Entrepreneurial Mindset 2020 Conference Speakers: Meet Boris Trupcevic
September 9, 2020 - The second Poduzetnik Mindset (Entrepreneurial Mindset) conference takes place online tomorrow. Continuing our look at the speakers, meet Boris Trupcevic, CEO of 24 Sata.
One of the leading lights in the campaigns for the digitisation of Croatia, as well as wider reforms, is 24Sata CEO, Boris Trupcevic. TCN caught up with Boris on the eve of the Poduzetnicki Mindset 2020 conference, which takes place online and in Zagreb tomorrow.
1. As CEO of one of Croatia's leading media, you are on the front line of demanding change in Croatia. How are things going, and do you see cause for optimism?
I would say there’s still not much to be happy about. Again, we were focused on observing the tourism season results that caused temporary optimism, hoping we could go on as we did before, but then we got the cold shower of border closures. Also, the focus was on the money shower from EU, which was presented as a gift from heaven, requiring no effort from our side, which of course is not true. In the meantime, we did not see any fundamental reform being even discussed, let alone being prepared. There’s a long list of problems, a long list of issues that can only be resolved with so-called “structural reforms”, but still those in power avoid engaging in any destiny-changing initiatives. It’s still just cosmetic changes and keeping the status quo as much as possible. No person, no business and no country has ever moved forward by keeping the status quo. It’s simply impossible. Therefore, we will keep on creating the awareness of the necessity of change and reforms. We will stubbornly remind those in power they need to act. Fast.
2. What is the entrepreneurial mindset, and why is it so important in the Croatian context?
True entrepreneurs are indeed the ones who change the world and move the world forward. They teach us about courage, boldness, perseverance, grit, resilience, flexibility, adaptiveness, responsibility, risk taking… all that while putting on the line their wellbeing, health and assets. Values and qualities we can observe with the entrepreneurs are what is missing in Croatia. It is exactly the qualities that are not appreciated as they should be.
3. Why is the perception of an entrepreneur in Croatia so different than in countries like the UK/USA?
We simply don’t have the right mindset. The reasons for this are historical, political and cultural. While we could discuss those for hours, it’s all in vain. We’re held hostage by a huge dependancy of the economy towards the state, by dependancy on corrupt actors, and finally also politicians. We’re held hostage by the narrative of the trade unions depicting entrepreneurs as crooks, thieves and evil capitalists. We’re held hostage by the mentality that it is better to find an “uhljeb” job position, than work your way to success. All of this must change. And change starts with leadership. Lack of leadership is also one of the major problems. Once we start treating our top entrepreneurs as heroes we will know we have become detached from past habits.
4. Campaigns such as 24 Sata's Reforms Now, and the Glas Poduzetnika (Voice of Entrepreneurs) movement have brought a lot of cohesion to the demand for change in Croatia. What successes have you had, and what's next?
As I said, I can’t see major changes. Both initiatives have created the type of awareness we haven’t seen before. This is important, because it lays the ground for change. Another big thing is that entrepreneurs had a strong and clear voice, unlike any time before. And they were not afraid to use this voice to demand their rights. In that regard, I think many decisions would not have happened without this kind of pressure towards the government. What’s next is to be consistent and persistent in demanding real reforms. The people of this country are very well aware we can’t move forward without reforms, but still what they feel and know is less important than the voting base of political parties.
5. You are also at the forefront of the digitalisation discussion in Croatia with your award-winning media as well as the Digital Takeover conference. Are we seeing progress in Croatia's digitalisation process, and what should the focus be on for the next steps?
I think we’re progressing in many things, some even ahead of many countries, but that’s simply not enough. We should aim higher and strive to be at the top of the game, like Estonia. We’re late with introducing digital skills in schools, we’re intentionally late with digitising the state and governmental services to the full extent, because that narrows down the playground for corruption. It can all be done fast. We’re also known as Apsurdistan for a reason - the state does many things with obsolete technologies and methods, without a deeper understanding of what digitalisation really is. World superpowers are involved in an ongoing war to win at digital technologies, big tech companies are waging a war to acquire the best talent worldwide. We sit and wait for things to happen. We discuss the topic simply because it cannot be ignored anymore. We’ve got Croatian companies security-checked by foreign intelligence agencies in order to be vetted for working for huge corporations, but those are never invited to do something for their own country. Instead, we have digitalisation jobs often done by shady companies for too much money. So, one thing I’d point out as a failure of the state is the failure to engage our best tech companies.
