June the 2nd, 2021 - We recently wrote about the brand new Infobip Startup Tribe Programme which marked yet another positive step forward from the remarkable Istrian Infobip company which has made waves globally. More than 100 applications have since been received, from Croatia and the immediate region to European countries like the UK, to distant ones such as Singapore.

As Novac/Bernard Ivezic writes, in the first 48 hours alone, the Istrian Infobip company from Vodnjan received more than 100 applications for its Startup Tribe Programme. Most of those applications came from here in Croatia, then from the immediate region, from Slovenia through to Bosnia and Herzegovina to Serbia, and then from the rest of the world.

Applications from startups from other European countries such as Great Britain, Sweden and Austria came in, and then they did so from Singapore and even the USA.

Nikola Pavesic, the leader of the Istrian Infobip's Startup Tribe, hasn't even tried to hide his enthusiasm for this more than encouraging initial response.

''For now, after the official presentation of the Infobip Startup Tribe Programme, the response is even better than we expected, and we had quite high expectations,'' said Pavesic.

He stated that he is especially pleased with the large number of applications from the rest of Croatia. He pointed out that they've been contacted by, among others, some already successful startups, as well as those whose time is yet to come, such as Orqa, Robotiq.ai, Parkley, Hubbig, Farseer and Sportening.

''Now we have to analyse them all and see what the best ones are, or what we could offer them, for each of these startups and projects,'' stated Pavesic.

To briefly recall, the head of Infobip's first startup initiative started his career at the United Nations in Tanzania, and moved to Infobip from Tokyo, where for the past five years he has run partnerships with Nikkei, the world's largest business newspaper and owner of the respected Financial Times (FT).

Infobip's Startup Tribe enables startups to receive financial support in large amounts. This assistance is offered in the form of loans for the use of Infobip's innovative products. In addition, the Istrian Infobip will give startups that become part of its ''tribe'' access to its know-how, as well as to a rich network of advisors and investors. Among other things, startups entering this programme will have direct entry to pitching Shift conferences.

Pavesic has already confirmed that he will not take a percentage from these startups, but that the goal of the programme is actually to grow together with startups in the Istrian Infobip tribe.

For more, follow our dedicated business section.

May the 26th, 2021 - The Vodnjan company Infobip, which has been in the news for all the right reasons more or less since its very creation, has created the Infobip Startup Tribe. The move marks yet another positive step forward for this remarkable Croatian company.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, this Vodnjan company's new Infobip Startup Tribe is the name of the newly established programme aimed at finding and gathering the most innovative Croatian and global startups, and accelerating and monitoring their growth and development. Under the programme, eligible startups can apply for amounts ranging from 10,000 US dollars to 60,000 US dollars worth of using Infobip’s communication technologies and use them to further grow and improve their own respective businesses.

In addition to the hefty amounts mentioned above, Infobip will provide invaluable know-how and direct connections with global investors and industry leaders to the startups involved, which can open the door to additional capital and new markets. In addition to numerous training sessions, the Vodnjan IT company will open up the possibility of making office space in more than 65 locations around the world available to startups, which, at the time of their growth and expansion, will certainly become a significant benefit.

In addition, the startups involved will have special access to the Infobip Shift conference, the recent acquisition of Infobip, which plans to grow into one of the largest developer conferences in the world.

An established department for startup ecosystems within Infobip

The Infobip Startup Tribe will be led by Nikola Pavesic, the director of this newly established Infobip department. Pavesic began his career at the United Nations in no less than Tanzania, and he continued his journey at the UN in Tokyo, where he has been living for the last decade. In addition to running his own startup, for the past five years, he has held a leading position for partnerships at Nikkei, the world's largest business newspaper and owner of the prestigious Financial Times (FT).

Pavesic will manage the newly established Infobip Startup Tribe programme, and in addition to leading the programme itself, providing support to startups and selecting registered startups, his task will be to form an advisory council consisting of some of the world's most famous investors and carefully selected partners from around the globe. The aforementioned partner network will contribute to a strong step forward of this Infobip initiative, and startups from their portfolio will have direct access to the equal benefits of the Infobip Startup Tribe programme.

