As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes on the 2nd of January, 2020, the names of companies who under the name of their brand boast city names such as London-New York-Tokyo, are generally large global companies that, due to the nature of their business, must be based in various parts of the world. Although there aren't many Croatian companies of that size and power, every once in a while there are Croatian companies that deploy their headquarter posts and spread their wings abroad.

There are numerous companies of the kind across European and world capitals, and one is Startaparat, with Zagreb-Vienna-Dubai under its name. The Startaparat company is comprised of three women Sanja, Tanja and Helena. Behind them, as they point out, lies a strong, longstanding friendship which has grown through working together at the Bruketa&Žinić OM agency.

Tanja Škorić was a creative director in Zagreb and later a partner at Bruketa&Žinić Vienna. Helena Rosandić Šepić was the director of B&Z in Baku for a number of years, and after that she went to Vienna, too. Sanja Petek Mujačić spent thirteen years in that agency, most of which as a director and board member. Startaparat was initially founded in Vienna back in 2017 by Tanja and Helena, and Sanja joined them in early 2019 as a partner and director of the Zagreb office.

Startaparat's main focus is to create innovative communications solutions that build digital age brands and organisations. Whether it is startups or already established Croatian companies or indeed foreign ones, they help them to adopt a culture of innovation, creativity and change, to reach their absolute full potential.

In fact, they work with Croatian companies and foreign ones that want to grow faster, developing from their original ideas to creating a winning marketing concept. Their business model itself changes the established processes of the communication industry - building a network of teams and experienced professionals/consultants with whom they collaborate on projects - from HR professionals, people operating within the complex digital world, communicators, designers, developers, business consultants, and so forth. Having a presence and experience across different markets gives them priceless insight into a variety of trends, knowledge and practices - giving their solutions some serious strength and weight.

In addition to Vienna in Austria and Zagreb in Croatia, this year, they have a ''set up'' of offices in Dubai, and plans to expand to even more countries. Sanja is a kind of primus inter pares, and today she attributes her competencies to her general education and extensive experience. Sanja, who is otherwise an art historian, has spent her entire marketing career focusing on how technology is changing the world.

"It used to be more from the perspective of marketing and communications, and in the past two years it has been growing from the perspective of management and work in organisations. My favourite topic is storytelling in business, and how much power and strength of the stories in the business environment I reveal to the teams of the largest Croatian companies through interactive workshops. In addition, I'm dedicated to the hot topic - employer branding, but my vision is that that's not only an HR topic, but that it also combines communications and marketing,'' explained Sanja Petek Mujačić.

She added that for several years now, Croatian companies and foreign companies have been intensively introducing technology into all aspects of their business. "The goal is to improve processes, accelerate product development and marketing, improve customer experience - all to meet the increasingly dynamic and rapid market and customer demands.

''Old'' organisations and well-known brands are constantly under the influence of fast moving startups and disruptive innovations. Technology is one solution to how to be prepared for market competition, but the focus shifts to a key company resource - people. Thus, the priority becomes the intensive adaptation of the way in which we work and collaborate, which motivates and inspires us, that is, how companies are organised and how they communicate and create,'' noted the Startaparat director.

She explained that many Croatian companies are still guided by old, outdated principles of management, which, as she says, are in line with the needs of our grandparents' time and not in line with modern business at all.

"In most cases, Croatian companies are not yet ready for radical change - creating a shallower organisation, abandoning the command and control model, less internal bureaucracy//. A system without a strong hierarchy, risk-averse. But... they're slowly moving in that direction.

This transition is not simple and easy, but I believe that the benefits of the changes will be great and will have multiple implications for employee engagement and motivation, and definitely for the creation of innovative and relevant solutions, products and services,'' said Petek Mujačić.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business page for much more on Croatian companies, products and services.

August the 18th, 2019 - We've explored citizenship through naturalisation, marriage, descent, and special interest. We've delved into the world of Croatian work permits, and we've gone through the list of ways to obtain legal residence for both EU and non EU citizens, but I left one thing out - gaining residence through opening a business in Croatia. That needs an article of its own. Pour yourself a large, strong drink.

I'll preface this by saying that opening a business to gain residence should ideally be a last resort, meaning that you've exhausted all other possibilities. This post is aimed almost exclusively at third country nationals (people who are neither citizens of Croatia or citizens of the European Economic Area), as citizens of the EEA/EU have a right to residence in Croatia based solely on their citizenship of an EU member state.

