Since 2008 the number of unemployed in Slovenia has doubled. It is a country where companies are falling like dominoes. But Slovenia now has its list of one hundred (you're invited to have look) which breaks the stereotypes of Slovenia having apathetic citizens, and Slovenia being a country which has no perspective.
Their excellence is recognized and rewarded. However it is often overlooked and pushed back by today's media.
Slovenians aren't very inclined towards successful people and we don't look with pride on those who stand out. One of the rare exceptions are our athletes, but only until their first slip-up. EU Commissioner Janez Potočnik says that we then, once again, become unrelenting.
What do we actually feel towards the success of others? Envy or pride? Do we use the Slovene phrase, "if I don't have a cow, let the neighbour's also die"? Or do we recognize the prosperity of our neighbour as part our community's prosperity, and therefore also ours. The story of Successful Slovenia is a story about all of us and the values which we have internalized as a society and individuals. By looking for the scapegoats for the political, economic and moral devaluation of Slovenia, we tend to (all too often) present politicians as not having any visions, bankers without social responsibility, ineffective judges, managers without a feel for the social dimension, and officials who keep indebting us excessively. And what about us, are we better than the "others who are bad"? Are we ready to admit to a person who is good that he is good, and offer the one who is not doing so well a chance to improve?
With the Successful Slovenia project MMC wants to co-create a positive attitude towards values such as knowledge, creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. We tell stories about people who are making it in life with their own capabilities and talent. For example the stories about Slovenian students who have won silver and bronze recognitions this year at the Olympiad in Informatics in Taiwan, or about the students who won the silver recognition at the Linguistics Olympiad in China, or the ones that won the bronze medal at the Chemistry Olympiad in Vietnam, or the bronze recognition at the Biology Olympiad in Indonesia, or the bronze recognition at the Geography Olympiad in Poland, or the bronze recognition at the Physics Olympiad in Kazakhstan, or the bronze medal at the Mathematics Olympiad in South Africa, or the bronze recognition at the Olympiad on Astronomy in Romania, or the story about the students that won the gold, silver and bronze medals at the Genius Olympiad for Young Researchers in the U.S.
The question of how to use their potentials should be a first-rate topic in the media and among the political decision-makers. According to entrepreneur Igor Akrapovič the ever growing number of capable and educated people leaving the country will lead to a catastrophe. That is why we believe that Successful Slovenia is the right story, for the right time.