"With this programme, we're showing that we're ready to invest in society, not only through our products, but also through all other resources at our disposal, and most of all with knowledge, experience and connections with the business and professional community. Working with startups will bring Infobip into direct contact with new ideas, ways of thinking and approaches, and these components enable companies to make better use of their own resources and technology in favour of a stronger and more positive impact on society.

I’m excited to have joined Infobip in the construction phase of the company as an even more powerful developer-oriented development organisation. Although it's a global initiative, we're especially focused on our climate because we think that this is a kind of milestone in the development of entrepreneurial and technological ecosystem, and that with a lot of quality work, we can significantly influence their development. I look with great optimism and enthusiasm towards the upcoming period in which we'll bring even greater value to all those involved through our cooperation with startups,'' said Nikola Pavesic.

The application criteria for the programme is rather flexible, all with the goal of bringing together as many fast-growing startups as possible. All those who have raised a maximum of five million euros of investment or have a maximum of 100 employees can apply, but the programme will also receive exceptions if they show great growth potential in their industry.

All interested startups that meet the above criteria can easily and quickly apply by filling out the form at startups.infobip.com.

"I've always had a special relationship with startups, and Shift, which is now part of Infobip, started as a startup conference. I'm really glad yo be coming back to my roots and that the whole initiative with startups is entering our new department for relations with developers,'' said Ivan Burazin of Infobip.

With this valuable Infobip Startup Tribe programme, the company has once again shown that it is ready to invest in society as a whole, not only through the transfer of its own products but also through all other resources at its disposal, selflessly giving them to companies that, much like Infobip, have the potential to grow and become a new driver strength for the Croatian economy.

For more, follow our dedicated business section.

May the 19th, 2021 - One Karlovac company from Vojnic is engaged in the innovative creation of prefabricated construction elements, which comes as a pleasant piece of information following the earthquakes which struck Zagreb and Sisak-Moslavina in March and December 2020.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes, although the construction sector in the modern economy is always one of the carriers of overall development, for example in Germany it constantly accounts for 10 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), in Croatia it is now additionally relevant due to the earthquakes of 2020 and the need for the comprehensive reconstruction of both Zagreb and Banovina.

Prefabricated construction on the Croatia market is quite a new trend, but brick construction is a centuries-old tradition and brick is certainly the most common material in construction in general, with more or less everyone still very much relying on such traditional forms of construction.

The construction sector and the production of construction materials themselves hold a significant share in the Croatian economy. The market, which is supplied with seemingly identical products, now requires innovative ideas and creative products that bring solutions which are more advanced than others.

One such solution to the Croatian construction sector is provided by Redbloc S.E.E. from Vojnic with its innovative system of prefabricated building elements that has been used throughout Europe for more than fifteen years now.

As this Karlovac company points out, Redbloc's technology is the only system on the market today that can efficiently produce prefabricated parts from building materials of mineral origin and allows for the production of semi-finished brick walls in just a few hours.

With this innovative system, it's possible to produce up to 400 square metres of prefabricated brick wall in one day, which can be delivered to a construction site in a very short period of time. The elements are ready for transport within an hour after production. Recently, the Karlovac company Redbloc S.E.E. and the City of Karlovac have signed an agreement on the purchase and sale of land on which the construction of a production plant is planned.

“The most modern robotic technology in terms of semi-finished construction elements is the future of construction and brings easy, rapid, massive and fully automated solutions. Complete automation undoubtedly represents a revolution in the construction of family houses, apartment buildings and industrial buildings.

The Karlovac company's prefabricated brick system integrates all quality segments that characterise a conventionally built solid brick house, using the efficiency of prefabricated construction methods. I hope that the production plant of our company will provide new employment opportunities for the population of Karlovac and its surroundings by the end of the year, when we intend to start production,'' explained the company director Ante Andresi.

From Karlovac, they point out that the company Redbloc S.E.E. certainly contributes to the development of the local and overall economy, using building materials from Croatian manufacturers such as the Wienerberger brick factory in Karlovac.

For more, follow Made in Croatia.

May the 18th, 2021 - The Croatian company CityGreens Farming has offered an innovative solution to an issue many in the agriculture sector suffer, which is a lack of fertile land.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes, although it might sound like a script from science fiction films to most, the technology of growing food indoors without fertile land is already a reality today, and the Croatian company CityGreens Farming from Zagreb is also contributing to its development.

