As Poslovni Dnevnik/Lucija Spiljak writes on the 27th of September, 2020, this year during the lockdown, after 10,000 hours, 24 months of hard work and 300,000 euros of investment, the Zagreb software company Q Agency presented the Jenz mobile app, a Croatian social network where company employees can post official and entertainment content and connect better.

''As the number of employees in the agency grew and expanded rapidly, we wanted to improve communication and strengthen the culture within and among the teams. Jenz is an application that combines several communication and feedback tools. At first it looks like Instagram, full of photos and videos. In addition to the live feed, which is its most dynamic part, Jenz has eight features and contains a calendar of all activities in the company, anonymous surveys, Kudos sharing, the anonymous collection of feedback via Shoutbox and employee profiles with their contact information, their picture and a brief description of the person and their function in the company,'' explained Ana Cupic, Head of Communications at Q, who currently works with 160 people, from full-time employees to external associates.

More than a year ago, they made specifications and a workshop, formed a team of about 30 people from different fields and started making Jenz, which is known as a favourite for the Best Mobile App (BMA) award of the International Association of Experts and Developers which has been being awarded since back in 2012. The competition runs until the 31st of December. Many companies have recognised the value of the app in the pandemic because it facilitates and enhances two-way communication between employees and the company, creating a sense of connectedness and inclusion so interest in it grows from week to week.

"It used to be important, but it wasn't urgent. Now it's important and urgent, so Jenz suddenly got so much more attention as a solution,'' added Cupic, whose agency, as she says, approaches each client holistically, so the app adapts to the client, and not vice versa.

The need for such apps, added Cupic, is confirmed by Slack's research, according to which more than 91 percent of employees want to connect with their colleagues at work better. Before Jenz came into the hands of all employees, the agency selected about 20 ambassadors who instructed them in the principle of the app. Their first user in Croatia was the consulting and auditing company Deloitte Croatia, which employs about 160 people. According to Cupic, the reactions from Deloitte were above all expectations. The Jenz app is now ready for commercial use.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik/Lucija Spiljak writes on the 26th of September, 2020, Maja Bosanac, the owner of Eventful and the first EEE (Ecology, Ethics and Efficiency) Event Manager in Croatia, will launch Croatia's first complete online event platform later this year.

The goal of Eventful's brand new online platform is to provide an adequate replacement for the organisers of events who, in this situation, have no alternative for their planned events, but also for those events that they didn't even start working on due to the arrival of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The Eventful platform will have space for keynote speakers or panels to be held at conferences, and in parallel with them, smaller lectures lasting 30 to 45 minutes can be shown. Participants will be able to visit a virtual sponsorship corner where sponsors will advertise their services and also be able to communicate with participants.

''There will be a database of all participants who've given their consent for their data to be used for registration in the networking area. Other participants will be able to search that database according to their interests and personal information such as the job or the company in which the person works, and get in touch with them via the chat option. There's also information about the event, the schedule of lectures, and also all the information that the organisers would otherwise print on the materials,'' explained Eventful's owner, Maja Bosanac, who, due to the pandemic, focused on education online and in business, with sustainable events as a constant thing for her business.

The platform, developed by Agilos IT, should be launched in early December after passing several more tests. Maja and her team have been working on it since April this year, and the initiator came up with the idea in March just before the "lockdown" that shook the event industry.

"We expect increased interest, both from organisational agencies and from organisers from companies,'' stated Maja, adding that normalisation for this industry can't be discussed for at least another three years, and in this situation and in the near future, the focus of clients will, according to Bosanac, be removed from the holding of events because the priority will be the stability and recovery of their companies.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 19th of September, 2020, the story of the Croatian company Nanobit and its two founders, Alan Sumina and Zoran Vucinic, can be ranked among the most successful Croatian stories in the last five years. It started, as is often the case with IT startups - "romantically", without any capital, with only two computers, but with the idea and the will to gain global success in a very competitive industry - the mobile game industry.

The Croatian company Nanobit's founders have been building the company for a full 12 years now and have grown to 125 highly educated employees, their games have been downloaded more than 145 million times in total, and are played by more than 10 million active players worldwide on a monthly basis. And what has crowned their success is an extremely successful sale or, in startup terms, "exit". They sold the company for almost a billion kuna to the Swedish Stillfront group, which has 14 more gaming studios in its portfolio.

Namely, Stillfront, whose headquarters are in Stockholm and which is publicly listed on the Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market, will pay 100 million US dollars in the first tranche for 78 percent of the Croatian company Nanobit's shares, and after two years, they'll buy the rest of Nanobit at a price that will depend on the movement of profit before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of Nanobit in the financial years of 2021 and 2022.

When asked why they decided to sell and not to further their independent development, Alan and Zoran answered for Vecernji list:

''The industry in which we operate is very fierce when it comes to competition and there's a real struggle on the global market. It's currently rapidly consolidating and the choice was to join those who will develop the company or stay alone against everyone.