6. Prime Minister Plenkovic has announced the digital nomad visa for Croatia. How significant could this be for Croatia and its economy?
It’s a very good initiative by Jan de Jong, and a very good signal from PM side to support it. However, it comes with many challenges, primarily in terms of sorting out the bureaucracy, all the obstacles, but also issues of not making it discriminatory towards own citizens. Prime Minister made a promise, he committed to this idea. We should hold him accountable to make it happen.
7. Tell us about your role in Poduzetnicki Mindset 2020, and what are you expecting from the conference?
There are two most important things. First, entrepreneurs should connect both more and stronger, this community needs more interaction. Second, the conference and all those participating should inspire young people to become entrepreneurs, provide valuable advice, and encourage existing entrepreneurs to think even bigger and bolder.
Read also interviews with Ognjen Bagatin of Bagatin Clinic, Jan de Jong of Webpower Adria, and Ana Hanzekovic of Hanza Media.
To learn more about the virtual Poduzetnik Mindset 2020 conference on September 10 - and to register - visit the official website.
Flights to Croatia: Smartwings Stops Prague-Split, Edelweiss Alters Flight Schedule
September 9, 2020 - The latest news for flights to Croatia as Smartwings stops Prague-Split, and Edelweiss alters its flight schedule to Split, Dubrovnik, and Pula.
Croatian Aviation reports that the Czech airline Smartwings will soon complete regular traffic on the Prague-Split route. It was one of only two lines between the Czech capital and Croatia this summer season.
Smartwings relatively quickly resumed traffic to Split, connecting it daily to Prague with B737-800 aircraft. It was also the only direct line between Prague and Split this summer season.
This year, Croatia Airlines did not resume traffic on its seasonal route Zagreb - Prague due to reduced demand caused by the global pandemic, while Czech Airlines previously suspended traffic to all Croatian destinations.
Last summer, Smartwings regularly flew to Dubrovnik, but this year the line was not in traffic, as were numerous charter flights to Split.
The company will operate daily on the Prague - Split route this week, while flights will be announced on Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday next week. Smartwings will make its last flight this summer to Split on Sunday, September 20, thus concluding operations for this year towards the Croatian market.
The option of a direct flight between Prague and Croatia remains with the low-cost airline Ryanair.
Furthermore, Croatian Aviation reports that Edelweiss Air, a Swiss leisure airline and subsidiary of Swiss, continues to operate to Croatia in September, despite restrictions. The line to Dubrovnik will be canceled earlier than originally planned.
The only Swiss line to Croatia this year, between Geneva and Dubrovnik, stopped operating at the end of August. The line was in traffic only once a week, every Saturday.
The partner company Edelweiss Air operates on the lines from Zurich to Croatia. The company will have three lines by mid-September, to Dubrovnik, Split, and Pula.
The Zurich - Dubrovnik line is open once a week, every Friday. That will be the case until September 18, when it will make its last flight on this route this summer season.
The Zurich - Split line will be in operation throughout September, twice a week, every Saturday and Sunday. From September 27, the company will keep one flight a week, every Saturday.
The Zurich - Pula line also remains in operation throughout September, once a week, on Saturdays. On all routes to Croatia, Edelweiss uses an A320 aircraft.
In September, Croatia Airlines offers direct flights to Zurich from Zagreb, Split and Dubrovnik. A number of departures on these lines were canceled through the first half of September.
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US Open: Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic to Meet in Doubles Final!
September 9, 2020 - Croatia's last two representatives Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic will meet in the doubles final of the US Open!
For the first time in his career, Nikola Mektic will play in the final of a Grand Slam tournament in the men's doubles competition!
