House of Good News among businessmen

Presenting the portal Good News (www.dobrevesti.rs) in 2012. year, the founder and editor-in- chief Agneza Trpkovski said that the electronic news outlet, which appeared on the Serbian media scene two-and-a-half months ago, was of an informative and in particular educational character and aimed to promote all that is good and stories about ‘ordinary’ people, humanitarian actions and volunteerism and stimulate social activism all with the aim of creating a better social community.

“The media are full of bad news. My idea was to launch a project where we could hear successful stories of ordinary people, young talents and scientists and small- scale entrepreneurs, and be a bridge for linking up people of similar aspirations and thinking not just in Serbia, but in the entire region and the world”, Trpkovski said.

She said a link had already been established in a column named Bridges with blogs and sites dealing with positive and good news in France, and that there were plans to do the same with many other countries, to which the Serbian House of Good News would through its English-language portal send news about all the values and potentials of our beautiful Serbia and its people.

The Other Side of Our Reality

“It is not our aim to present a ‘rosy’ picture of the world, but to show the other side of our reality, good and industrious and honest people and projects. Why not feature on the front pages of newspapers young and talented people, their ideas, aspirations and hopes, why not tell their stories, hear their proposals, their commitments to launch their own businesses in these hard times and hear how they are fighting to survive”, Trpkovski said. 

Let us offer a hand of support and aid now, let us not wait for someone to do it instead of us. The portal of good news will aim to offer useful information on how to launch your own business through the stories who have already embarked on such businesses, with a wealth of useful information and links to competitions in which they can participate with their ideas and projects.

Support for ‘small’ sports

Speaking about the project, Trpkovski underscored that she was particularly proud of the sports section which informed the public about all events, with a particular emphasis on ‘small’ sports, “which are drowned out by the flood of news about football, basketball and other team sports. We are talking about bowling, chess, table tennis, athletics, shooting, cycling, sports in which excellent results are being achieved at competitions abroad, while the public is little or insufficiently informed about this.

She said the House of Good News would pay particular attention to a column called ‘Actions’, and that the realisation of certain projects had already begun, for example, the company Contini, involved in manufacturing confectionery products, will in the coming period supply free of charge in co-operation with the House of Good News various pastries to institutions for children with special needs, orphanages, hospitals.

Another action is to stimulate the diaspora to help return young people to rural areas, by providing financial support for realising ideas about the development of rural tourism, breeding goats and livestock, cottage industries and similar products which would return young people to their ancestral homes and help repopulate vacated areas.

“The motto of our portal is ‘Only that which we give to others is ours’, Trpkovski said. She said that the Serbian House of Good News intended to become a regional site, inviting all people of good will to support the project.

Support of Jelena Genčić to the House of Good News

Jelena Genčić, a renowned tennis pro and the first coach of champions like Monika Seleš, Novak Djoković and numerous others, who worked as a film director for forty years on Serbian TV, was a guest-host at the presentation of the House of Good News. She said that she had recognised a good project in the House of Good News which she is supporting wholeheartedly to help as many good news as possible to get published. 

Recalling that the portal had been built up on volunteer labour, Genčić pointed out that it was very important to recognise children who have a talent for sports and help them. She said she and the House of Good News were on the same task in this endeavour.

“We are losing top-class talents if there is no money for their education. The Law on Sports does not resolve the issue of developing young talents”, Genčić said, adding that the House of Good News had succeeded in motivating her, although sometimes she ran out of strength because she was, as she put it, “alone in that fight”. 

Info-Centre for Small Sports

The Small Sports Info-Center, now part of the House of Good News, is a volunteer organisation made up of journalists Branimir Vasić and Aleksandar Cvejić, with the first information being sent out early in 2009.

In more than two years that it has been active, the Small Sports Info-Centre has attracted a large number of users. One of the centre’s goals is to halt the disappearance of these sports from the media, and another for more attention to be afforded to team sports, specially for girls and women.

Gratitude

The House of Good News expressed its special thanks to the Chamber of Commerce of the City of Belgrade, in whose fairground area it had its stand and conducted this presentation, and the Secretariat for the Economy of the City of Belgrade from which self-employment incentive funds were received in the competition for 2011, at which we joined another 19 small-scale enterprises on the basis of our business plan with which we had competed.

Gratitude was also expressed to the National Agency for Regional Development and the Regional Centre for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Entrepreneurship in Belgrade, which secured a mentoring programme for our internet newspaper. Special words of gratitude were addressed at the Japanese Agency for Foreign Investments (JICA), which is funding a programme of mentoring in Serbia and whose six-man delegation, Trpkovski said, on 11 September this year, when the House of Good News officially appeared in public, visited our small enterprise and by their presence enhanced this great day for us. Thanks to all those who support this project and vision of a better Serbia and the world.