ZAGREB, 14 Sept, 2021 - The fifth edition of the UNICEF humanitarian race Milky Way, held in a virtual setting this year again, has ended and a total of HRK 1.1 million has been raised over three months for children with disabilities through registration fees and donations from citizens and companies, UNICEF said on Tuesday.

More than 6,200 runners of all ages took part in the humanitarian virtual race. With the funds raised, UNICEF will support the establishment and expansion of professional services for children with disabilities in least developed areas, in which the availability of services is at its lowest.

Among the participants of the Milky Way Race were also 815 children, who took part with their parents or the 27 registered schools and kindergartens from all over Croatia. Participants used an application to connect to over 550 teams, and as many as 26 associations working with people with disabilities actively took part in the run. The race took place from 3 to 12 September.

In Croatia, children's chances for a quality life depend on the place where they were born and being a child in a larger city or a smaller place is often not the same. The main reason for our race it to change that and provide all children with the same opportunities for development, regardless of where they live, said the head of the UNICEF office in Croatia, Regina M. Castillo, thanking everyone who has shown they support children with disabilities in Croatia.

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September the 6th, 2021 - The Zagreb company Take Natural Juice started out as a concept store after a family decided to adopt a more healthy way of life a decade ago. It has since caught the interest of many and exceeded its previously expected results.

As Ivan Tominac/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, health, they say, is the greatest wealth one can have, and nutrition is an important part of our daily lives that allows us to have better health and an easier time in general, both physically and mentally.

The Zagreb company Take Natural Juice is also producing a healthier alternative to fruit juices, and a conversation with the owner Sanja Dajak Matanovic revealed the fact that everything started out with a family that deciced to switch to a more healthy lifestyle more than ten years ago.

It started with the opening of a concept store with a professional kitchen in which these juices were produced, and after receiving good feedback from their customers, the whole concept took on new proportions and became a business that the whole family is very proud of.

Health and improving the quality of life were, therefore, the main motives for starting the business behind the Zagreb company Take Natural Juice.

“We offer cold-pressed juices without the addition of sugar, artificial sweeteners, water, colour enhancers, preservatives and a kind of chemistry in general. We currently offer six types of standardised cold-pressed juices (fresh and short-term pasteurised), two types of lemonades, three types of wellness shooters and four types of smoothies,'' explained Dajak Matanovic.

Given that this business story exceeded their expected results, investments were a logical sequence of activities, and although they had inquiries about the sale of shares in the company, nothing like that is in their focus at the moment. An investment of 10,000 euros was spent on equipping a professional kitchen, as well as on obtaining basic professional furniture and machinery. According to Dajak Matanovic, the plan is to withdraw funds from EU funds in the next step.

“Our juices are all cold pressed from first class vegetables and fruits and retain up to 25 percent of their fiber. Our fresh juices have a shelf life of five days, which is achieved by perfect microbiology and extreme caution and hygienic perfectionism in the production process. The pasteurised juices are processed by the method of fast pasteurisation (HTST) which allows a shelf life of up to two months, depending on the glass or plastic packaging, but the juices still belong to the fresh product category,'' said the owner of the Zagreb company Take Natural Juice.

All of the conditions that need to be met in order for their juices to be called healthy are, as he pointed out, the challenges they face in production. Each step in production takes months of reading, researching and searching for options for machines and production means. While difficult, they're successfully coping with this.

Most of their raw materials come from domestic producers and distributors, but depending on the season and what is available, they sometimes do go beyond the borders of Croatia to get their hands on good raw materials.

“There's no small supplier or family farm that could supply us with a sufficient amount of necessary raw materials all year round, but we have a successful and long cooperation with some of them. Organic chokeberry, for example, comes from Croatia all year round, it's more or less the same for apples too, but the origin of the oranges we use depends on the season, and for example, pineapple, ginger and similar foods, which aren't grown in our climate, are regularly imported.

We use first class vegetables and fruits in our production, and any visible damage to any of it is physically removed. Only completely healthy foods enter the juices,'' added Dajak Matanovic.

Their entire production is currently located in Zagreb, in the western part of the city, and their production facilities extend in size to 120 square metres. They have no stocks or long-term storage, they're very flexible and they have adapted their team to that, which varies from 5 to 10 people per shift, depending on the size of their orders.

