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Tinex was founded by Vladimir Todorovich in 1994 in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). It has grown from a single location supermarket with 15 employees and 700m2 to being the country’s second largest chain of supermarkets in terms of revenue.

Mr. Todorovich clearly spotted the opportunity to solve Tinex’s staffing challenge while having a positive impact on the unemployment issues faced by a large portion of the population in the FYROM and in particular marginalized groups among which foster children. Tinex started to target and employ foster children for its stores in Skopje. Tinex became the first company in the FYROM offering every foster child that turns 18 years an employment within its supermarkets.

Since the inception of the collaboration between the State House, the Association of Foster Children and Tinex, more than 40 foster children have been employed in its stores, 25 of who are still working with it today. The new recruits work at all employment levels and some of them are already on track to become store managers. Because of the success of the project, Tinex renewed its contract with the State House for five more years in 2009. The new contract includes the provision of scholarships to those foster children that pass the university entrance exams. Scholarships cover tuition fees and stipends for basic everyday expenses of the foster child.