Zagreb, April 5, 2020 - The new Croatian entrepreneurial initiative to represent the voice of the private sector, Glas Poduzetnika (Voice of Entrepreneurs) has been formalised. 

Following the Initiative members' request, today, we formed the GLAS PODUZETNIKA Association. As a formal representative of 100,000 members, the Association will continue to actively fight for the rights of our members and a faster return to economic growth. The membership will be free of charge, and the Association's activities will be financed from donations. Besides the main Association's bank account, GLAS PODUZETNIKA will open another bank account intended for contributions to health workers, and for medical supplies and equipment necessary to fight the COVID-19 outbreak.

GLAS PODUZETNIKA Initiative started as a citizen's self-organized group, most of which are small entrepreneurs, after the announcement of the first set of Government's measures, which the organizers deemed insufficient. In less than 15 days, the Initiative assembled more than 100,000 entrepreneurs, small business owners, self-employed, and the employees in the private sector, drawing the media spotlight with its uncompromising requests and appearances. Considering this, GLAS PODUZETNIKA positioned itself as a relevant factor in public discussions aimed to determine Croatia's new economic direction. Its position was also confirmed by the Government of the Republic of Croatia, having included some of the Initiative's suggestions in the second set of economic measures, thus confirming Initiative's undeniable influence.

Following the appearance of public comments about the Initiative not being a formal organization, not having its legal representatives, and based on the opinion of members, the founders of the Initiative decided to formalize GLAS PODUZETNIKA, giving it the legal form and the possibility of representation of membership. 96% of the members openly stated their intention to join the Association. Taking their and public opinion into consideration, the founders of the Initiative and the wide circle of volunteers, founded the GLAS PODUZETNIKA Association today and will deliver all necessary documentation to the competent authorities for registration.

Bodies of the Association have been appointed for a period of two years at the founding assembly. The Association's President Hrvoje Bujas and Executive Director Dražen Oreščanin have been appointed legal representatives. The Management Board counts seven members: Andrej Šooš Maceljski, Berislav Marszalek, Bojan Bajgorić Šantić, Bruno Samardžić, Ivana Matić, Vedran Jakominić, and Vuk Vuković. The three-member Supervisory Board make Aco Momčilović, Gordana Fabijanić, and Viktorija Knežević. All founders and members of the GLAS PODUZETNIKA Association are micro, small, and medium-size entrepreneurs, and they are prestigious representatives of the Association's future members.

On the occasion of the establishment of the Association, Hrvoje Bujas, Association's president pointed out, "After the great work done with a lot of enthusiasm and continued engagement in two weeks, and after we imposed ourselves as a relevant factor and collaborator in present economic crisis, the formalization of our initiative became a necessity." After which he added, "From the beginning, we made it clear that we are not interested in politics, but are working exclusively for prosperity, not only of the members of GLAS PODUZETNIKA but also the entire Croatian economy and society. This Association is not only the voice of entrepreneurs but also the voice of our employees whom we've been sharing good and bad for years, and in this crisis, we insisted on implementing the measure that would help us keep their posts."

The executive director of the Association, Dražen Oreščanin said that its establishment is only the beginning of the joint action and that all members, led by the Association's leaders, still have a lot to do. "It is necessary to ensure fast, effective, and non-restrictive implementation of measures, but also to respond to all opened questions. It is also necessary to ensure that all units of local governments give appropriate support to the local entrepreneurs by writing off utility charges and leases for office spaces and public surfaces. The Government is still tasked with a great assignment to agree on 12-month payment freeze on loans and leasings with the banks and leasing companies, so the economy could catch a breath once everything gets going again." Oreščanin took this opportunity to compliment the very fast digitalization of many public services and added that in the Association, they hope the public sector will keep this level of digitalized services even after the crisis, which will significantly ease entrepreneurs' businesses.