For more, make sure to check out Made in Croatia.

September the 2nd, 2021 - It's no secret that Croatian entrepreneur Mate Rimac has caused a storm in the demanding automotive world, attracting not only attention but investments from giants such as Porsche. He has now stated that Croatia, the little country without any car production to speak of, is becoming one of the focal points of hypercar production.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Livno-born entrepreneur Mate Rimac, the head of the Bugatti-Rimac company, announced the arrival of many of the most exclusive cars and their owners in Croatia this Friday via a video he released yesterday. This group of individuals and their cars refers to the Supercar Owner’s Circle (SOC), the world’s most exclusive car collector’s club.

The three-day event will begin this Friday at 15:00 at the Croatian National Theatre in the very heart of the City of Zagreb, where the supercars and their owners will gather. After that, the cars will head off to the Aviation Technical Centre in nearby Velika Gorica, where they will compete in acceleration. After that, the procession will head to the coast, more specifically towards Kvarner and Opatija.

''Admission is free for all,'' said Mate, and invited all visitors and interested parties to attend the upcoming event which is sure to shine even more of a light on the Republic of Croatia as a country which creates hypercars.

''Greetings from Sveta Nedelja, the headquarters of Bugatti-Rimac, where we develop and produce some of the fastest cars of today, with Croatia becoming one of the focal points of the hypercar industry. We're proud not only of what we do here, but we also want buyers of such cars to come to our country and combine its beauty with the products we create. We're proud to be partners with the Supercar Owner’s Circle this year, where dozens of the most exclusive cars in the world will come to Croatia,'' Mate said in the video.

For more, make sure to follow our business section.

August the 25th, 2021 - Two innovative and determined Croatian students have been working for a little more than one year, and in that short amount of time, they already have numerous successful projects under their belts.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marta Duic writes, while many folk proverbs lean towards blaming almost everything on young people, there are a number of companies operating here on the Croatian market that prove this to be wrong and give young people the opportunity to learn, progress in business and successfully enter the business world.

One of such companies is ATRON electronic GmbH, more precisely the Zagreb branch of this company, which has been supporting student projects for years, and innovation and modernisation have long been in the focus of their development of smart solutions in the field of public transport.

The Croatian branch of Atron has been present in Zagreb for fifteen years now, and in the last few years they've placed special emphasis on higher education, ie Croatian students, as well as student associations and projects.

It is a company that employs Croatian students and enables them to upgrade their knowledge and skills learnd during their education into real business tasks and smart solutions in the development of which they actively participate.

As they point out from this company, with them, Croatian students have the opportunity to work on solving real problems and tasks relevant to their new products and services, and often after the internship they remain within their teams as permanent employees.

The Zagreb team of ATRON electronic GmbH also includes Marko Pavlinic, a student at the Faculty of RIT Croatia in the field of Web & Mobile Computing, who will begin his fourth year of study in September, and Nikica Hecimovic, also a student at the Faculty of RIT Croatia.

''My business interests are focused on teamwork, as well as on developing new and improving existing projects. I became part of the Atron team through a referral, and I’ve been there for about a year and two months. I'm progressing faster than I thought I would, the given tasks push me every day to learn something new, and if I can't come up with a solution on my own, I have colleagues who are happy to help me and give me advice. When I first came here, I mostly worked on smaller projects that don't have the pressure of delivery deadlines, but today I have tasks that require a little more responsibility,'' Pavlinic stated, recalling his beginnings in this company.

As he said, he supplemented his knowledge in the areas he encountered when in college, but this company gave him the opportunity to work with technologies he hadn't previously encountered, so now he learns something new every day.

''Currently, I'm primarily developing a graphical interface and I'm part of a frontend team. Together with other team members, I'm developing an application that will be used by companies across Europe that provide public transport services. At the company, I'm responsible for the graphical interface of the project I'm currently working on. The project I'm currently working on is the first major project that started in December last year. We're developing an application that will digitise the tracking and vehicle status of our clients. Before this project, I developed smaller tools,'' revealed Marko Pavlinic.