After the semifinals of Wimbledon 2017 and Roland Garros 2018, the Zagreb native took a step further in New York. Mektic and Dutch partner Wesley Koolhof surpassed the 3rd seed, American Rajeev Rama and British Joe Salisbury in the semifinal match in two sets - 7:6 ( 3), 6:4.
The key moment of the duel happened in the ninth game of the second set when Ram and Salisbury lost their serve for the second time in the match. Mektic will be looking for his second Grand Slam title (the first he won this year at the Australian Open in mixed doubles with Czech partner Barbora Krejcikova) against countryman Mate Pavic and his Brazilian partner Bruno Soares.
Mate Pavic managed to advance to the doubles finals of the US Open with Soares after defeating Royer and Tecau 6:4, 7:5 in the semifinals after an hour and 26 minutes of play.
In the second set, Rojer and Tecau served for the set at 5:3, but Pavic and Soares managed to return the break, reached another, and advance to the final. The Croatian doubles final will be played on Thursday.
Borna Coric failed to make it to the semifinals of the US Open. Coric's campaign in New York was cut short in the quarterfinals by the 7th-best tennis player in the world, German Alexander Zverev, who won in four sets - 1:6, 7:6 (5), 7:6 1), 6:3.
Until the middle of the second set, it seemed that Borna could surprise Zverev - he started the match very well, easily took the first set, and took the lead with 4:2 in the second. But Zverev caught the right rhythm and equalized thanks to a tie-break.
In the third set, Zverev was the first to break for 2:1, Borna immediately fought back, and the story later ended again in the 13th game, which Zverev took without any major problems.
The fourth set was dominated by the German tennis player who, after a break in the eighth game, managed to bring the match to an end. Borna scored five aces (Zverev 18) during the match, had a first-serve percentage of 72 percent, and used only four of 15 break points (Zverev three of eight). It was their fifth meeting and Zverev's second victory.
Source: HTS
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CircuitMess: Supermarkets Begin Selling Croatian Game Consoles
As Novac/Benard Ivezic writes on the 8th of September, 2020, after Croatian agricultural products were placed on the shelves of well known, heavily frequented supermarkets, large retail chains operating within Croatian have also shown keen interest in offering their customers high-tech Croatian-made products. CircuitMess, a Croatian startup, has succeeded in getting its games consoles on sale.
On Monday, Kaufland Croatia started selling a new version of the first Croatian mobile gaming console MAKERbuino, otherwise the best-selling product from the Croatian startup CircuitMess, which was founded by 21-year-old Albert Gajsak from Karlovac. The new version of the console is called Nibble and is technically far more advanced than the previous version was.
Albert Gajsak, the founder and director of CircuitMess, says that Nibble is the first product they have fully localised for the Croatian market and that they have high expectations from its sale. This is supported by the size of Kaufland's order, as well as the unofficial fact that it is currently being sold in 33 Kaufland stores.
''For CircuitMess, this is the single largest order to date and is our best-selling product so far. I can't talk about the size of the order, but I can say that in the last three years we have sold a total of 12,000 MAKERbuino consoles,'' said Gajsak.
Marija Franic, Head of Corporate Communications at Kaufland Croatia, revealed that they had ordered as many as a thousand Nibble consoles. She added that their collaboration with CircuitMess is excellent.
"We believe that it is very important to support Croatian startups, especially those that bring new technologies closer to children," noted Franic.
Gajsak added they agreed to co-operate in just three months. He stated that they have experimented a lot with sales channels from the beginning. So far, they have focused on the web, and now they are turning to physical stores as well.
CircuitMess managed to create MAKERbuino by raising more than 100,000 US dollars via Kickstarter three years ago. In the meantime, it started selling on eBay and Amazon and a number of other web stores.
''We lack cooperation with large retail chains like Kaufland and that's why, from a sales perspective, this is a new chapter for us. We'd like to reach an agreement to enter Kaufland with our products at least occasionally or even on a permanent basis,'' said Gajsak.
