Prepare for Future #23 | Scott Hocklander, Cycling, health and Moldova’s bright future (EN)

#futureof #moldova #viitor #prepareforfuture #potential #robotics #creativeindustry

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[Music] hello dear friends we are here at another episode of prepare for future and it’s a very special one because I’ve been waiting for this to happen for a while it’s an episode where we don’t talk about a specific thing like you know gaming or AI or education or whatever we are going to talk about the future of Moldova does it have potential and what kind of potential and I thought that there’s no one better to ask than people who believe in us most which is our external strategic Partners one of them today is USA director emoldova Scott hocklander thank you very much for accepting this invitation it’s an honor to have you here my pleasure to be here Alex thank you for the invitation glad we finally made this happen yeah it’s been it’s been a few months I’ve been trying to catch you in between um all the all the events that’s been happening you know we’re not going to talk any politics stuff just so everyone knows full disclaimer we’re gonna talk about good nice things we’re going to talk about how we can go forward and um what’s the uh the vision what’s the people behind what we always see you know the sticker usaid but not a lot of people actually know what that means so who else talk about it than you but we will start with something how we connected actually um we’re going to talk about sports because you are a big fan of sports I’m a big fan of sports and surprisingly we also like the same one so when I was in the US we were constantly being exposed to a lot of content you know that content eventually started getting me on a path to a healthy lifestyle you start questioning the food you eat your sleeping habits you get all kinds of wearables a smart watch I have one here you have one over there so at one point in life you discover that you’re so concerned about your health that it’s your hobby basically right yeah um let’s have a conversation about why health is Paramount and the strategy that you apply to have a good physique after 40. okay um I really appreciate the fact that you just said after 40 you didn’t like get into specifics of how old I am I said good physique too yeah that’s that’s very very nice to you I mean I I think for me um I mean I I grew up uh uh involved in athletics and doing sports and things like that and I think that that was um good uh but in terms of it actually becoming sort of a lifelong uh Endeavor um it probably goes uh back to my career after college I was a wildland firefighter and also one of the critical aspects of that profession is being in you know really good physical condition and so because of that we basically had to train on a daily basis um what was your training like well it was um a lot of calisthenics and a lot of running you actually had to pass a basic fitness test to get with gear uh with with gear and without and so there was like you had to we had to run a mile and a half under a certain time you had to do a certain amount of pull-ups push-ups and sit-ups and so I was um you know I was on Crews that were I think considered more Elite and eventually you know became a smoke jumper which uh basically you parachute Into the Fire as a way of getting there and so the standards for those Crews were higher than others and so through that I ended up you know training with a lot of people who knew what they were doing and help really push my fitness level my Consciousness about the importance of Fitness to uh to a different level and unfortunately I think you know by virtue of going through that I did that for I think around 11 years um it instilled in me to kind of habits uh that I’ve maintained since then and um a lot of it has to do I think also with just pushing yourself Beyond boundaries that you previously known once once you know that uh you can exceed those boundaries and I think it allows it it makes a little bit easier frankly to uh to to maintain those habits and to incorporate them in your daily life I was just watching a new show on Netflix um human something I forgot what it’s called it’s about breaking through the barriers and the first story that it starts it’s like a mini series The First Stores it’s uh story it starts with is about a disabled woman she she’s an empathy she’s missing one leg uh who went to run at the hardest craziest marathon in the world which is the Sahara ultra marathon it’s 130 miles I believe in the scorching Sun for six days and how she’s there to because she was told she won’t be able to walk she won’t be able to run and here she was at that thing and what I appreciated most is the fact that she failed like halfway in she completed her whole body cramped up and she pressed the SOS button and she was removed then another one is a story of Ellen Van Dyke how she participated in the famous Barry Ruby the first female race that took place last year how she fell quite a few times she also failed and she’s like is pain a physical or is it an emotional thing because right now I feel like it’s an emotional thing but the reason I asked you about this was there’s a ongoing belief in I guess developing countries something I discovered here in Moldova I can’t speak about other countries that health is something that requires a lot of money and health requires you to have free time so is that do you think that’s true that only the elites can afford to do some stuff like that um I don’t think I don’t think that’s true um certainly there’s some things that are going to be more expensive uh I mean uh it’s like getting the bike that you know we’ve always wanted you know the those prices are kind of out of control but whatever you can get a bike that’s reasonable um you can get a pair of running shoes you know that’s reasonable I understand uh the challenge of finding free