BIZLife “30 under 30” list: Jelisaveta Lazarevic, Project Leader, AFA community
From the beginning of high school, which she attended in Krusevac, economics has been an important area of her interest, along with acting and volleyball. At the age of 19, she moved to Belgrade and was one of five students who received a scholarship to study at FEFA. During her studies, she was a member of the Student Parliament, the Belgrade Model of the European Union (BEUM) and the FEFA Open, a humanitarian tennis tournament. In 2015, she was named one of the best students of economics in our country by the Serbian Association of Economists. A year later, she started working as a research assistant at the Centre for Advanced Economic Studies (CEVES), where she participated in the World Bank project „Competitiveness and Job“, through which she learned more about the structure of the Serbian economy and its potentials.
At the age of 24, she started working as an assistant at FEFA, and a year later she enrolled in PhD studies at FEFA Faculty, where she published three papers together with her colleagues and professors. She spoke about the results of one of the papers „Nurturing and retaining talents in Serbia“ at the Kopaonik Business Forum.
Last year, she joined the AFA community as a Project Leader and is working on projects dedicated to the economic empowerment of women through innovation and technologies and their active involvement in creating digital civilization of the future. She was a member of the Innovation Week program committee for 2019.
She likes to say that she is passionate about economics, especially its developmental and sustainable aspect.
Why did you decide to stay in Serbia?
I left first, but then I came back because of family and friends, which is the reason for migrations around Europe. I think that today it is our generation’s turn to make our society and environment a better place for all of us to live. And regardless of whether my peers are here or abroad, the essence is to cooperate and contribute to the advancement of this society. Us who are here – in order to live better, and those who are not – to have a place to return to and be proud of the country they come from.
What did you want to be when you were little?
An actress.
Favourite school subject?
In primary school – Art. In high school – the Basics of Economics.
Business role model?
Mariana Mazzucato, and I have idols from younger generations: Greta Thunberg, as well as Andjela and Leonora Ristic, who won second place at the World Robotics Competition in China.
Izvor: BIZLife magazin