The leading people of that aforementioned company, Josip Ceovic and Filip Mijatovic, explained that they have developed an innovative system for aeroponic plant cultivation implemented in the form of a vertical farm. “We're the first company in the region to develop so-called High Pressure Aeroponic systems, both in a home form and in an industrial form. Aeroponic cultivation is the process of growing plants without the use of soil or water pools, classic hydroponic cultivation, where the root of the plant is fed through a nutrient mist.

The technology was first devised by NASA and is considered the highest and purest cultivation technology where plants grow without sun or soil in strictly controlled conditions. Pesticides, fungicides and herbicides aren't used in cultivation, and the system is fully automated,'' explained Mijatovic.

He added that this is a new device completely designed and made in Croatia.

"The aeronautical technology on which the device works has been known for the last fifteen years after NASA invented and perfected it for growing plants in space. Of course, the designs, components, and accompanying software for their devices aren't publicly available, and our device is our own interpretation of that technology.

There are aeroponic farms in parts of the world which use similar devices, but this technology is still in its infancy and we're only at the very beginning of its development and wider application,'' stated Mijatovic. The innovative duo from CityGreens Farming pointed out that compared to farms in Spain where hydroponic vegetables are produced, such as Tower Garden or Agrotonomy, their system is far more sophisticated and uses High Pressure Aeroponics while they use Low Pressure Aeroponics.

“Our vegetative cycle is fully automated and uses advanced computer algorithms that use sensors (temperature, humidity, CO2, light intensity and a spectrum, water mist nutrients, PH levels, etc.) to measure and adjust these parameters to create an ideal atmosphere for plant growth,'' explained Ceovic.

Such a farm, they added, is especially suitable for countries that have a lack of arable land or very difficult weather conditions. For example Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iceland, etc.

In addition, since such a farm can be located in the city itself, the distribution chain has been completely changed and only a few hours need to pass from harvest to table, unlike the usual transport by boat or truck in refrigerators.

The project was also helped by the European Union (EU) with 1.7 million kuna from its regional development fund, and CityGreens Farming currently has a demonstration plant in Zitnjak in Zagreb, where has production covering over 200 square metres. The pair noted that it is difficult to talk about the specific price of such a farm because every project would be quite individual, and thus the prices would naturally vary.

However, when looking at the general advantages of this sort of technology, the growth cycle is up to 60 percent faster than usual, water consumption is 98 percent lower, fertiliser use is 60 percent lower, and pesticides, herbicides and fungicides are 100 percent lower.

These Zagreb innovators concluded with one important fact, and that is that their technology and production have nothing to do with GMO seeds and cultivation, which people often confuse with controlled cultivation. Bio and Eco certificates can also be readily obtained for this type of production.

For more, follow Made in Croatia.

May the 15th, 2021 - The Vodnjan company infobip continues to go from strength to strength and showcase just what a Croatian enterprise can do, even in a climate which still makes doing business more difficult than it should be.

As Novac/Bernard Ivezic writes, Twilio has 4,500 employees, generates 1.76 billion US dollars in revenue annually and has a market value of 51.85 billion dollars. It is a company that the founders of the Vodnjan company Infobip - Silvio Kutic, Izabel Jelenic and Roberto Kutic - most often point out as their main competitor. By comparison, Infobip has about 3,000 employees, revenue of 1.25 billion dollars, and last year its market value exceeded an impressive 1 billion dollars.

Due to the difference of 1:52 in relation to Twilio, the first Croatian unicorn startup is preparing to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange at the end of next year or at the beginning of 2023 at the very latest. As one of the preparatory steps, the Vodnjan company Infobip aims to raise a 500 million dollar investment by the end of August 2021. It will purchase its own competition with those finds.

Twilio will not be on that list because of its value, but which smaller competitors will be there is problematic to predict because it also depends on the aspirations of their own respective investors. That's why it's good to understand who, in fact, Infobip's competitors actually are and in which direction the business in which they operate is developing.