The innovativeness of this particular Croatian startup is also reflected in the company's business results. CircuitMess, which was founded just three years ago and today employs fifteen professionals, in its first full business year, 2018, had revenue of 1.1 million kuna and a net profit of 10,643 kuna. It jumped five times last year. Its revenue in 2019 stood at 5 million kuna, and its net profit amounted to 238,065 kuna.
"This year has started quite terribly, but because of everything we're doing, I hope that we'll manage to repeat last year's income or exceed it. However, it's difficult to try and predict that,'' concluded Gajsak.
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ABOUT YOU: Quickly Growing Online Fashion Store Comes to Croatia
ABOUT YOU is among the fastest growing start-up online stores in all of Europe and one of the few companies operating on the old continent with a value of more than 1 billion US dollars.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 8th of September, 2020, what has been behind the numerous commercials and mysterious hashtags placed all over social media has now finally been revealed, ABOUT YOU has arrived here in Croatia.
The popular online European fashion store ABOUT YOU continued its successful journey of international business by launching the Croatian online store aboutyou.hr on September the 8th, 2020. After Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia and the Baltic countries, ABOUT YOU has found itself in Croatia.
The online fashion store was officially opened through an innovative marketing campaign that includes various information channels. The campaign aimed to increase the visibility of the ABOUT YOU brand through cooperation with many influential people from the Croatian scene.
Here in Croatia, according to Novac.hr, this exclusively online store offers more than 100,000 products and more than 700 brands, many of which are being made available on the Croatian market for the very first time. Shopping on ABOUT YOU is safe, everything can be ordered with free delivery and various payment methods are available, from credit cards to cash on delivery. In addition, customers can return products for free within 100 days if they do not like them.
With a limited discount of 25 percent as a welcome in the first week after the launch, the online fashion store ABOUT YOU has invited customers from Croatia to try a new, inspiring shopping experience. The code for Croatia can be found at www.aboutyou.hr.
ABOUT YOU is a fashion and tech company based in Hamburg, Germany. It was initially founded by young entrepreneurs Tarek Müller (31), Sebastian Betz (29) and Hannes Wiese (38) back in 2014. In just six years, ABOUT YOU has become one of the largest European clothing stores with a massive annual revenue of 742 million euros (2019 / 2020). Following previous launches of online stores in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, as well as in other nations, ABOUT YOU became the leading online store on the market in just a few weeks.
"For us, the Croatian market represents huge potential. We expect rapid growth with the goal of becoming the market’s leading online store in the short term. We're also pleased to see that our customers from Croatia will be inspired by the wide offer on our platform, free delivery and free returns,'' said Tarek Müller, co-founder and director of ABOUT YOU.
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Croatian Government Subsidies Aid Companies for Shorter Working Week
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 8th of September, 2020, so far, 534 companies registered in Croatia with a total of 24,192 employees have applied for Croatian Government subsidies to cover their employees as they make the increasingly popular decision to shorten their working week.
Croatian Government subsidies will ensure the payment of all of them up with up to 2,000 kuna per employee, and the measure will be applied by the end of the year. Companies and enterprises from particularly vulnerable industries who have experienced a pandemic-induced drop in their income of more than 60 percent when compared to last year will be able to count on 4,000 kuna in state aid for their employee salaries by the end of this year, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic announced last week.
The move was formally adopted on Monday at a session of the Administrative Council of the Employment Service, according to a report from Vecernji list.
The extension of Croatian Government subsidies in the full amount of 4,000 kuna especially applies to companies operating in the sectors of passenger transport, catering/hospitality, tour operators and enterprises related to recreation, culture, business and sport events, as well as enterprises and activities that won't be able to operate due to possible decisions of the National Civil Protection Headquarters in regard to work bans.
The Croatian Government subsidies also include a write-off of all related contributions. It is estimated that the extension of these state grants will cover approximately 70,000 employees in total, for which the state will additionally provide around 800 million kuna. In total, support for employment could reach ten billion kuna this year, most of it having been financed from the state budget, but the government has made sure to assure that part of the funds will be compensated from various European Union sources.
''I see the extension of these measures as a purchase of time over the next few months, to see what's going to happen and think about where it is wisest to invest. If this situation continues, there will be a greater need to invest in people and new technologies,'' stated Danijel Nestic, an analyst from the Zagreb Institute of Economics.