time I struggle sometimes to find free time myself but I think it’s I think it’s less those issues and more about the knowledge of how important health is you know to to people and their lives and how they go about it you know and I think maybe going back to your original question you know why why is it important to me now um you know maintaining like a top uh top fitness is incredibly important for me just in my work uh it allows me to come in and you know perform at the level I want to maintain energy throughout the day to to feel good you know with with so many people no matter what you do um stress you know stressed out uh having a hard time eating the you know uh as healthy as they would like to it really has an impact on you I mean it really impacts your energy level um your emotional uh well-being um all these things are real factors of uh of your Fitness and I think for anyone no matter what you do you know even if you’re you know I engaged in a job where you sit behind a desk or whatever um these things matter and uh I think recognizing how much good health can change your day uh change your performance change your relationships with the people that you care about uh you know your general happiness level all these things are are so important and I think when people do realize that and see that then um they they recognize that they have to make time that it is a priority and uh and and I think most people you know can find time whatever it is you know it doesn’t have to it’s just it’s going to be different for everyone you don’t have to be you can do 20 burpees in five minutes and that’s more than enough if you can do 20 burpees no that’s right or even things like meditation you know I think are really critical to anything that really deals with uh your mental well-being you know the well-being of your body uh can have you know significant uh benefits that’s what I try to tell people look if you cannot find 30 minutes in a day just for yourself then you have to question everything else you do because we can’t live for others we can’t live for our job or for our boss or you know loans whatever if you want to be able to handle all of that first you have to take care of yourself because eventually we break down but just like a you know like a car whose oil doesn’t get changed for a long time the oil will break down and the car will stop moving yeah that’s right and it and it does happen and you know um again getting back to uh to aging and what happens as you age you know these things become more and more important um for you know just for example uh stretching and and staying active you know is a major um factor in helping to prevent injury uh to keeping you uh you know doing things that you love to do uh further and further in your life you know it becomes more and more important as you get older you spent the first two years of your mission under covet restrictions not the best time to start a new mission right that was it was hard yeah I mean obviously one of the most exciting things about coming to Moldova is getting out and uh seeing the country I mean the people and uh immersing yourself in the culture so I you know I got a few months I was actually fortunate in the sense that uh I had about four or five months I was able to go out and see um quite a bit of the country before covet actually hit you just got a taste of it and then they said okay but that’s enough lockdown down for you well one of the I mean one of the crazy things Alex is I mean this is something that affected the entire Globe you know so so many people were going through you know similar things I remember that in the us when we still couldn’t decide what to do with nothing but anyway when you were under these covert restrictions us all of us you used the bike to discover Moldova because you know when you’re alone you can you can travel and uh how many routes did you check out I know you’ve seen quite a lot of Moldova more than most actually yeah that’s a good question how many roots um I mean I think uh I think for a lot of people one of the few things you could do was to go outside and oftentimes let’s go outside by yourself uh so going on a bike is like the really the perfect um thing for me uh you know and then not to mention get out and see a little more of the country um so in terms of like how many roots certainly uh I’ve I think I’ve explored most of the roots around um the you know the greater kishinai area and and and beyond that and uh but also you know I’ve had the opportunity to to ride to the north the south southern borders to the you know East and Western borders um so a good good part of the country actually uh via the bike and uh you know that was I think one of my one of the joys one of the things that really helped get me through code like a lot of people was focusing on the physical fitness aspect and uh and setting goals I mean I set a goal to ride the bike from from the north to the south of the country and then from west to east did you do that I did that yeah oh yeah I did that um and you know with the the purpose you know having a goal uh I wanted to see the country I mean Moldova was actually the right size so I think I could actually do it um I also uh wanted to do something I hadn’t done I rode uh it was I think around 150 miles so kilometers like 200 and maybe 20 30. uh in one day which you know I wrote from the northern border to quiche now which is the longest I’d ever done for those who don’t ride it’s it’s a really long time to ride everything hurts after like the first 60 miles and then later than that it only gets worse it’s Pro level distances yeah and the crazy thing I really chose the wrong time it was like a couple years ago it was right during a heat wave uh and so my my wife um my I somehow convinced my wife to basically follow me uh in uh in our car and basically her job was to carry all the water bottles and I was basically having to go through a water