According to Pavlinic, his business plan in the future is to use the knowledge he gained during higher education and his experience gained at ATRON electronic GmbH to decide in which direction in the IT sector he wants to go and to help the company and transfer this knowledge to his younger colleagues.

“I've been part of the Atron team for a little over a year now and through my time here I've felt great progress in my programming skills. When I came to ATRON electronic GmbH, I had the task with a colleague to make a smaller programme that is part of a large project that I worked on for three months,'' explained the other of the Croatian students, Nikica Hecimovic.

His role is to develop the backend service, create the project structure and manage the database and is responsible for these items on the current project, where he has the role of junior backend developer in the team. Considering the fact that he has worked on two projects so far, and has been working on this current one for the longest time, he pointed out that the current project is very important and significant for him.

''This is a project on which I learned the most and on which, as a programmer, I gained a lot of experience and learned new technologies. My role today is to develop the backend services on a single project. Compared to the beginning of my work, this is a much more important and demanding role, as well as a rather rewarding experience. At the beginning of both projects, some time before the start of programming, I learned about the new technology I was working on on that project. Then, at all times, my mentor was at my disposal and helped me where and when I needed it.

I progressed in several ways, learned how to work well in a team, gained good work habits and experience in software development with new technologies that I worked on as part of ATRON electronic GmbH's projects,'' said Hecimovic, adding that he is currently working on the AWIRE project structure and manages the storage and use of data from the database.

The Zagreb branch of ATRON electronic GmbH is aware that Croatian students and other young people are a source of fresh ideas on the country's blossoming startup scene, and are thus an important factor in the development of that sector, and of the Croatian economy as a whole.

For more, follow Made in Croatia.

August the 24th, 2021 - One very young and very promising Zagreb entrepreneur has caught the eye of no less than the Croatian company Prostorija, all because of one very special product of his.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Sergej Novosel Vuckovic writes, Leo Greguric from Zagreb's story first came to light in the Croatian media space one year ago, who then, after completing the third grade of high school, had been running the 3DGlobe company for 3D technologies for a couple of years.

Since then, he has graduated from the popular MIOC and enrolled at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, and progressed in the business segment as well. Everything, he says, opened up to him somehow.

“There's more and more cooperation going on with companies, we provide or sell them professional equipment for 3D printing, and I'm glad that I achieved my first big job in production. The Croatian company Prostorija, which produces furniture, decided to engage my company,'' Greguric stated. He received an order from this prestigious Zagorje-based manufacturer of furniture to make plastic elements for two items - chairs and sofas.

“These are smaller plastic pieces. We made about 2000 pieces of inserts that are installed under the handles of the chairs, and a larger model, but smaller in quantity, about 500 rosettes for the base of a sofa, which serves as protection for both the fabric and for the furniture below it on the ground,'' explained the talented young man.

His 3DGlobe company designed and imprinted elements in three dimensions. ''They weren’t geometrically complex, but it was a challenge to make so many of them. The first batch started last October, and we gradually went from smaller to larger orders,'' stated Leo.

He isn't even attempting to hide the fact that he's very satisfied with the aforementioned cooperation with the Croatian company Prostorija, whose items have won numerous Croatian and international design awards, can be found in a number of international luxury hotels and restaurants, and the French Prime Minister was sitting on no less than one of Prostorija's sofas. Greguric rightfully hopes to continue working with them.

"This cooperation is one of my most pleasant business experiences. All the people from the Croatian company Prostorija with whom I was in contact have been extremely kind and, most importantly, meticulous and very well organised,'' he stated, publicly expressing his satisfaction on social media.

It doesn't stop there, either, this talented young Zagreb businessman revealed that he was recently in a meeting with the globally known manufacturer of natural cosmetics, Lush, and admitted that he has the potential to work for them, namely making the plastic molds for so-called shower bombs.

“They're interested in this 3D printing technology because of its flexible design and the possibility of support. I strive for the main value of my job to be the maintenance and implementation of technology in the business of companies, so I want to provide them with consulting and education, and not just give them equipment. Companies like Lush want to have someone locally who, for example, will give them the equipment in a week and train them to work with it,'' explained the founder and director of 3DGlobe.