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What Year in History Does 2020 Croatian Tourist Season Resemble?
During the first part of the summer season, Croatia managed to open its doors for tourism more quickly than other countries which also rely heavily on it did, and positioned itself better on its emitting markets. But what year would be the most comparable to the 2020 Croatian tourist season?
As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes on the 8th of September, 2020, in a year in which tourism will lose at least a trillion dollars in revenue globally, setting the sector back 20 years, Croatia has so far come out with a slightly better result, especially when compared to competitors from the Mediterranean.
With about 46 million overnight stays realised from the beginning of the year to the end of August, the 2020 Croatian tourist season is currently at about 51 percent of the number of overnight stays realised when compared to last year, and the total annual result could reach the level of 2005 when the country had 51 million overnight stays, with 6 billion euros having been earned. Revenue this year will depend on the structure of spending, about which there are no estimates so far, and last year it stood at 12 billion euros.
The Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ) published a comparison of the results of the 2020 Croatian tourist season for the usually hit month of July on Monday, and the official figures are currently also in in Spain, Turkey, Cyprus and Portugal. In July, Spain accounted for only 25 percent of last year's turnover, Portugal accounted 17 percent, Cyprus 12 percent and Turkey 14 percent.
Although the figures for August aren't yet official, all these countries with tourist traffic started later this year than Croatia did, and saw some significant traffic in the eighth month of 2020, but this was abruptly stopped by the closing of various borders and introducing quarantine in the last week of August. For comparison, Croatia realised about 2.5 million foreign arrivals in July (50 percent of what was realised back in July 2019), as well as almost 15.7 million foreign overnight stays (60 percent). In the first seven months of 2020, the country realised about 26.3 million foreign overnight stays, 42 percent of last year's traffic. August was even better for the 2020 Croatian tourist season according to the latest official data, as Croatia had about 2.3 million arrivals and 17.6 million overnight stays by August the 23rd, which is 67 percent of last year's result. By the end of August, it was estimated that a total of 20 million overnight stays had been acheived.
The Greek tourism sector estimates that it will end this year with tourism revenues of about 3 billion euros, which is 6 times less than it realised last year. Italy expects a loss of 36.7 billion euros in tourism, with a drop in consumption from foreign tourists of 82 percent when compared to last year, equal to an astounding 100 million euros a day, according to the World Tourism Council (WTTC). The CNTB pointed out that in the first part of the summer season, Croatia managed to open up to tourists much faster than what was the case with other countries. At the same time, it positioned itself better on emitting markets than all the countries covered by the analysis.
"The CNTB responded in a timely manner, directing its promotional activities and information campaigns to the most important emitting markets. That such a decision was correct is also confirmed by the results achieved by Croatian tourism in July and August, where we've recorded the most arrivals and overnight stays from the markets of Germany, Slovenia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary,'' the CNTB pointed out.
They also believe that very close and continuous communication with representatives of Croatian tourism associations, the Croatian Government and government institutions, as well as diplomacy was crucial.
''Considering the circumstances and the available budgets, we believe that we have all done an excellent job together,'' the CNTB concluded when looking back at the 2020 Croatian tourist season.
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UEFA Nations League: France Tops Croatia 4:2 at Stade de France
September 8, 2020 - Croatia and France met in Paris on Tuesday evening for the second round of the Nations League A group. In the 2018 World Cup rematch, France tops Croatia 4:2.
Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic changed half of the starting lineup from the match against Portugal. Melnjak was thus moved to left-back and debutant Uremovic to the right. Lovren played in the heart of the defense, accompanied by Duje Caleta-Car, while Perisic and Brozovic returned to the first 11. Modric and Rakitic were not included in this Nations League campaign.
France coach Deschamps also changed his starting eleven, and Lloris, Upamecano, Kante, and Griezmann remained from the first round against Sweden.
Recall, in the first round on Saturday, Croatia suffered a heavy defeat against Portugal, ending 4:1 for the current European champion and the first winner of the Nations League.