ball about every 15 minutes just to to make it all the way yeah I I I rode the summer I think it was 40 degrees Celsius I came home dehydrated confused I didn’t know what was going on but you know I didn’t have my wife Drive behind me and next time I’ll do that for sure but did this did you traveling in Moldova somehow influence the fact that you’ve actually promoted a lot of outdoorsy stuff like the bike routes that uh have been open in the South like the hiking route in this brain it’s a giant hiking route for all kinds of uh levels and uh different kinds of views did that influence it I mean uh you know when I arrived uh I mean arrived to a pretty incredible portfolio and team that was already doing a lot of these things um you know tourism tourism was an area which we were working I think it made it you know when the mission director comes in I do get to say a little bit about you know some of the things I like and uh um I think that it does have an influence but you know we do these things um because they’re they’re based upon you know the strategies that we put in place and you know and have real intention now ability to uh like for example it’s not just going out to do a hiking route because uh someone wants to hike it it’s because um you know the mission director wants to go hike go build the maroon you know tourism is is a you know has real potential here and uh you know we want everybody to have a chance to come in and see more of the country and uh you know and for the you know the ones to to host I mean I you know I guess if I’m asked you know to do one thing or another and one is to go open uh you know a credible hiking trail in East Bern I’m gonna probably do that or try to do that so I I certainly want to bring um uh my interest my excitement and and my knowledge to it and I think you know my team feeds off of that and vice versa and uh if you were to pick one place that’s your absolute favorite here what would it be uh come on Alex that’s like impossible um Winery is excluded water is excluded uh you know I I don’t I’m a fan of the north you’re a fan of the north huh I I do remember the first time I saw kostash Lake I was just blown away um by how beautiful it was up there uh you know and um was able to actually do some um stand up paddle boarding uh which which was which was fun and uh incredible so I I definitely appreciate the north I mean sipava is is is beautiful um down down south like on the um down the on the board with Romania the was it lake balul is uh below yeah gotcha is is absolutely gorgeous unfortunately it’s really under threat now um due to climate change and other things so you know like many of the wonderful aspects um nature et cetera you know a lot of these things are really under threat um that’s that’s beautiful but you know I I tell you the just a ride through the the countryside a ride through um some of the Vineyards I think in terms of like what I learned writing uh those moments you know where you’re sort of by yourself and you just get to see this absolutely incredible landscape you know that’s like unreal and uh and we associate like amazing Vineyards with like parts of of France and yeah um like uh you know Provence or whatever and here you’re in moldovan it’s like it doesn’t get any you know it’s not any more beautiful uh uh you know this place is really special in that regard it’s that’s part of what you were doing um from what I saw is Partners like you know the United States and the European and others are trying to convince us guys you have a great country it’s pretty it’s nice you people are really cool and we’re kind of fighting back sometimes right no it’s not no we like to be poor no we have corruption but not not as much you know how how does that um I’ve always wondered how does that feel for someone who comes in and tells the population you have a really cool place to live in and they’re like but but we don’t think so did you encounter that well I think there’s an aspect to that no matter where you are where you’re from you know sometimes it’s hard to really be objective and appreciate where you come from I mean I would say that’s even true where I come from and you know because some people you grow up in a place you’d know it too much and you just think about like um you know the bad stuff what’s happening well what’s happening in other places you know and you want to leave and go do something else um and come back I mean uh you know I I’m incredibly fortunate to have the job I do I I work in development which you know that’s you get to help people uh so helping people and helping countries is is a pretty you know special occupation and I’ve had the opportunity to do this in many countries around the world and so I do have a bit of a perspective with that uh but a lot of like you know really what we do is it’s about unlocking potential you know and I you know and again I don’t think this is necessarily unique to Moldova but uh you know people all over the world um they maybe have a sense of what that potential is but they don’t fully know and it’s uh the reason you have friends and that’s what you know the US is to Moldova a friend it’s to be there to help you see maybe the potential that you know you hadn’t seen before or to offer some advice or technical assistance and say hey what about this idea you know take your take your incredible your incredible idea and go in this direction and I think it’s more it’s more about that I mean I think that uh at least my experience here is that moldovans are incredibly proud of their country I mean they love it here they I know a lot of people leave but I always hear they want to come back and there is an appreciation about how special it is I just think there’s aspects of um development in which you know a partner like usad can really contribute not necessarily with again with resources but um just with advice or world-class you know technical assistance or helping to find a