February 21, 2020 - There are those who are negative about Croatia, and there are those who are positive. And then there is Dutch entrepreneur Jan de Jong.
A couple of years ago, I announced - to much derision - that TCN wanted to start a series on foreign entrepreneurs enjoying life in Croatia as a counterbalance to all the stories of crushing emigration.
The comments, as usual, were scornful, with one of Croatia's army of dedicated keyboard warriors declaring that he would eat his hat if we got more than 2.5 entrepreneurs. As you can see from the response, our keyboard warrior friend has been eating lots of hats ever since. And if you are a foreign entrepreneur in Croatia and would like to be featured in the series, please contact us on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Subject Foreign Entrepreneur.
Among those who responded was a Dutchman called Jan de Jong, who has enjoyed incredible success since moving to Split, and you can read all about this in Jan's interview here.
I have only met Jan de Jong once, during his excellent presentation at Business Club International, and I was impressed not only with his success, but also with his positivity about life in Croatia. I have been following him ever since on LinkedIn, where his followers are able to enjoy regular doses of positivity about doing business in The Beautiful Croatia, including this one today, which I am shamelessly lifting from his home page. I hope you don't mind, Sir. Keep up the good work and see you at LEAP 2020.
✔ Fighters mentality: Fight as hard as you can, don't give up, don't give in. I shall be the one paying for coffee, for drinks, for lunch. ☕????
✔ Carpe diem: Don't always think about tomorrow. You live life today.??
✔ Preparation: Make sure the fridge is always full. Somebody might visit you...and then...we eat, we drink.???
✔ Networking: Perhaps more than in other countries it is a lot about "who you know". Even in situations like delivering a baby in the hospital - make sure you know a doctor. ?⚕️
✔ You can't choose your family, but you can choose your "kumovi". (godfathers, best man, etc.) And those relationships with kumovi are super strong - and they become your extended family. Beautiful! ❤
There is also one thing I will probably never learn from Croatian people...PADEŽE! Seriously?!? 7 of them ??
Živim u Hrvatskoj
Volim Hrvatsku
Pozdrav iz Hrvatske.