Croatian bureaucracy is infamous at this point. The phrase uhljebistan is not used without reason, and many people, from your ordinary mere mortals to rich foreign investors with huge capital, have been well and truly put off by the endless reams of red tape the Croatian Government likes to put up. Driving not only those who'd like to invest their hard earned cash away, but potential jobs, too.

With that being said, things are beginning to alter, albeit at a snail's pace, and with the age of digitalisation finally dawning on Croatia, there might be hope on the horizon. Until then, let's assume you've exhausted all your remaining options as a third country national and opening a business in Croatia is your last shot at obtaining that residence permit, or maybe you really do want to open a business here. Let's begin.

In order to gain residence in Croatia on the basis of having opened a business, you'll need to first open that business. You can open a j.d.o.o, a d.o.o., or what's known as an obrt. Once that's all done and dusted (and that's a topic I'll cover in another article), you can begin your application for a residence permit on that basis. The necessary forms will be provided to you when you go in person to MUP to make the application and hand in the appropriate documents.

But, hang on, it isn't all that straightforward. There are currently two situations in which you can legitimately apply for a residence permit as a third country national after having opened a Croatian business (it cannot be what is known as an ''association'' (udruga), which tend to be non-profit and the people involved are commonly volunteers. It has to be an actual business, intended to operate as a business).

The two situations in which you can legally obtain residence in Croatia through opening a business I mentioned above are as follows:

1.) You are a third country national and you own the business.

2.) You own the business, but you want to hire a third country national who does not have a residence permit (but obviously needs one), and the job you're hiring them for is not covered by the quota. You can find out more about quotas from us here and from MUP, the authority which will be granting (or indeed denying) your permit here.

Let's quickly look at some very important differences between EU/EEA citizens and third country nationals before we continue.

EU/EEA citizens:

For EU nationals (and nationals of Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein), who have a right to reside in Croatia owing to EU law, please let it be understood very clearly that you do not need to open a business to stay in Croatia under any circumstance.

Unfortunately, some would-be advisers and even accountants have wrongly told unknowing EU nationals this. If you're a citizen of an EU/EEA country, your right to reside is based on your nationality, nothing else.

If you're an EU/EEA citizen and you want to open a business in Croatia, things are much easier for you as you can do so on the same basis and with equal treatment as a Croatian national. This means you do not need to follow many of the rules placed on third country nationals, and it's much less expensive for you to open and operate a business here.

Third country nationals, at whom this article is aimed:

SCENARIO 1: You own the business, and you yourself are a third country national:

If you'te a third country national and you've opened a business in order to gain residency, here is what you need to submit about your business:

1.) You must hire at least three Croatian citizens as full time employees.

2.) You must invest an eye-watering 200,000 kuna into your business if it is a j.d.o.o or a d.o.o., 300,000 kuna if it's an obrt (craft).

3.) You need to hire yourself, employ yourself, and pay yourself a salary which meets the current average Croatian wage, or is higher.

You may need to prove that your new business is not operating at a loss, but this may not be asked of you when you first apply. You'll also need to show proof of you having paid your taxes in Croatia, properly and correctly. This includes the necessary contributions, too (pension and health insurance). If you have had any debts to the Republic of Croatia at any point (tax debts), you'll need to prove you've paid them off.

In addition to that, you'll need to provide other documents for your residence permit, such as a valid passport and a copy of it, click here and scroll down to third country nationals for the list of documents you'll typically need to provide the police with.

SCENARIO 2: You own the business, and you want to hire and employ a third country national 

If you are a business owner and you want to hire a third country national who does not already have legal residence in Croatia, then here's where quotas come into the mix again. These can be a bit confusing, but the links I provided (where I mentioned quotas previously) will give you some guidance, as will the police. Make sure to ask them as they may not provide this of their own accord.

If the third country national you're hiring will be doing a job that is in the quota, then there's less of a fuss surrounding this process. If they're going to be doing a job that is outside of the quota, then you'll need to provide additional documents and prove additional things. Here is a list of those things:

1.) You'll need to hire or already employ three Croatian citizens on a full time basis and be able to provide proof of that

2.) You'll need to have invested a minimum of 100,000 kuna into your business, and be able to provide proof of that

3.) You'll need to be able to prove that your business doesn't operate at a loss

4.) You'll need to have hired yourself as an employee in your business and be paying yourself the equivalent of the average Croatian wage, or above it

5.) You'll need to submit proof you don't owe anything to the state (tax debts), have paid anything you have previously owed, and you're paying your taxes and contributions in Croatia

Helpful information:

In Croatia, there is an excellent organisation called HITRO.hr, who work to help in quicker and better communication between business/companies and the administrative bodies of the state. Thanks to digitalisation slowly but surely creeping up on Croatia, this allows for certain things to be done online. Please note that this only regards certain types of companies and businesses and their registration.