market or or bring in maybe people together that hadn’t thought to talk before and those things then really set these ideas and motions and and they take it from there off the top of your head what was the most impressive project you worked on here so you’re like yeah we did a great job here we did a great job here um you know that’s that’s hard because uh it’s like you talk to there’s so many individual stories that are are super amazing I guess one one thing that I saw kind of from start to fish and uh finish was the media core Center um and you know it’s it’s one of several centers of excellence that we’ve helped put together um you know in here now there’s one belt um nor Tech and what’s what’s really cool about them is it’s about Partnerships you know it’s about really bringing um different uh different stakeholders together the government the private sector the donors uh the academic institutions the the business associations students you know and other and giving them basically a space to to be their best best selves to be creative to bring ideas in to to learn from each other and these these kind of entities are are kind of like the ideal for development you know because they they then take on like many silicon valleys yeah and they take on a life of their own really and uh you know and again it’s with us it’s just about sort of helping bring bringing people together um making a space that’s cool uh that’s state of the art you know that really facilitates the these kinds of engagements it gets people really excited um and to sort of see that partnership develop to to see the space um develop and to see uh all the activity associated with it um has been special you know so I definitely um highlight that is one thing that I was able to really deceive from start to finish we we we have some great results too yeah uh we we have um we have the Moldova for peace campaign that launched last year when the warning craze started and it got a citizen engagement award at a global um competition so that was pretty cool thing from the moldovan tech industry yeah I know it was it was incredible um the the response I mean look I could I say that about all parts of society you know uh after um you know Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and that is uh just all you know whether it’s municipalities businesses um homes uh you know bed and breakfasts everybody’s stepping forward and doing everything they could and you’re right I mean the tech industry definitely was one of the ones that opened their doors immediately um I mean they were not only were they giving um uh professionals Ukraine as a place to work but they they were setting up daycare centers to take care of their kids or you know allowing them to call um and get in touch with their loved ones I mean it was really extraordinary to see to see that happen and that was basically a result of you know kind of giving the industry a push in this direction and in that direction and expertise and bringing people to teach and events and like my company and Agora as well we’re part of the core right so that offers us the different opportunities like you know either from applying for specific calls you can also also get to go to different events that the association covers so you can send your people to learn something and you constantly get these new trainings or whatever that help your employees or yourself to get better and better and that’s also one of the results of just basically setting up a building right yeah because if you think about it it’s just a building where some people work but the effects of it are are are much bigger yeah in the process of actually um I mean the building is is you know would be nothing if it didn’t have the relationships and the relationships in some cases take longer to fully gel and come together as actually constructing the building and so I think we we’re fortunate to have the timing right the relationship’s ready the building’s ready and everything sort of uh comes together when you two um during your mission you focused a lot on sectors in the moldovan economy but we already spoke about tech and creative and we spoke about a little bit about tourism how about we talk about the strengths and the current weaknesses that we have in these three okay let’s start with the weaknesses of of what of creativity Tech and tourism weakness you know Alex I’m gonna struggle here because I don’t like talking about weakness um but uh I I guess I’ll try I mean weakness to me is is more about uh opportunities um you know and with uh creative it’s just about um growing uh the sector I mean I I think it’s incredibly exciting I think one of the weaknesses that we had is it really wasn’t um the the degrees to support development in the sector and that’s something that we’ve been able to overcome recently with uh three three degrees um working with the with the university I’m working with private sector uh I mean you know having uh the private sector you know companies like country will actually come in and help um develop the curriculum and help do the training uh so you know some of the the connections between private sector and uh the institutions that really have to train uh the the students and educate the students so that they they basically come into it understanding and how to uh take advantage of it so I think that’s that’s still something that needs to be worked on um strengthening uh that aspect of it giving uh I mean the obviously media core is uh incredible but there needs to be more opportunities for moldovan’s young and old to get involved especially in the regions right yeah yeah absolutely that’s why nor Tech I think was really was really great and moving it to the North and you know but you know the idea is that I mean there’s there’s uh there’s potential creative Talent everywhere in this country and uh and making sure that uh that Talent finds finds an Avenue to to see you know kids