“A new chapter in the life of Bitola municipality has began” – this was how the local community announced the investment of the Canadian IT - company Cosmic Development in October 2013.
In addition to the Minister for Foreign Investments Jerry Naumoff, the mayor Vladimir Taleski also attended the promotion of the investment.
Cosmic Development is a software development company that has been operating in Skopje since 2011; its owners are a group of young businessmen and researchers of Macedonian origin who live in North America.
According to the municipality website, the company had announced the opening of 50 new jobs in Bitola, in addition to the 70 employees already working in the Skopje office.
In the attempt to make the new investment happen, Talevski promised that the municipality would provide the premises, whereas Naumoff said that the offices built would resemble Google offices in terms of style.
"After the wonderful meeting with the mayor and the Dean of the Technical Faculty I am convinced that this is the right place for us to invest," said Ryan Milnes, one of the owners of Cosmic Development.
According to the 2016 election program of VMRO-DPMNE, called "Real", this company has two offices in Skopje and Bitola and a total number of 80 employees; this number overlaps with BIRN statistics. In 2015 the company had 60 employees.
According to 2015 documents available, the noncurrent assets of the company amounted to just under 60,000 EUR. Despite the fact that the municipality of Bitola provided them with an office, there is no information about any other state or municipal aid granted to this company.
As was announced, this is an IT outsourcing and software development company whereas in Macedonia it is registered as a web portal company.
After the publication of this database, the management of Cosmic Development reacted to the abovementioned information that the company has received state aid. In our report, we have made a reference to the statement of the mayor Vladimir Taleski, published on the website of the National News Agency MIA, as well as on the website of the municipality.
According to what Talevski said in that statement, "The municipality will provide the office premises of the future company to provide the best work conditions possible."
"We would like to inform you that the company was founded in early 2011 directly by the owners Chris Pavlovski and Ryan Milnes without any state aid or benefits. Since then, the company has not received any aid from the state, nor used any benefits, " stated the company's management, thus denying the abovementioned claim.