March 24, 2019 - After 30 million euro of deals over 300 meetings in 25 cities, Zagreb-based networking club Business Cafe is set for its first international edition.
Although I am a man of many words through my blogging and over a beer, I am quite a shy and not very accomplished public speaker.
This could be due to some of the situations I have had to deal with in my 'career' so far - lecturing the professors on Hiroshima on the Middle East peace process (with the Professor of Middle Eastern studies in the front row), addressing the Rwandese Minister of Agriculture on the benefits of Brussels sprouts (in French) after I took delivery of a shipment of 20 tonnes of vegetable seeds as an aid worker, or giving a live television interview in Russian on the benefits of peanut butter which had just arrived as aid.
(Business Cafe founder Kristina Ercegovic)
And so I am highly honoured - and just a little nervous - to be invited to be a speaker at the inaugural international version of Business Cafe, a rather interesting business networking concept, which was born in Zagreb in 2011.
Since those humble beginnings, founder Kristina Ercegovic has taken her concept to connect entrepreneurs - both existing and budding - into 7 countries, 25 cities and 300 events, with more than 20,000 people attending and over 30 million euro of deals made or agreed directly during these events. You can learn more about Kristina and the Business Cafe concept in our interview with her during our series on female entrepreneurs in Croatia last year.
(Nenad Bakic, Varteks CEO and named by the Financial Times as one of Europe's Top 100 digital champions)
"I started the international version," Kristina told me as she invited me, "because I believe we are all tired of hearing stories in the media about leaving Croatia and that everything is bad here and we want to show examples of foreigners being crazy enough to move and start a business here.
"We look forward to hearing how it is for them to do business in Croatia, how they see Croatian people, and how can we change our mentality and improve the business climate and make Croatia a more attractive place to do business in.
(Last week's guest, leading PR guru, Kresimir Macan)
"Recent speakers at Business Cafe include Nenad Bakic last week Kresimir Macan, as well as this year Ana Lisak, Nikola Vrdoljak, Irena Orlovic, Gordana Nikolic, Nikola Zinic, Tomislav Car and Davorin Stetner. In previous years we have hosted the likes of Emil Tedeschi, Branko Roglic and Sasa Cvetojevic."
No pressure then...
Fortunately for anyone who decides to attend, I will not be the only speaker, and the wisest words and business advice will come from Natalia Zielinska, an EU consultant from Poland who lives in Ogulin and also runs Entrepreneur Academy there.
Even more fortunately for those who hate to see the Croatian language butchered, the event will be in English, with translation services available through Diglossia, as well as refreshments by Lisak Catering.
It is all happening at 18:00 on April 1 at Rooftop Lateral in Zagreb. For more information and to reserve a place, visit the Facebook event page.
To learn more about foreign entrepreneurs in Croatia - check out the TCN series. Some REALLY interesting stories.