uh whatever age to see if that’s what they’re interested in and to see if that’s something they can uh make a career out of and a life out of is you know something we need to do I mean it’s it’s also why you know again on the I.T side you know we have really worked with schools with the ministry education and others to push down technology into you know lower levels of the education system so that long-term effects right yeah and so yeah tech one every school in future classrooms things like that work with the pedagogical Center to train teachers on this which it’s like that’s one of my favorite spaces I’m so jealous of these kids right now because you have a robotics class in every school I know I I know I go to these you know and they’re they’re showing me like I’m an adult like I should know like all this stuff and I’m like okay I really do pay attention when they’re doing stuff you know when they’re like plugging the things into the fruit and making noises I’m just like okay what sort of magic is that no yeah I mean we’re I have to go back to the internet explain that to me again very very impressed you know and not only I mean you see but you see what happens I mean one of the things uh the coolest things that I saw when I first came in was the robotics team winning like the the global Championship yeah I just couldn’t believe it I’m like okay like five years ago we didn’t have that if there’s exactly and if there’s something that like it can make a country feel amazing about its future is they they have like their team like winning uh the team of Robotics which is obviously a sector you know that’s um you know couldn’t be more important in terms of the where we at you know because it can bloom here right yeah yeah absolutely I mean they continue to uh you know excel at the global level it wasn’t just like a one-off activity I mean I I followed uh you know that team to some extent now they’re teaching you know they’ve been teaching other kids they’re you know moving out and private sector sees you know how talented they are and they’re getting jobs so it’s it’s you know if there’s really a practical impact to that as well it’s good that they’re are staying in Moldova because a fear that I have and everyone else is when someone gets to a certain level they want to leave so they can I guess cash in on that The Exodus of talent is it’s a big problem now everywhere not just in Moldova because um I’ve read somewhere a big article about how it’s actually cities now that have to fight for uh retaining the talent or attracting Talent from someone else because people don’t care the country they live in anymore so if I want to live in Milan it doesn’t matter for me to me that it’s Italy where I just want to live in Milan so Milan as a city has to attract these talents and steal them from I don’t know Venice I guess or somewhere else and I’m thinking our cities it’s about time they do the same right so imagine if you’re in yet like I gotta attract some Talent from kishino but I think we’re we’re still far away from that because our talents are still thinking how do I go to the U.S or how do I go to the European Union and sell my product or myself or whatever there for much bigger uh Revenue than I could hear yeah but that you know that but that’s interesting you know I know I’m supposed to be talking about weaknesses right um so you know one of the concerns on the I.T side of things is that you train people up and then they they leave um but that but that’s an over simplification of what actually happens um I think there are there’s a lot of opportunities here um you know I was just at a company the other day American company here that was you know uh has 1500 people that are you know using I.T skills I was like wow it’s amazing yeah um so there’s there’s so there’s actually a lot happening here and a lot are staying a lot to leave but then a lot are coming back you know and I would say more and more I’m hearing from you know moldovan’s in the whether it’s uh the tech or the creative and other other Industries are wanting to stay and uh I think to your point it’s a lot easier to stay because in many ways they’re able to get paid the kind of wage that they would have you know um by uh you know traveling or working in Europe and they get to stay here which is where they want to and raise their family here and so I I think it’s uh I think that’s changing very quickly too um but uh you know to to your point I think there will be a time when inside of multiple they’ll start to talk about um you know which Community is best and fortunately you know there is some pretty decent internet here it needs to be better but the more uh the more that connectivity can increase and improve then the opportunities for uh moldovans or people from anywhere really to come to mobile and work and contribute to the local economy which is going to be I think a positive thing especially for the people looking to exit you know City Urban environments hey we have starlink you can literally go anywhere right now and you will have internet yeah yeah it’s expensive but at the same time you have internet whatever you go I have a friend in the US who is a nomad now so there’s a thing called the digital Nomads for it guys and there’s just regular Nomads he dropped everything decided to take a year or two off just in his RV bought a starlink he’s traveling with his dog is having the best time of his life just because he has internet so I’m thinking we could also you know promote that as well like hey Moldova is a really cool place for RV if you have one um but that’s right you know it uh and it there’s you have to really think about the industry in a dynamic way and you know one thing that usad helped was to to set up uh the uh digital I.T Park and helped set in tax incentive to really get companies to come here made a huge difference and so these kinds of things that we you know I think uh want to continue to work