Cost control

Both Infobip and Twilio are engaged in a business that is quite exotic. There are SMS messages, connections to applications (apps) on the web and on mobiles, chatbots, emails, support for the omnichannel communication of brands, geolocation solutions and many other similar services.

Both companies have developed a variety of software, which, like Lego bricks, companies can integrate into their own web and mobile applications, thus communicating with their users more easily and securely. Infobip and Twilio are therefore communication platforms that sell their software as a service (Communication platform as a Service - CpaaS).

The main reason why companies that sell over the internet, and today that is almost all of them, have a need for their services is the necessity to control costs and communication to all their customers, no matter where they're located. This cannot be offered by any teleoperator, not even the likes of Starlink.

Although Elon Musk created the first true global operator with Starlink, meaning one that has its own planetary infrastructure, it doesn't offer mobile services. Large global telecoms, which form the backbone of the Internet, such as Level 3, Telie, GTT, Cogent and NTT, also show no interest in offering companies software solutions for specific forms of communication. The only ones slowly moving towards the field where Twilio and Infobip compete are Amazon, Google and Microsoft.

Currently, another company that the Vodnjan company Infobip founders often cite as a competitor is the Swedish Sinch. It has a market value of 9.76 billion dollars, revenue of just under 1 billion dollars and more than 1,600 employees. Sinch follows a similar tactic and is intensively active in acquisitions.

Recently, Sinch has acquired SAP’s SAP Digital Interconnect business unit, followed by Brazil’s Wavy and the largest independent voice communications operator in the US, Inteliquent.

A European challenger

Infobip's competitor is also RingCentral, an American company that offers other companies similar communication solutions as Zoom and MS Teams. RingCentral, which had revenue of 1.2 billion dollars last year, also offers a communications platform as a service, forcing Microsoft and other major technology companies to potentially enter the segment.

Finally, there is another major European challenger in the mix, MessageBird. This Dutch company is particularly interesting because it promotes business in a very similar way to Croatia's own Infobip. It boasts of collaborating with giants such as Facebook, Google, Uber and WhatsApp and offering an omnichannel communication platform. Behind MessageBird are (financially) the largest VC fund in Europe, Atomico, Y Combinator and Accel.

In addition, the Dutch are also targeting expansion into the United States. Back in April, they raised a 800 million dollars investment to buy the American mail marketing company SparkPost, and this is just the beginning of the list in the CPaaS market, which also includes the Indian Plivo, the American Vonage Communications and many others, so it is obvious that consolidation will follow in the next period.

For more on Infobip and companies like it, follow Made in Croatia.

May the 12th, 2021 - The Croatian Chamber of Commerce membership which is bothersome to the vast majority of Croatian enterprises who frequently claim that their membership, and as such their fees to the chamber, don't offer them anything in return.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Brnic writes, changes to the law on the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) which were announced after last week's meeting of coalition partners and Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic left many astonished. Most of those who had their jaws hit the floor in amazement have been waiting for years for a clear message that Croatian Chamber of Commerce membership should become voluntary. Of course, that isn't going to happen.

The idea is, as most expected, to keep Croatian Chamber of Commerce membership as a mandatory obligation, but to release small companies from the obligation to pay their membership fees.

The very fact that some companies will remain under the obligation to pay is doubtful because it brings enterprise owners into the muddy waters of constitutional inequality, since in settling an obligation, the constitution doesn't distinguish between categories of companies headquartered in Croatia.

The move has been made as a partial solution to the problem of dissatisfaction among some company owners with the existing Croatian Chamber of Commerce membership model, which, as lawyers say, if realised according to the announced concept, will open new divisions and continue to generate a sense of injustice among the country's various business owners.

In other words, if we're going to change and abolish Croatian Chamber of Commerce membership fees, then such a reform should be well thought out and prepared for. For now, neither the Croatian Chamber of Commerce nor the relevant Ministry of the Economy have received more detailed information on when the new rules should start to be applied, ie what the transitional period for releasing companies from paying Croatian Chamber of Commerce membership fees will actually look like or be.

Unofficially, it can be heard that this concept envisages a series of changes in the very definition of the size of companies, as well as that Croatian Chamber of Commerce membership fees paid by a smaller number of companies will be "corrected". There are no details on it all yet, but the existing criteria by which the size of the company and the corresponding fee were determined in the Croatian Chamber of Commerce differed from the criteria set by the law on accounting.