He was, he added, also in the company of his role model, Mate Rimac, talking there with his experts in charge of 3D printing. He pointed out that he will not give up working for private Croatian customers.

"My wish is to establish a webshop where private users, hobbyists, students, will all be able to purchase equipment and materials for 3D printing," stated Greguric.

For more, check out our dedicated business section.

August the 20th, 2021 - Two Croatian sisters have come together to create 100 percent recycled clothing and other fashion accessories, using only all natural fibres and materials.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Lucija Spiljak writes, Piki Poma is a new line of sustainable clothing from the Fjaba brand, made of 100 percent recycled fibes which are permanently pleated, and fashion accessories made of environmentally friendly and all-natural materials.

Behind the line are textile clothing designer Mirna Litovic and graphic technology engineer Ida Litovic Babic, two Croatian sisters who founded the Fjaba brand way back in 2006. Since then, they say, they have been present on the Croatian and foreign scene through the presentation of their impressive collections at fashion events such as Cro-a-Porter.

The collections made by the two Croatian sisters are made in only a small series, and their unique models are available in two stores in Split and several concept stores in Croatia and abroad.

When it comes to the choice of name, the two sisters say that the name of the collection was created spontaneously during the tomato season back in 2019 - piki has been taken from the English phrase ''picky'', meaning choosy, and ''poma'' comes from the Dalmatian word for tomato.

"True tomato lovers know how difficult it is to find the ''perfect'' tomato that will delight your body and soul, the type you'll remember. We like the idea of ​​the perfect tomato. The idea behind ​​Piki Poma has been around for a long time, in fact, for as long as it took for it to take on its shape and name. The beginning of the pandemic allowed us to 100% dedicate ourselves to that idea, to create something beautiful in those difficult times. Neither the pandemic nor the constraints that complicated the realisation of the project could prevent Piki Poma from seeing the light of day,'' say the two determined Croatian sisters, who use only environmentally sustainable, high-quality materials for their creations.

According to the principle of slow fashion, they produce functional and timeless models, and they're always, they say, looking for new and innovative production techniques.

It took two years to present their first model of clogs, then came their bags. In addition to clogs and bags, they offer a collection of clothes made of recycled material and a collection of wooden bracelets.

"The message would be that sustainable fashion can be very innovative and creative. We only create products that we would wear ourselves, which easily fit into everyday life, and yet remain original and different. The prototypes are created in a small studio in Split. According to the principles of sustainable fashion, we don't create stock, our products are made to order,'' stated Mirna and Ida.

Their goal, they conclude, is to supplement the sales range, to work on their brand visibility both in Croatia and abroad, and expand their sales channels and their list of partners abroad.

For more, follow Made in Croatia.

August the 20th, 2021 - The well known Zagreb Garden Brewery has created the very first non-alcoholic IPA beer in Croatia and Croatia's immediate region.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, the Zagreb Garden Brewery will soon be offering natural, vegan and non-alcoholic beers as part of their expansion of the range of their basic and specialty beers. The first edition is the DDH (Double Dry Hopped) IPA made in collaboration with Coast Beer Co., the Scottish pioneers of non-alcoholic craft beers, and it is also the first non-alcoholic craft IPA beer in the entire region.

''Our mission has always been to make the beers we love. With the use of the highest quality ingredients, innovative yeasts and brewing techniques, we have produced a non-alcoholic vegan beer that tastes great,'' stated David Plant, CEO of The Garden Brewery.

The goal of the Zagreb Garden Brewery is to shake up the established market of non-alcoholic beers, but also to monitor demand as time goes on. An increasing number of people are taking care of their health and are consciously switching to non-alcoholic beverages, as well as those with a low alcohol content.

The global soft beer market is expected to grow to 20 billion US dollars by the year 2024, and with the latest addition to their offer, the Zagreb Garden Brewery is once again at the forefront of trends in craft brewing across Europe, the brewery said.

This popular Croatian brewery ships to 25 countries across the European Union, and exports to more than 30 countries around the world. The list of countries to which it exports also includes China, as well as Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan.

In addition to the very distant countries and markets of Australia and New Zealand, the Zagreb Garden Brewery is present throughout Europe, successfully exporting to European countries such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Italy, Germany, Scandinavia and the Benelux countries, as well as Spain, Portugal, Malta and Greece.