Their services are available in English as well as in Croatian, and they detail the procedure of opening different types of businesses, what the costs are, and what you should watch out for. Not to mention contact numbers. Pay them a visit here and select the English language option if you need to.

In addition to that, Fina (Financial Agency) can provide for faster, more efficient and much more secure access for company/business owners to certain services and information. These include ePayment, eTax, eVAT, and ePension.

The requirement of having employed three Croatian nationals as full time employees in your business may be deemed fulfilled even if you hire three Croatian nationals on a part time basis, but there are other requirements you must fulfil for this to be considered the same as full time employment. Ask when you apply what this means for you.

The law currently states that for each additional permit, you need to provide double the requirements listed above, or triple (and so on) for each additional permit you want to be issued as a business owner wanting to employ third country nationals who are gaining residence in this manner.

This is an extremely bureaucracy filled process which will not only cost you a lot of money, but a lot of time, patience and nerves along with it. Unless you are genuinely wanting to open and run a business here in Croatia, I would strongly recommend that you avoid this way of gaining residence as a third country national.

For EU citizens, things are far cheaper and far less complicated, but as I stated previously, if you're from the EEA, you absolutely do not need to open any sort of business to be granted residence in Croatia. Please be very wary of anyone who tells you otherwise. EU citizens can review their rights covering everything from their right to reside to opening a business here.

Make sure to follow our dedicated lifestyle page for much more.

As Bernard Ivezic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 4th of July, 2019, although for the past couple of years, mainly because of the enormous issues within and caused by the Agrokor crisis, the general speculation has been that the largest Russian bank, Sberbank, will eventually leave Croatia, and potentially even leave part of the country's closer region, but on Thursday, Sberbank clearly made it known that they're actively doing the opposite.

Sberbank has concluded an exclusive partnership with the Norwegian company Auka, and has jointly made the world premiere of a new mobile payment platform called Settle in Zagreb.

Csaba Soós, CEO of Sberbank Croatia, told Poslovni Dnevnik that in the last half a year, he has conducted a series of preparations for boosting Sberbank's business in small and medium-sized businesses and expanding its offer to the people.

"Sberbank wants to digitally transform and offer new services and new user experiences on the Croatian market, hence our partnership with Auka's Settle," stated Soós.

Settle is a mobile application that allows for easy mobile payments. For citizens, it's similar to KEKS Pay from Erste Bank, which already has more than 40,000 users, British Revolut, which has more than 20,000 users, and other such services that banks want to offer through Internet banking.

Daniel Döderlein, the founder and CEO of Auka, pointed out that this app is completely free to use.

Settle is searching for its place on the market as an alternative to POS terminals. As all cash registers in Croatia are fiscalised and connected to the Internet, Settle wants to allow for payment and invoicing straight through the internet.

"In order for a small business, a shop, a restaurant or a cafe to use Settle, it's enough for a company that offers a fiscal cash register connects with us, traders can automatically generate an QR code at the till, a Settle user can pay for it immediately from the application, and then get a fiscalised receipt as confirmation of payment,'' said Döderlein.

He added that by the end of the year, the service will be expanded to another three countries, and by the end of 2020, they want to be present on as many as ten markets. Looking at Auka's announcements, it shows that Settle's services will also expand to other aspects of business digitalisation such as e-bidding and e-invoicing.

Settle, allegedly, already has a contracted partnership in Croatia with at least four companies offering fiscal cash registers.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business page for much more.

Doing business in Croatia is always tricky, it's a long road often filled with an insane amount of paperwork and this bizarre requirement for you to physically go to multiple locations in order to get things done. Let's not forget the dreaded and archaic stamps, and the typical utter lack of desire on the faces of those apparently employed to help you. Is all that about to change with the country's gradual formation into a digital Croatia?

As Marija Brnic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 29th of November, 2018, as of April the 1st next year, all those who want to start their own business in Croatia would be able to complete the process for registration and start doing business within just 48 hours. No, it isn't just an April Fools' trick.

A new business start-up system called Start will enable those who want to start their own businesses in the country to do just that, in a move which has been a deeply desired pipe dream up until now. With digital Croatia now finally on the horizon, getting your business off the ground is about to get a lot easier.

The service, which has been prepared by the Finance Agency (FINA), was finally given the green light following a government decision since last week. By the end of March next year, this system will be available to all those operating from within Croatia who own companies, including d.o.o and j.d.o.o's, while those abroad will see the service enabled for them by the end of 2019.