According to this law, companies are classified into micro and small, medium and large enterprises depending on their respective amount of total assets, income and the average number of employees during the business year.

Micro-enterprises mustn't exceed two of the three conditions - they mustn't have assets of more than 2.6 million kuna, revenues of more than 5.2 million kuna and they can't have any more than 10 employees, small enterprises may not have more than 30 million kuna in assets, 60 million kuna in revenues and more than 50 workers, while medium-sized enterprises can't have more than 150 million kuna in assets, 300 million kuna in revenue or more than 250 workers.

When calculating Croatian Chamber of Commerce membership fees, the Croatian Chamber of Commerce defines three groups, the first of which, those considered small and currently make up the majority of members and should now be exempt from membership, are companies that do not exceed two of the three criteria - 7.5 million kuna in total assets, 15 million kuna in revenue and 50 employees.

The second group, medium-sized companies, are those with assets of up to 30 million kuna and revenues of up to 59 million kuna, and 250 employees. This category of enterprises currently pays a monthly Croatian Chamber of Commerce membership fee in the amount of 1083 kuna, while large enterprises who exceed two of the three aforementioned criteria are obliged to pay a considerable sum of 3973 kuna per month.

When it comes to just how much the membership fees could increase, there's no unofficial information yet, but it's likely that this will follow. At this moment in time, the Croatian Chamber of Commerce collects about 160 million kuna from various membership fees, and about 32 million kuna from other services and activities.

The open question remains as to which of the rights will be able to continue being used by enterprises who will no longer need to pay membership fees, as well as possible membership fee hikes for those who must continue paying.

The Minister of Economy, Tomislav Coric, announced that part of the financing of the activities of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce will be transferred to the state budget, but there are still no details on the delimitation of financing from fiscal and parafiscal sources.

For more, follow our business section.

May the 11th, 2021 - The Zagreb Delt Papir company did well over the last year as the coronavirus pandemic swept through Croatia, Europe and the rest of the world and we needed more... toilet paper.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Sergej Novosel Vuckovic writes, the pandemic which struck during spring last year was a prime time for production for the Zagreb Delt Papir company, and it was necessary for them to work in three shifts at their Jankomir plant, because due to the general shortage of toilet paper throughout Europe, many turned to them to meet their increasing demands.

The Zagreb Delt Papir company sometimes had to reject requests for more of their products, but despite that, the whole of 2020 can be considered successful for this enterprise, not only by the fact that with revenues of 130 million kuna they approached the levels of their record year of pre-pandemic 2019, but also because of the fact that at the end of the year they started working on the conceptual design of their brand new Ola’la products.

Launched only relatively recently, a few years after their last hit, which was lemon-scented kitchen towels, the Zagreb Delt Papir company has marketed new types of rolls of paper towels and toilet paper.

“We started this story by deciding to make a roll of paper towels that is very tall, as tall as 27 centimetres, and the cellulose we use has much stronger absorbent properties and pronounced strength. We focused on gathering the experiences of our customers and designed a product tailored to every modern household - Ola’la Butler paper towels in three packaging variants. The product is for every household, regardless of whether the person spends very little time there or a lot (today a large number of people work from home),'' stated the directors and co-owners of the Zagreb Delt Papir company, Krunoslav Kisak and Alen Krajacic.

The Zagreb Delt Papir products also meet strict environmental certificates, since their so-called ''I’m green foil'' is made from 60 percent green polyethylene derived from sugar cane.

We're paying more and more attention to the materials, so we "wrapped" the entire professional segment in ''I'm green'' foil. In the production process, we recycle all recycled surpluses and reuse them in certain products,'' they explained from Delt Papir. The new paper, Ola’la Premium, is said to be made with new technology.

"We use super soft, but very durable cellulose that leaves a soft touch on the skin. We believe that there can be no room for compromise when it comes to personal hygiene because, as we've been witnessing for more than a year now, it's extremely closely related to health,'' the company's leaders noted.

With cellulose, as an unsustainable raw material in the production of a necessary item, things are becoming more difficult and more expensive.