with the with the government the private sector on to ensure that you know Moldova as a country is incentivizing companies to start here to come here do business here but from us to get back to the Exodus from a strategic point how do you calculate you know we’re going to have about 40 people that leave how do we attract them back does that is that taken into account whenever you’re planning on something at that level yeah absolutely I mean I I think it uh I think it factored into you know our decision to focus on it for example or creative for example or even some of the Light Industry I mean we support um we want to make companies uh and businesses better um and in that sense we sort of have like the traditional side of things with the tourism and wine and uh the cultural part and then the the the newer part which is um I.T so it’s things that are gonna excite youth it’s it’s the jobs of the now and moving forward in the future and these are the kinds of things that you know many moldovans move uh move away to get to so if we work on those now and you know we I you know like the the salary for an I.T worker has gone up almost to five-fold and just in the past like four years I think I’m in the wrong job I think in 2018 it was like around five in US Dollars like uh five to six thousand and now you’re looking at twenty two thousand dollars a year I mean that’s that’s a huge increase and you know in these you know and you get uh you get more businesses to come you get an industry to grow there’s knock-on effects uh and you know the and the development really starts to take off and has other deals with other factors um too you know that uh you know influence people so that’s why you know we do a lot of work in the democracy and governance um jobs are super important but uh you know corruption I think we all know has been a challenge here and so helping to uh ensure that you know there are uh good judges um and prosecutors you know that uh have integrity we seem to be bringing a lot of Americans lately look there’s I think the case though there’s you know moldovans have gone like all over the world and there’s certainly a lot of moldovan Americans um who you know are just uh jumped at the opportunity to come back and help their country at a critical time so which is pretty it’s pretty cool let’s talk about the strengths of those three Industries tourism I.T and uh creative well tours I mean as you know Alex tourism is just sort of getting started uh and then covet hit and uh that represented a bit of a bit of a challenge but I think there’s there’s real opportunities here um you know Moldova represents are really an authentic experience and uh tourists around the world are looking for a different experience you know they maybe have gone and done a lot of these other things and to go to Moldova you know you go out and you spend time uh in the communities you learn how to cook lucenta uh you try some homemade wine um you know cacao milk a cow I mean yeah that’s that’s pretty it’s pretty cool and it’s it’s Unique and staying in a rustic area and and um yeah I just get to experience what moldovan culture is all about I think I think that’s that’s cool and then you know we refer to some of the sides but there’s some pretty special areas in the country too that uh you know people you know want to see be a part of I mean I haven’t really talked about Buddhism or Tribune you know orifact is uh obviously I think one of the Treasures of the country um a lot of probably more people uh visit there than than most of the other areas and all the things that have developed like I would say um discobra was something that I was able to go to I I missed it the first couple of years uh because of covet and that was that’s one of those moments where I was like wow this is right yeah you’re in the middle of this beautiful Valley and uh you have like this world-class Talent um you know uh singing it was yeah I was just blown away Blown Away I missed it this year I even though I bought tickets that was that was the saddest part because I had tickets and I didn’t go and I’m still beating myself up to it but what about creative everyone says it’s the people it’s the people it’s the people but aren’t the people good everywhere yeah I I that’s a good question um I I don’t know I don’t know what uh I don’t know I can’t answer that um I I did what it seems to me though is and this um isn’t specific to uh the creative industry but whenever I’ve engaged with uh moldovans my entire time here it doesn’t matter what sector it’s been in like in ag for example you know I I’ve just seen such um such imagination and creativity and the things that I’ve seen um that almost seem like they’re uh developed at home you know it’s like I don’t know if people have to improvise just born with like like this aesthetic um that to me you know I’m very impressed by like uh people can just go in and like arrange something and make it beautiful and and whatever and I don’t know I just find it here I think in general there’s a there’s an Ingenuity of of here that I found across again across Society across sectors uh and everywhere I meet that um seems I you know Alvin just mold over but I just seem to run into it all the time and to me Ingenuity it goes with with creative and uh you know again it’s about giving uh kids uh the opportunity to let their imagination flow and um you know with the you know obviously paying a salary helps uh so I yeah I think um because of those things uh created an area that is probably going to do really well here um whenever more of a I guess Financial question whenever people hear that you know usaid or anyone else is investing 150 million dollars or 200 million dollars or 300 million dollars what does that actually mean for the people because it’s a number they could never imagine right it’s a number they’ve never seen physically or in their bank account so whenever a program starts like that they ask