, wondering why you should open another restaurant or hotel. I like their business culture less than ours, because I think it is worse for employees, but it showed me how to reorganise the same 8 hours and achieve much more than I used to.

A business culture that has to change

When I came back, I saw how many opportunities we had left unused over a whole decade, despite our exceptional talent, and talented people still meet a very outdated business culture in their first job. Across the Western Balkans, where I have worked with companies from the whole region, I still see what I call the Balkan boss culture in place of management.

Micromanagement is extremely common, employees are expected to stick to their job, because everyone knows where the ideas come from, and inside companies I feel that people see each other as a potential threat or competition. Fortunately, this is changing, and with the European Union, which we are soon joining, our companies have to modernise and lift their employees up.

Montenegro’s greatest potential is its people. If they think their progress lies elsewhere, the state should give them scholarships for universities abroad, so that they come home with knowledge and experience and lift our society further.

The most important business lesson I have learned is that very high business ethics must be a precondition for any business. That means transparency, trust, real leadership and lifting others above yourself. Above all, we have to unite, because a country this small has so many silos and divisions, and they have to be broken down if we want to be truly equal citizens of the European Union.

The sea, Boka and the road to entrepreneurship

Abroad, I missed the sea most of all, so once a month I found a way to come home, even for a few days, to see the sea and my parents. I always knew I would come back. I was born in Kotor, in Boka Kotorska, and every morning I still go out like a tourist and photograph places I have passed a million times.

I knew I would come back before I knew I would become an entrepreneur, and I had no idea how to start. At one company in Munich I sat next to the owner and asked him every day which books he had read, how they had started, who their investors were and how they had hired their first employee. Those answers, and people’s generosity, brought me to the point where I told myself I wasn’t ready and jumped in anyway.

Bureaucracy, digitalisation and advice to young people

Our bureaucracy is always at a very high level and demoralises entrepreneurs, who already have a million worries. Still, digitalisation in Montenegro is on a good path with digital signatures, so we are finally getting rid of paperwork. The ICT community and entrepreneurs have to stick together and help the state, and the state has to help them, so that we become equals in the European business system.

Everyone should ask themselves whether their ambitions exceed the opportunities where they are. Digitalisation is better than ever and artificial intelligence can help with every process, and with those tools I would probably have made some decisions differently. For some people it will be clear that leaving is not for them. As for risk and courage, my honest advice is to throw yourself into the fire, because you won’t regret it.

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