For more, make sure to follow Made in Croatia.

August the 15th, 2021 - Croatian Miret tennis shoes, which place the environment first, are gaining in popularity not just here within the country, but as far afield as the United States of America and Japan.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Ana Blaskovic writes, caring for the environment is the latest big deal for the corporate world, but while for many it is just a good PR story and little else, this philosophy has been well and truly lived and breathed by the Croatian startup Miret since day one. The entrepreneurial project of producing tennis shoes without a negative impact on the environment was conceived by two brothers, Domagoj and Hrvoje Boljar.

“This project is a kind of homage to our father who had the Mr. Joseph shoe factory in the 1990s,'' says Domagoj, a bachelor of business economics. With his brother, an industrial designer, he wanted to continue in the shoe business, but then came the crisis of 2008 and their business, like so many others, simply began to sink.

Meanwhile, their father fell ill and several years encompassed by hard business struggles followed. At that time, they launched the Jots brand, under which they launched ''crossover'' trainers, a combination of classic footwear and sport trainers for the first time on the market.

This put them in the focus of well-known luxury brands such as Krisvanassche, Paco Rabanne, ETQ, Lemaire, for which they designed and developed products and honed their knowledge. After all the ups and downs, the crisis and lack of capital prevailed and the Mr. Joseph shoe factory was sadly forced put the key in the lock.

In parallel with the struggle for the family business to keep its head above water, the idea of ​​Miret was born. ''One day I walked into my brother’s office while reading an interview with French industrial designer Philippe Starck in which he stated that everything he did in his life was rubbish because he contributed to the wave of consumerism with all the negative consequences,'' he recalls.

Back then, much like today in some sectors, not much thought was given to sustainable business, microplastics, ocean and sea pollution, and the footwear industry was completely blind to its huge negative impact on the planet.

"Hrvoje said he wanted to go the other way and that's how the idea of ​​developing trainers that would be compatible with nature came about," he says.

The first nature-neutral trainer was made from hemp back in 2016, serving as a test of whether there might be any interest out on the market for such a product. This was followed by a painstaking search for suppliers of eco-raw materials to replace the standard ones, and today, Miret is cooperating with 16 suppliers from nine EU countries. It offers a high and low trainer made of 97 percent natural materials, mostly made of plants and not leather due to the way Miret tennis shoes are processed.

One model is completely vegan - it includes absolutely nothing of animal origin. For example, the interior is made of hemp because it breathes and is odor resistant. The ergonomic insole is made of bacterial resistant cork, the laces are made of eucalyptus, the reinforcement is made from corn...

"All of the raw materials we use for Miret tennis shoes must meet environmental and technological standards, be sustainable and aesthetically acceptable. Ultimately, ecology is the basis of all decisions for development and production, but the only thing that can bring long-term change to the environment is the market,'' says Domagoj Boljar.

Things changed for the better around 2018; the market had matured a bit by then, there had been talk of sustainable business, problems with plastics, Greta Thurnberg had appeared, and here in the Republic of Croatia, the blossoming startup ecosystem had gained more concrete outlines.

"The first support we received came in the form of 15,000 euros through the Climate-KIC Accelerator, which was implemented by Zagreb's Zicer, and since then our story has been positively rolling along,'' says Domagoj Boljar. Miret then secured a pre-seed investment of 50,000 euros.

After the initial capital role, Miret raised another 70,000 US dollars in their kickstarter campaign, 30,000 euros in the third phase of the Climate-KIC Accelerator, and in September last year, Fil Rouge injected another 250,000 euros.

New markets

The Croatian startup ecosystem has been completed this year, he adds. "The proper preconditions have been created and incredible things have been happening, after Nanobit, Infobip, Infinum and Rimac, it can be said that Croatia had its ''Skype moment'' as Estonia had not long before it. There will be some great acceleration, great opportunities are opening up here,'' points out Boljar, and as one of the most significant of those things, he mentions the change in the mindset which is of paramount importance.

The business philosophy of the Boljar brothers and their Miret tennis shoes includes direct communication with their customers and consumers, without intermediaries and additional margins, and their base is online shopping. Although they have targeted Europe for ease of logistics and returns, environmentally conscious customers in the US, Japan and Australia are walking around with Croatian Miret tennis shoes on their feet.