Association started with work immediately. Membership is opened to all legal entities - companies, small businesses, and other organizations, as well as natural persons - primarily entrepreneurs and employees of small and medium-size enterprises. As of today, all existing Initiative members and sympathizers will be able to request membership in the GLAS PODUZETNIKA Association through the application form, available on:

• Association's website https://glaspoduzetnika.hr/
• in the Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/glaspoduzetnika/

As per the decision adopted at the founding assembly, the membership in the GLAS PODUZETNIKA Association will be free of charge, and all Association's activities will be financed from donations. Another adopted decision concerns opening another back account besides the main Association's bank account, intended to collect donations for health workers, and for medical supplies and equipment to help to fight the COVID-19 outbreak.

April 1, 2020 - The second package of Government measures is very similar to the list of 10 demands the Initiative GLAS PODUZETNIKA sent ten days ago. 

REACTION TO THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE SECOND PACKAGE OF GOVERNMENT MEASURES

“Glas Poduzetnika has, in less than two weeks, gathered around 100,000 micro, small and medium businesses, artisans and their employees. Looks like our voice was heard after all. We believe that the announced measure package will be confirmed by the Government and presented tomorrow. Two main points necessary for the survival of small and medium businesses from our demands are following, writing off and not just postponing of income tax and contribution charges and stopping the payment of rent to the government and local jurisdictions, utility and parafiscal charges. This will, together with subsidizing a minimal salary of 3,250 kuna, help our members who have been prevented from doing business to survive this period of no income with minimal expenses, and ensure the job loss would be as small as possible.”, stated Hrvoje Bujas, one of the initiators of the initiative. “We believe that the Government will find a common language with the banks as well to extend the loan and leasing postponement to 12 months form current 3, and that after the crisis our economy can finally breathe a little. In any case, we are sure that the Government agrees that this is only the beginning of structural changes that will help our economy exit this crisis with minimal losses. We hope we can ensure a sustainable budget deficit, we will address this together with the Government through cooperation in the Economy council whose members we have proposed last week.”

The Government has shown empathy for small and middle businesses problems and they were ready to listen to propositions coming from the private sector, HUP (Croatian Employer Association), Glas Poduzetnika, economy experts and entrepreneurs themselves. Enactment of the second measure package is in fact the real start of the fight against the economic crisis, Glas Poduzetnika notes. Quality enforcement of the measures that must be ensured with unambiguous enforcement of directions is key. A lot of our members in the field asked about operational problems and vagueness of the first measure package. The same problems were predicted and warned about by our legal and bookkeeping advisors. We are of opinion that the state needs to change the stance towards entrepreneurs and to simplify the approval process, with minimal restrictions and rigorous misuse penalties.

Many local jurisdictions have already made measures that write off businesses' rent and utility charges for the duration of the crisis, and we hope that soon the others will do the same. It is necessary that local jurisdictions come to an agreement around a unified and singular common approach, so that all can have similar conditions.

A good part of private sector employers impatiently awaits new measures form the Government. But in a crisis of these proportions, these are not their only problems. Of course, expectations from their local representatives are bigger and constantly being checked. Their survival will depend on their buyers, clients and business partners, not just the government. A lot of questions are being asked about real-estate loans the companies are using.

Our question - What if the rent write off is not agreed upon, was met with the answer that, at this moment, only 10% of companies will try to get a loan with which to pay for that kind of obligations. Furthermore, 23% of them are planning to close the company (and lay off all employees). 16% are planning to reduce the number of employees and see how things develop.

Around 51% plans to minimize expenses in different ways and try to survive the crisis! That data should be considered in the context of a previous poll that shows that over 90% of companies can, with minimized expenses, survive 3 months at most.

This is more data that suggest that a holistic solution is necessary and that partial measures, that can be good in and of itself, will not be enough for the survival of a large part of the private sector and its jobs. Today, 39% of entrepreneurs are ready to pull drastic measures, and we can see that the number grows week to week.

GLAS PODUZETNIKA has, to this day, gathered almost 100,000 companies, self-employed, artisans and their employees. With the support of businesses, small and large, that made more than 22 billion kunas of profit in 2019, it’s main goal is to ensure the existence of as many employees and entrepreneurs as possible, and save Croatian economy from a potential long-lasting recession. You can follow Glas Poduzetnika on Facebook.