''The prices of raw materials have been rising sharply for all raw materials, especially when it comes to paper and packaging (cardboard and foil), and accordingly, production prices are rising sharply. The predictions are that it will continue to grow, and we're following the trends with the hope that this disturbance on the market will slowly come back under control,'' they explained. Since they're innovating as a company, at the beginning of last summer they were able to adapt to the conditions of the pandemic and introduce a new product: protective masks, which were also in short supply on the market, even in the case of those produced in China.

"Yes, last year we decided to go with a new production segment practically overnight because we struggled with the purchase of protective masks for our employees. Today, we're present in large retail chains such as Lidl and Kaufland, and more recently on the shelves of Dm, and we also supply various distributors. The market struggle with cheaper Chinese goods is of course present, but given our certifications and Croatian production, we try to be competitive and continue with this segment because the demand for masks is actually increasing. So far, we've produced and sold more than ten million masks,'' stated Kisak and Krajacic.

The Zagreb Delt Papir company currently has 85 employees, with their number growing to 100 in the event of higher demand for their products. The company exports 53 percent of its production to 26 countries, to most of the EU and Switzerland, and their new markets are Finland, Iceland, Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

For more, follow Made in Croatia.

May the 8th, 2021 - Croatia is very well known for its various fees and infamous red tape, but with the recent aim of relieving Croatian business owners of these burdensome restraints, more and more fee abolitions are being reported. Another fee abolition is set to relieve Croatian business owners of as much as 600,000 kuna in total.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Brnic writes, the Croatian Government submitted a proposal to abolish the obligation to pay administrative fees for intellectual property rights back in an urgent parliamentary procedure and within the context of the country's entry into the European exchange rate mechanism. The move was also made to come into line with the requirements of the Action Plan for the Reduction of Parafiscal Fees from back in May 2020.

According to the estimate presented to the Croatian Government by the Minister of Science and Education, Radovan Fuchs, this would result in a relief for Croatian business owners worth 600,000 kuna annually. While the fees for individual Croatian business owners of course vary, it was concluded that the fee represents an administrative burden to all, regardless of their respective company fees, and that its abolition will achieve a significant simplification of business conditions across Croatia which is something that has been and continues to be very desperately needed.

In addition to the abolition of administrative fees for intellectual property, Croatian business owners also have to pay compensation for costs in the field of intellectual property protection, which, despite this very welcome move, they will have to continue to pay. The explanation of the move also states that the proposed law doesn't substantially change the valid legal regulation regarding fees in the field of intellectual property rights, but is merely a formal and technical change of those regulations.

Therefore, while being a step in the right direction, this measure doesn't have a significant effect on the Croatian state budget either, and the visible effect in the government is that by abolishing this fee, it will achieve the increased interest of micro and small Croatian business owners to use the system of protection of industrial property rights when conducting business.

For more, follow our dedicated business section.

May the 7th, 2021 - The Vodnjan giant Infobip is very well known at this point for its wild success and seemingly almost constant acquisitions. The company has since announced its third large acquisition in just seven months.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Lucija Spiljak writes, the Vodnjan giant Infobip has announced a new, third acquisition in just seven months. This time it is the Irish IT company Anam Technologies, the world's leading provider of SMS firewall services. Infobip and Anam will now jointly provide technical solutions for more than 700 mobile operators globally, covering 64 percent of the world’s mobile devices.

The value of this acquisition remains unknown, and payment was made by a combination of cash and Infobip shares.

As they have pointed out from the Vodnjan giant Infobip, the acquisition unites the strengths of both companies in the segment of security in message traffic and monetisation with an even more complete portfolio of solutions from which both mobile operators and end users will benefit. Anam's team is now to join Infobip's department in charge of strategic partnerships with mobile operators.

Their business customers will thus have at their disposal a better and more comprehensive offer, which includes continuous 24/7 professional support, more detailed analysis and more accurate reporting, with an even greater number of direct connections to mobile operators from around the world.

"With the acquisition of Anam, we've strengthened our leading position in providing a high level of security and protection of messages to mobile operators and helped them increase value within their own sector, but also improve relationships with end users. I'm looking forward to our mutual future successes,'' said the executive director of Infobip, Silvio Kutic.