''We want to be tied to the company in the long run. We have accepted the investment game, we're aware that in the next five years there will probably be an exit of investors. It is important to us that the vision, mission and values ​​of a holistic approach of minimal environmental impact remain cemented,'' Boljar says of the next five years.

As is the case with electric cars, more and more brands from the footwear industry recognise (and respect) environmental issues, and Miret sees them partly as a competition and partly as comrades.

"If we want solutions to become mass solutions, then products must not become a luxury, there must be no green premiums, that's the only way we can change things," says Domagoj Boljar.

For more, follow Made in Croatia.

August the 14th, 2021 - Baranja red pepper is often referred to as ''red gold'' among those who have a soft spot for it, and this much loved vegetable grown in Eastern Croatia has done very well this year despite unfavourable conditions for the most part. The Baranja red pepper harvest is already on.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, despite a year of extremes so far, the producers of Baranja red peppers, a spicy and popular Croatian vegetable, expect a good harvest with some high quality. Some growers have already started harvesting what they have, and the peak is expected in around ten days. They don't have to worry about the placement of their Baranja red peppers because the customers have long since recognised the worth of this domestic product, and this Baranja ''red gold'' is set to be sold out in record time.

The Lakatos family from Kopacevo has already carried out their first Baranja red pepper harvest and in a few days they will have a big workload on their hands. They expect good yields and quality in all of their ten greenhouses.

''I'm hoping for four more harvests, last year we had five harvests in total, and now we'll see how it's going to be depending on how the year went,'' said Tamara Lakatos from Kopacevo for HRT.

This year is good for Baranja red peppers, but one of the most demanding to date, the growers claim.

''Well, I think this year was the hardest because of the extreme heat and the wind. Nothing has been going in our favour,'' pointed out Zuzana Jozef from Lug.

It’s hard work, but the effort and work pays off. The Varga family from Bilje will produce two and a half tonnes of sweet and hot ground spicy peppers, and they have no concerns about whether or not they'll manage to sell it all.

''Baranja is a God-given location for red peppers as far as the climate and the type of country are concerned, really, everyone says that there are no spicy peppers like Baranja red peppers anywhere else,'' said Tatjana Varga from Bilje.

The demand for Baranja red pepper is so high that it is continuing to sell out in record time.

''It all just disappeared in the first month, because people couldn't go to Serbia and many of those who didn't buy it from Baranja before started doing so,'' explained Zuzana Jozef.

''I think that people have finally realised that Croatian products are of very high quality,'' said Kristijan Lakatos from Kopacevo.

Although 140 kuna should be set aside for a kilogram of sweet spicy peppers, and 150 kuna for a kilogram of hot peppers, nobody even asks about the price when making a purchase. All that seems important to customers is that what they're buying is Croatian and from Baranja.

For more, follow Made in Croatia.

August the 13th, 2021 - Original Croatian products have been placed on a brand new European Union (EU) portal, putting a spring in the step of the many much loved domestic products this country traditionally produces.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the European Commission (EU) has created an online portal on products with special geographical labels called GIview, which provides an overview of these products protected by and across the European Union, including designations in the process of protection and geographical indications of non-EU countries.

It is brand new a portal where product information is presented in the form of what's known as a GI card containing the contact details of groups of manufacturers of geographical labels and their control bodies, the product's production area shown on the map, photos and the product's description, the geographical area and any sustainability statements.

As the youngest member state of the European Union, the Republic of Croatia and as such original Croatian products are currently in ninth place in terms of the number of registered names of agricultural and food products, and the first on the list of products with this sought after label was prosciutto from Krk.

Croatian producers of these products, in addition to recording an increasing trend in sales on both domestic and European markets, point out that protected geographical labels and authenticity are not only important for product recognition, but also have the function of protection from the threat of the grey market.

Today, there are 31 protected original Croatian products, 21 more name protection procedures are underway, and the last to be registered as far as Croatian wine goes was Muskat Momjanski, which has been labelled since the beginning of August.

For more information on original Croatian products, special European Union labels and much more, make sure to check out our Made in Croatia section.