Croatia started the match much better than against Portugal and hungrier for the win. In the first five minutes, they attacked France's backline, while the defense was solid in denying Griezmann any chances. France had their first corner in the 11th minute, which was headed out by the Croatian defense.
Slobodan Kadic
Croatia had their first real chance in the 13th minute, though Kovacic missed the shot after Kramaric attacked to get the ball into the box. A few minutes later, Brozovic playing a beautiful through ball to Rebic which ended in Croatia's first corner. Brozovic played a high ball in which found the foot of Lovren who brilliantly scored far post for 1:0 Croatia!
Slobodan Kadic
Croatia saw their second corner of the match in the 18th minute, which was played short and didn't make it into the box.
France picked up their game by the 20th minute, though their second corner was headed out by the Croatian defense. Griezmann was dangerous moments later but the backline remained solid in the block.
Perisic and Melnjak played a beautiful one-two up the left line which forced a free-kick for Croatia outside the box. An unlucky ball resulted in another Croatia corner.
Slobodan Kadic
Croatia continued playing calm and collected, a much better performance than the team we saw just a few days ago.
They unraveled, however, for the first time in the 32nd minute - Griezmann had a chance to score but Brozovic and Livakovic were stellar to stop the dangerous play.
Slobodan Kadic
A France free-kick in the 34th minute, much like what we saw in the World Cup final, was worrying, but Griezmann shot over to keep the score 1:0 for Croatia.
Croatia was combining brilliantly for the remainder of the half, playing quick passes up the pitch to press the France defense. Perisic shot in the 42nd which was saved by Lloris.
Unfortunately, a quick France counter resulted in a goal in the 43rd minute. Griezmann scored for 1:1. Two minutes later, another quick counter saw France lead 2:1 with 30 seconds to go in the first half. Croatia held 57% of the possession in the first half.
At the start of the second half, Josip Brekalo was substituted in for Ante Rebic. France made no changes.
Croatia saw their first corner of the second half already in the 46th minute, though Vlasic called for a handball. Without VAR in the Nations League, there was no review.
Croatia continued pressing at the start of the second half and created good scoring opportunities, which were short of goals. France had their first corner of the second half in the 51st minute, which went over the post for a Croatia goal kick.
Slobodan Kadic
But then it happened, and Croatia could not have equalized any better. An incredible Kovacic ball from the halfway line found the foot of Brekalo who moved through three players in the French defense for 2:2!
Slobodan Kadic
A free kick in the 61st minute deflected to Vlasic who crossed the ball back into Perisic, though he volleyed over the crossbar.
France had a corner in the 64th minute which finished in a goal to put them back in the lead at 3:2.
Livakovic and Brozovic once again saved a dangerous Greizmann counter. Croatia's tempo had died down in the second half, though they continued to push the ball up France's half when they could.
Slobodan Kadic
The game changed once France was awarded a penalty in the 75th minute due to a Croatia handball in the box. Giroud scored for 4:2, the same result as the 2018 World Cup final.
Croatia tried finding the momentum and rhythm they had in the first half, but France was solid in denying any chances.
Slobodan Kadic
A Vlasic shot in the last two minutes of regulation time hit the side post, while Lloris saved another seconds later. The ref added four minutes, in which neither team was able to score.
The match ended 4:2 for France.
Slobodan Kadic
Conceding eight goals in two games is not the way Croatia wanted to start the Nations League. Up next, Croatia will meet Sweden and France at home in October.
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After the Digital Nomad Visa, Time to Make Croatia Grow Again
September 8, 2020 - Fresh from his agreement with Prime Minister Plenkovic to introduce a digital nomad visa for Croatia, Dutch entrepreneur Jan de Jong and business partner Jerko Trogrlic turn their attention to agriculture and plans to Make Croatia Grow Again.
One of the best days of 2020 so far for me was on May 27, as I left Hvar early in the morning on the 05:30 and proceeded to Zagreb via three stops en route, visiting three of the most positive people I know in this country, Tanja Polegubic in Vrana, Feliks Lukas in Kasela, and first up, Jan de Jong in Solin. You can read more in What Happens in Croatia When Mindset Goes from Default Negative to Opportunity Positive?
