My name is Nikol Lucie Sekulová and I have been serving in Skopje, North Macedonia for almost 6 years. When I was 20 years old, I moved to work with youth in Macedonia. I had worked for 4 years with teenagers for a worldwide non-profit Christian organization, called Young Life. And since the fall of 2021, I have been serving in my local church. 

 

After almost 5 years working with young people and learning about the local culture, I realized that coffee plays a huge part in Macedonia. Lots of young people spend most of their time in coffee shops or in bars in the evenings. They enjoy being together so places like these are great for having great conversations and for building relationships.

I am a Christian and one of my favorite verses in the Bible is John 17:18 where it says: "As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world". 

I believe that my calling in life is to be in the world of people and share about the hope that I personally found as a lost teenager. My desire is to be and serve in places where people enjoy to be. In the past years, there were opened doors to me to meet people in their every day life contexts. In those places, I often had the best conversations and had the opportunity to share my life with them. 

It's been my dream for many years to open up a coffee shop in Skopje. And why a coffee shop, you may ask? Since Macedonia has a huge coffee culture, and I am personally a big coffee lover, I would love to help this field grow in Macedonia. I believe in God who wants the best for his people, and I believe specialty coffee is a high quality coffee that deserves its place in such coffee culture like in Macedonia. Sadly, many young people in Macedonia can't wait to move out of the country once they graduate, but I believe that there is so much beauty there that is worth exploring. I am planning to bring Czech coffee beans from a local roastery in Czech over to Macedonia to keep it a high quality and authentic. 

Although MAINLY I dream for my coffee shop to be a place where I can meet people on every day basis and share life with them. I wish for it to be a place for ministry. I believe besides building a community and offering quality products, another way this coffee shop can serve as a ministry is through a quality leadership. In a place with lots of financial compromises, my team and I believe that leadership based on Christian values will reflect dignity and integrity and will encourage people to use their gifts more. There is a lot of corruption and bureaucracy in Macedonia, so we hope to reflect our values through the way this small business is managed.

 I hope for it to be a place where people will experience warmth and acceptance. A place that is accessible for different church activities as well as different artists as well as for people just passing by that just want to enjoy a cup of coffee. 

I believe this coffee shop will open doors to many people and will help bring quality products which are not yet introduced in local coffee shops yet.

Team for the coffee shop, from left: Kevin, Nikol, Stefani 

◉ open a coffee shop and be in the world of young people 

◉ build relationship with people through what they enjoy 

◉ have a platform where to meet young people 

◉ be able to offer a space to churches

◉ space for different activities, artists 

◉ offer quality products 

◉ offer a fair paid job in the coffee shop 
◉ reflect dignity and integrity through the way the business is done 

This amount will help Nikol open up a business in Skopje, apply for a work visa and help with start up costs for equipment. 

Be a part of Nikol’s dream and of what God’s doing in Skopje! :) 

For more info, contact Nikol at: nlsekulova@gmail.com