Infobip's communication platform processes more than 14 billion user interactions per month through a number of communication channels, in more than 190 countries around the world.

Business users of both companies will have at their disposal a rich offer of services, a connected solution for a superior end-user experience and a better solution for monetising A2P (Application-to-Person) traffic. Together, both companies will now provide the most complete supply chain globally in the A2P SMS segment.

This sense of excitement is also shared by Anam itself, whose CEO Darragh Kelly pointed out that this acquisition is a confirmation of the importance of mobile messaging in a growing digital environment.

“The security and integrity of mobile networks are key parts of the messaging ecosystem. In order for the industry to continue to grow, it's necessary, on the one hand, for the messaging channel to be successfully protected from spam and fraud, and, on the other hand, for the position of mobile operators, businesses and end users to be protected. We believe that we're achieving this by joining the Infobip family, which brings together the two best messaging companies in the segment of A2P communication security. Our joint product portfolio provides a rare and exceptional offer to mobile operators. By joining Infobip, we intend to continue our growth and provide added value to our users,'' said Darragh Kelly, CEO of Anama.

Both companies are consistently at the top of the global ROCCO report in the A2P SMS Firewall segment and are winners of the Juniper Future Digital Awards. The company also points out that Infobip and Anam share the same values ​​and culture based on team spirit and innovation with a strong focus on the experience of both employees and users.

To briefly recall, the Vodnjan giant Infobip took over the leading regional technology conference Shift less than one month ago, and in 2020 they concluded a sales contract with IT company Amdocs to take over the American company Open Market, a leading B2B provider of mobile messaging solutions.

For more, follow our dedicated business section.

May the 6th, 2021 - Croatian enterprises donated a record amount of food during the most difficult global situations since the Second World War - the ongoing coronavirus pandemic - which has left deep scars on the economies around the world.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marta Duic writes, as part of the preparations for the awarding of the "Best Donor" (Najdonator) award to Croatian enterprises that reported the most donated food products, data on the total number of registered donations throughout pandemic-dominated 2020 were published.

According to the data released by the Tax Administration, the total purchase value of donated food without VAT in 2020 amounted to a massive 19,278,809 kuna. This is an increase of one third compared to pre-pandemic 2019, when 12,991,467 kuna of donations in the form of food were reported. The sales value of donations amounted to 29,004,125 kuna, which is significantly more than the 19,836,745 kuna donated back in 2019. A total of 85 Croatian enterprises reported their food donations to the Tax Administration.

"The earthquakes in Zagreb and Central Croatia and the coronavirus pandemic caused enormous damage to Croatia, but it gave both people and companies a chance to show how much they care about each other when things are difficult. Convoys of aid trucks pouring into the affected areas can also be seen in this donation data. Thanks again to everyone, food donation in Croatia is growing from year to year, but we haven't ever experienced such a jump so far. It should be borne in mind that the earthquake hit Central Croatia back at the very end of 2020, so we expect a big increase for the current year,'' stated Biljana Borzan, the vice president of the Eurosocialists and organiser of the Croatian Najdonator award.

It's worth mentioning that Borzan and the Food Network launched the Najdonator initiative back in 2018 in order to give the proper and deserved recognition to the largest food donors among Croatian enterprises. Previous winners of the annual award were Konzum and Dukat among large companies, and Sana delicacies among small and medium-sized companies.

The fourth time of the awarding of the Najdonator award is planned for the autumn of 2021, depending on the epidemiological circumstances. The organisers will contact all donors who have reported their respective donations to the Tax Administration, to determine which Croatian enterprises contributed the most to the large increase in donations last year.

“It seems that we need an earthquake or some natural disaster to understand that there are people in need, but it's great that companies have stepped up and donated more, primarily because of the earthquake. There's been a significant increase. It's also necessary to be aware that there are those "invisible" people in need around us, who are looking for food every day and mostly depend on donations from producers and retail chains, those whose need is not published in the media. I sincerely hope that this practice of donating, which has been significantly better than it was back during previous years, will continue. With this, we really want to encourage donors to continuously donate surplus food that they have on a daily basis,'' said Zoran Grozdanov, the coordinator of the Food Network.

For more, follow our lifestyle section.