themselves how is that going to affect me directly I know it’s a tough question but maybe you can explain how that works no it’s um it’s a it’s a good question I wouldn’t call it a tough question it’s a good question and I think that uh with with usaid the way that we support um we do it in different ways in some ways are a little bit easier to see and to understand so I would say like on a local level you know one things we do is we uh we work with the municipalities on the Mayors the councils ETC um to help them come together and basically put together development plans for their communities and I think that’s something that people can understand uh you know they want to have a voice in what happens in your community they want to see development and change happen in their community and they have ideas you know whether it’s getting the school fixed or uh the the local park renovated or street lights um put up I mean they have real ideas about that and so we work with uh um you know so they access those funds we yeah we work with municipalities around the country bring them together show them how to do this help them put together a plan and then um and then help fund co-fund that plan so we provide you know a certain amount and then the community provides a certain amount you it’s you know pretty close to being the same thing and then they implement the project and so that’s I think that’s one of the ways the easiest to see because it’s you know it’s a community’s idea hey we want um we want to have some street lights and uh and we we help them do that through our implementing partner so I think that’s that’s one way uh to see it pretty direct um you know we work with local action groups as well which is different mayors coming together and uh they they have basically kind of some seed money some uh to to fund ideas and different parts of the society can come and basically say hey we want to do this and through that you know by supporting business help you know development in their communities so that’s one way um I think uh supporting um the judicial sector and helping courts be a little more organized to digitize basically everything so uh you know we did that I think for some time by basically giving them electronic system that manages it all and then most recently through uh model court so we have model courts and uh and belts and again and ednets and you basically can go in and uh have a much more a much better experience with the court system which allows like all the information you need digitally available you can see everything in terms of like if if you have a time to go in when it is so really trying to help build trust between the community and the judicial system which you know obviously isn’t very important to them so there’s there’s aspects like that which are very much tangible for like your normal citizens uh but then there’s other elements we work with businesses and so a lot of that you know it’s like knowing uh knowing the business in their community and and seeing them do well and continually to grow and do better in the wine industry is like a good example of that also we work a lot in agriculture so producers of of like plums and apples and apricots and berries uh so it’s it’s helping um those products develop a lot of those products end up going towards export which is really important because uh you know obviously it helps those businesses grow it brings revenues back to the country I mean these businesses you know attacks and those revenues help the government do better so there’s I think there’s that aspect to it and then and then we work um with the government at the national level and that’s something maybe a little bit harder to for like a person to see and understand but you know they’re you know as uh as you know Moldova continues to develop as it’s working towards um uh you know the EU eventually hopefully EU membership uh as a candidate um there are certain things that they have to do to put in place uh from uh uh procedural perspective from laws and regulations Etc and we help the government do that we help um allow uh the government to then help private sector to do business in more countries so expanding markets is basically getting out these amazing products like plums so that more and more countries around the world realize while plums are unbelievable here and they are I don’t know if you’re a plum fan but I did a whole episode you’re kidding yeah there’s a project called and I did we the first episode we did was about the plums and how great the exports of it has been and how the Germans and the Dutch are now loving it yeah and the answer to the question why are they buying it is always tastes so good like how do you how do you like write that buy our balance because they taste good yeah that that’s basically what I mean Moldova fruit I mean is taste makes a difference I mean that’s that’s their thing so yeah I still remember my wife when we moved here and she had a tomato she’s like oh so that’s how a tomato is supposed to taste like that’s right that’s right I mean there’s all these things why Malibu ones like love living here because it’s you know the actually taste the food uh you know it’s and that’s different I think the the quality is there it’s just a matter of you know getting in some cases getting uh the right variety improving the packaging and improving the marketing Etc so it’s all known I mean that’s that’s where a lot of these successes and the success of the wine um is has come about you know in those ways so it’s you know there’s different aspects that are less less visible than others but uh you know there’s really a collective whole and Collective strategy to it all so last question um it’s a simple question really can Moldova or whale Moldova ever become a sort of small Switzerland a small country but very strong and respected is that is that something that we should look forward to yeah I mean I think there’s