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Moldovan Tech Entrepreneur Connects Youth with Jobs .

Project Success Story | January 10, 2019

Despite high youth unemployment, Moldova is home to a fast-growing ICT industry, with the brightest minds in gaming, technology, and artificial intelligence. USAID and Sweden work to create an environment where more tech startups can thrive, providing opportunities for young Moldovans.

Iulian Gulea, a Young Moldovan programmer, came across the issue of how employers were struggling to connect youth with jobs, and vice versa. From that problem emerged the idea for an app that he developed with recruitment expert Eugeniu Girla, combining their expertise to create their startup GAUS. This app leverages Moldova’s expertise in Artificial Intelligence to get millennials into work, using automated chatbots in Facebook Messenger to interview and match youth with jobs. To take their recruitment idea to the next level, Iulian attended “Founder Institute Chisinau,” a tech accelerator funded by USAID and the Government of Sweden, via the Moldova Competitiveness Project (MCP), to spur innovation and entrepreneurship in Moldova’s ICT sector. Iulian consolidated and reframed his business plan and beat 25 other promising startups to win the accelerator’s pitching event. This ultimately led to MCP providing Iulian with access to world class ideas at the Startup Grind Global Conference in Redwood City, CA, USA, in February 2018. Startup Grind is a global startup community designed to educate, inspire, and connect entrepreneurs, powered by Google for Entrepreneurs. Gulea is one of almost 440 entrepreneurs who have received support within the project, which connects startups with resources they need.