While start is an incredibly welcome news, it isn't the only player on the field, since 2005, Hitro.hr has been active, and is also a service from Fina. However, the Ministry of Economy, which is overseeing this project, clarified that there are some big differences between Hitro.hr and Start.

"Hitro.hr allows only the establishment of an Association or a company (obrt), or entry into the court or company register, while Start also enables the start-up of a business, which includes registration with the court and the company register, as well as entry into the register of business entities at the Central Bureau of Statistics, the filing of the beginning of the business and the beginning of the insurance with the Croatian Health Insurance Institute and the Croatian Pension Insurance Institute,the  registration of the taxpayers' register with the Tax Administration, registration in the VAT system, the opening of a bank account, and the electronic payment of any fees incurred during the process of all this,'' they explained from the Ministry of the Economy.

The beginnings of a digital Croatia will see that in the future, company owners will not physically have to go to all of the mentioned institutions as they currently need to, and all of the applications involved in this paperwork ridden and tiresome process will be able to be exported in one place by filling out a single digital form.

The establishment of this system amounts to 5 million kuna, as foreseen in the Ministry of Economy's budget, and in a year's time, it intends to back the project up with yet another half a million kuna.

Start requires automated communication and the exchange of data and documents between the ministries of economy, justice, finance, the tax administration, DZS, HZMO, HZZO, and credit institutions. Hitro.hr will not be harmed or otherwise threatened by the more than welcome launch of the Start system, as was confirmed by the Ministry of Economy, this service fulfills the objectives for which it was founded - better informing future entrepreneurs and providing better communication between people and the state administration, as well as offering far more ease and saving precious time when establishing a company.

"Hitro.hr will continue to provide services to users who need that kind of help - information ''at the counter'' and help with name reservations, or just the mere establishment of a company," the Ministry pointed out.

Fina added that if a user wants to start a business from their own home, they will beed to use Start, and if they want to start a business by going to the Hitro.hr counter and taking all the other steps individually, they will still have that option as well. Therefore, for those who prefer the "classic" Croatian way of starting a business, characterised by their physical arrival at the dreaded counter, Fina intends to keep the Hitro.hr offices open.

However, due to the ever-increasing trend in the digitisation of public services and the inclusion of newer generations in their use, Fina has also estimated that the percentage of those who prefer to use Start will grow year-by-year. Since the establishment of Hitro.hr, a large number of entrepreneurs have used it during the first step, especially when establishing a j.d.o.o., where every other such form of company since the service's introduction back in 2012, was established through Hitro.hr.

Altogether, Hitro has helped to create more than 57,000 new companies, of which some 32,000 are d.o.o.'s and 25,000 are j.d.o.o.'s. Obrt owners, however, have rarely used this registration service, since their start-up process is different, and since 2015, e-Obrt services have been introduced, which has completely taken over the registration processes of such companies.

The introduction of the Start system will not automatically open new jobs according to Fina's information. Currently, the offices of Hitro.hr are located in 61 Fina offices throughout Croatia, and information and support services are provided to them by Fina's existing employees, while as far as Start is concerned, as an online service, part of Hitro.hr staff will be engaged in staffing it via Fina.

Among the recommendations the World Bank gave to Croatia, the pressing need to create a more digital Croatia in order to improve the entrepreneurial climate was among the most outstanding, and it is precisely the creation of a unique online procedure, as opposed to the archaic dragging of one feet to numerous different offices in which processes are slow, confusing and often delayed, that will help paint a better picture of doing business in Croatia the most.

Interesting data from the analysis of Doing Business shows that starting up a business in Croatia is the easiest in Split, and there in the popular Dalmatian city are the largest number of Hitro.hr users. Out of five large Croatian cities, the worst results have rather surprisingly been recorded in Zagreb. According to Doing Business's analysis, more than half of Split's newly established companies use Hitro.hr, and for starting a business there, it is necessary to complete six individual procedures and the process typically lasts six days on average.

In Zagreb things appear bizarrely different, in the capital, a would-be entrepreneur has to complete eight different procedures and it takes a ridiculous average of three weeks for all the paperwork to be dealt with.

The welcome electronic changes that April the 1st, 2019, is set to bring owing to Start will require these procedures to be reduced in all cities across Croatia to just one step, and thanks to digital Croatia's roots finally being planted, the duration of this previously insanely time consuming process will go on for an absolute maximum of two days.

Make sure to follow our dedicated lifestyle and business pages for more information on digital Croatia and much more.

Click here for the original article by Marija Brnic for Poslovni Dnevnik

If you open a business and a venomous clerk wasn't around to make your life miserable, did you really open a business?