Coffee on Jan's terrace overlooking the Adriatic with a truly magnificent view was a great way to start the day. He had two things on his mind. The first was the topic that we had agreed to discuss - digital nomad tourism. And the second was an idea he had regarding agriculture.
The digital nomad story took on a life of its own in the weeks after that very pleasant morning coffee. Six weeks later, Jan wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister asking him to introduce a digital nomad visa for Croatia. Just 44 days after that, PM Plenkovic tweeted a photo of his meeting in Jan, in which he committed to introducing the digital nomad visa, and it was introduced as an amendment to the Foreigners Act in Parliament the following day.
But the agricultural plan that Jan shared with me, together with his partner, award-winning PR guru Jerko Trgolic from Split, was equally inspiring.
Rather than say more than I should, I will refer you to Jan's latest LinkedIn post, where he has announced his intention to Make Croatia Grow Again...
Yes! We are going to invest big in Croatia. Not in apartments, not in villa's, not in hotels - but in high-tech agriculture
For so many years it has been hurting my eyes seeing how Croatia ?? - a country that used to feed an entire region - is today importing more food than that it is exporting.
Together with my business partner, Jerko Trogrlić, I am proud to share that today we have founded our company - CROP Hrvatska.
CROP Hrvatska will bring high-tech agriculture technology from the Netherlands to Croatia with one simple goal - to make Croatia grow again!
The first investment planned shall be a 5 hectare (50.000 m2) high-tech greenhouse for growing tomatoes - creating 70 new job opportunities in Croatia.
Follow CROP Hrvatska on #LinkedIn to stay up to date on any further developments.
CROP Hrvatska - Making Croatia grow again
Do you believe just like me that Croatia has the potential to help feed Europe?
P.s. How do you like our shoes?
#LivingTheCroatianDream #Entrepreneurship #Croatia #MakingCroatiaGrowAgain #Agriculture
I will be asking Jan a little more about CROP and his plans to Make Croatia Grow Again at the Poduzetnicki Mindset (Entrepreneurial Mindset) 2020 conference on Thursday, September 10, which will be streamed online. If interested, check out the exciting programme.
AD Plastik Wins Golden Key Award As Best Large Exporter
ZAGREB, Sept 8, 2020 - Plastic car parts manufacturer AD Plastik wins Golden Key Award as the best large exporter in 2019, IT firm Infobip is the best medium-sized exporter and Jadran-una has been honored as the best small company, it was announced at the 15th Croatian Exporters Convention on Tuesday.
Addressing the convention, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic congratulated the exporters, saying that commodity exports had been rising steadily for the past 10 years and their share in GDP had increased from 16.7% to 28.5%.
He said that only 15% of Croatian companies generated revenues on foreign markets, while they employed 51% of the active workforce. He added that these companies place over 60% of their investments in research and development, generating three-quarters of total profits and nearly four-fifths of total investment in research and development in Croatia.
Speaking of boosting the export-oriented industry, Plenkovic cited reindustrialization and strong support to enterprises in using smart and clean technologies, greater use of energy from renewable sources, and digital transformation.
"That is the path to increasing competitiveness," the prime minister said, adding that the government's focus would be on developing sectors with great growth potential such as information and communication technologies, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, pure technologies, such as solar and hydrogen, and new technologies, including 3D printing, nanotechnology, and robotics.
He also pledged further investment in education, railways, and broadband internet infrastructure.
"Our ambition is to create 100,000 jobs over the next four years, that is before the end of our term," Plenkovic said.
He highlighted two objectives of importance for exporters - the adoption of the euro and entry into the Schengen area.
The backbone of the Croatian economy
The head of the Croatian Exporters Association, Darinko Bago, praised the government for how it was handling the crisis caused by the global coronavirus pandemic, citing the government's social sensitivity and efforts to preserve jobs and help the tourist industry.
"Exporters are the best that Croatia has, they are the backbone of the Croatian economy," Bago said, adding that exporters expected the government to continue to be socially sensitive, but also to intensify localization and regionalization.
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