there’s a lot of you know potential examples out there um I mean oftentimes we we look at the baltics for example and uh um Estonia the Lithuania Latvia um you know we’ve actually helped to uh do exchanges with Estonia for example because they’ve done a lot like in the tech industry uh that have developed and have become in many ways a regional Tech uh Powerhouse and have like unicorns these giant companies that come out of it uh and so you know obviously Moldova is going to have its own path um but there I think there are examples out there I mean I I’m convinced I mean if that’s question it’s easy to me yeah I’m convinced definitely that that’s uh it’s gonna happen um just because you know what I what I’ve seen all around this country in terms of like the Ingenuity um the drive the passion and a lot of times it just hasn’t necessarily found the right outlet but I increasingly see all these incredible characteristics find um finding an outlet for that and an outlet that [Music] um you know uh pays which is good and and brings business and brings revenue and brings growth and uh you know allows you know ultimately allows the country to develop allows you know moldovans to stay here and to develop the country and to develop a future and and I think that’s I think that’s that’s pretty cool and uh I think with the talent here yeah that’s that’s where I see things going I mean look I’m an optimist uh I would I couldn’t be in this business if if I wasn’t uh but I I hope I hope like there’s one thing I’ve developed over the years is uh um the ability to to see potential and uh and I definitely see it here and and see amazing things happening that that’s really good to hear I I really like that you said that and um that’s what I’m trying to get out to people including with this podcast that look we are so concerned about the bad things that happen to us or around us um that we failed to sometimes grasp what’s coming you know like this is what we can do this is what we should be doing so it’s it it’s kind of interesting to see how Moldova is still looking for itself 30 years into the making like we’re still trying to shape the country where are we gonna go who are we gonna be friends with what sector we’re going to invest into and now at the same time I think we’re we’re slowly kind of learning to embrace our differences because someone wants to go this way and someone wants to go that way so we’re learning to compromise and maybe we can be one of those places where everyone can find a place to be in you know like business-wise or because that’s basically what we’ve been set up for since we’ve been in Eastern Europe at the border of Worlds right yeah so why not use it to our advantage yeah that’s why I said Switzerland because that’s basically what they do as well where they’re located well we can come full circle a little bit too I mean I I’m also really interested to see what happens um on the the sports front here um it’d be great to to see uh Moldova become a a site for you know future athletic activities I mean we haven’t talked about it that much but you know cycling and like gravel riding is something that’s really becoming more and more popular and this is like really getting into my specific personal interest rather riding through wineries gravel exactly exactly I mean obviously not when it’s raining uh because everyone knows the uh the the mud here is like world class too but um yeah there’s you know different ways to really uh building off tourism but also I think helping to uh instill and build a culture of Health you know in Moldova too is is sort of like the Dual positive aspects of that but I mean you know know there’s there’s a there’s a great Community um Runners and and bikers here and they’re promoting tourism right through their uh competition they you have LA Fitness do you have dragunovic you have something in the South you have something more North it’s like that’s how you attract tourism is you have the people go there for a run and they’re like oh look at this place yeah the Marathon this year was it was good I I just ran half I don’t I did not run the full Marathon but it was a great experience people were super excited you know and yeah and so you have these events that are in addition to things like you know the wine festival which obviously um everybody gets super excited about and uh I mean these are also ways to connect um uh different uh uh tourism spots in rural areas we should hand out a pair of shoes and a bottle of wine to whoever enters the country and a pair of shoes yes if you run here’s this if if you hike here’s this and here’s a bottle welcome to Moldova you’ll need it well look the the thing I can say and uh you know Alex as you’ve known um I mean obviously the circumstances are uh are terrible but um you know this uh you know what’s happened in to Ukraine right now has also brought a lot of attention to Moldova and we’ve seen more visitors come um into the country than ever before and and so in a sense that’s another indicator of like you know how are things here and I can say that every person that’s come um through here you know and a lot of them are uh um you know diplomats at the highest level have come away uh so impressed you know with what they saw here I mean the hospitality obviously is is world class um you know and you know the people who come away affected I mean they come away affected uh they have a great experience they go back and they tell um their family friends colleagues so I I think I think that more than anything is just the experience that people have when they come and interact with uh with moldovan’s uh that’s maybe the greatest gift of all so we should definitely hook them up with something well Scott thank you very much for coming again um I had a great talk and I hope to see you come back soon really really uh in order for us to learn what else you have discovered about [Music] prepare for future let’s see [Music]