A new way of doing business for small Croatian companies.
Co-working spaces bring different types of entrepreneurs together in one place, but Mirela Marović Omerza, co-founder of the BIZkoshnica co-working space, Matija Raos from the Coworking.hr initiative and Alan Šlapar, who founded the Workup business incubator, want to establish some more specifically defined co-working venues, reports Poslovni.hr on March 11, 2016.
In addition to cataloguing co-working spaces in Croatia, their plan is to encourage the state to promote this new business management method. Co-working is a shared office space with a variety of services offered. According to Coworking.hr, there are 11 active co-working spaces in Croatia – five in Zagreb, three in Split, and one in Rijeka, Osijek and Zadar each. Marović Omerza said they wanted to include all the co-working spaces in Croatia in this project.
"Co-working will become immensely important for business operations in a few years, same as social network are today", Marović Omerza added. According to her, co-working represents good infrastructure for the success of micro- and small entrepreneurs because it secures them a smooth start. Simply put, co-working fulfils all the requirements set by the state that new businesses cannot deal with on their own.
Co-working also promotes a different kind of business culture. "Deals are being sealed without the traditional Croatian 'onion and lamb' background; quality and professionalism are the key elements. Whatever some would say, co-working has been accepted well in Croatia because it offers exactly what is needed here", Marović Omerza explained.
She added that Croats are pretty closed off and this is why the work they do is quite fragmented. There are many freelancers and micro-entrepreneurs who are exceptional in their field of work, she pointed out, but they need space where they can make business connections. "People here are reserved in communication, and they do not like when something is forced upon them. Co-working is exactly what they need – it offers them options, but it does not impose – and this is why it has been accepted by Croats", the BIZkoshnica founder said.