True, we may have once had the idea that we will be the ones to buy other gaming companies, but we should be realistic considering that it's almost impossible to realise this operationally from Croatia, primarily because there is not enough capital. For such a thing we had to start things up in another country, for example, like our customer, in Sweden. As a Croatian company, even if we were listed on the Swedish stock exchange, we wouldn't get such visibility as we are now when we're a component of a Swedish company. It's much harder to do all this from Croatia because companies need a lot more capital for acquisitions, so we believe that this was the best we could do in the right timeframe, and the situation with the coronavirus crisis also contributed to this move,'' Nanobit's founders say, adding that they didn't just fall for the first offer they got and that they had at least a few bidders every year.

''There were various providers, from those related to this business to those who have nothing in common with Nanobit whatsoever. We chose the Swedish company because we estimated that we'd continue to work and develop with them, have knowledge and cooperation with all their components, or with 14 other gaming studios or specifically with 800 quality employees and experts in this field,'' added the founders of the successful Croatian company Nanobit.

What was almost crucial for them was that the company stays in Croatia and has high autonomy in decision-making, ie that everything stays more or less as it was before, with Nanobit's employees getting the opportunity for personal development that ultimately directly affects the company's results.

''During the negotiations with the Swedes, some new bidders appeared who offered us even more money. However, what our goal was is that the company still exists as it is, that it has its headquarters in Croatia and that its employees are safe and taken care of in the best way with the new owner,'' say Alan and Zoran, who will surely remain at the helm of the Nanobit for another two years and continue to work, although their contract doesn't stipulate that they must remain at the helm of the company.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marta Duic writes on the 17th of September, 2020, the Croatian hot sauce brand I love it hot/Volim ljuto has succeeded by continuously investing in business, expanding it, and actively winning over both domestic and foreign audiences.

Although the coronavirus crisis has slightly slowed down this Croatian hot sauce brand's business and plans, they have managed to increase the number of seedlings under their belt this year as well and as such they can realistically expect higher yields. This Croatian hot sauce story initially began seven years ago with the opening of a family farm, and two years later they opened a company for retail, wholesale and brand marketing.

"At the end of last year and the beginning of this year, we had an investment in ten new greenhouses with a total area of ​​1,500 square metres. We also planned to complete the expansion of the processing plant, but this is now going a bit slower due to the situation with the coronavirus pandemic. We've increased the number of seedlings, but not significantly because we expect a yield of up to 40 percent higher than last year due to the new greenhouses. So, it's the same area where in which we have a higher yield. The area on which we grow our produce today is just under one hectare in size, and all our plantations are under greenhouses or anti-hail nets, so the weather won't have a major impact on our yield,'' revealed Goran Vrabec, the director and founder of the Croatian hot sauce company Volim ljuto.

When they originally started out, they had only a few hot sauces to their name, and today the offer is much wider and in total, along with their seasonal items and gift packages, that number has risen to about two hundred products. Volim ljuto's products can be bought through their webshop or in their Spicy Days stores in Zagreb at Ilica 174, and the main products from this Croatian hot sauce company's range can be purchased throughout Croatia in small specialty stores they work with, such as Veronika delicacies.

''Our Spicy Days shop has been having good results. The level of interest and the sales have grown over time and we're now well known as the shop has been around for over three years. In it we have more than 1000 different items, not only Croatian products but also brands from all over the world. Of course, Croatian producers also have their place, especially when it comes to craft breweries. While the store wasn't operating, we compensated the sales revenue through online sales, which increased drastically during that period.

We had good cooperation with craft brewers who sold their beer through our web shop, that is, we were their platform for their sales, and they delivered it themselves. We kept that part of the offer even after the reopening,''  explained Vrabec.

Of the Croatian hot sauce company's total revenue, the webshop brings them about 35 percent, and they also cooperate with more than 350 restaurants and other catering and hospitality facilities. And that number is growing.

''Our best-selling products are our fermented sauces, Vrabasco, Vrabanero and Brutalero, which share equal sales throughout the year. The total amount of these nine sauces produced annually is about 25,000 pieces. We're currently working on new spice salts that will be in a new package with a practical grinder and on one specific sauce with a recipe from the Far East. The last product we presented was the Green Cherry hot sauce, which was made according to the recipe of the winner of last year's HomeChili competition for the best hot sauce,'' revealed Vrabec.

The director of Volim ljuto also revealed that they export smaller quantities of their products to specialised stores across the European Union (EU), and that they even place their products on Amazon through partners. They are also known for their collaborations with other Croatian producers and family farms from which new hit products are created.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik/Lucija Spiljak writes on the 16th of September, 2020, ten years ago, beekeeper Marijan Narandja, the owner of OPG Narandja, acquired his first 20 or so hives in Veliko Trojstvo near Bjelovar, where he later founded what is now his OPG in which up to two tonnes of honey are produced annually in about 85 bee colonies. He is assisted by his wife Vlasta and his daughter Ela, an "intern beekeeper" who told spoke in more depth about the family business.

''OPG Narandja's dominant product is acacia honey, we also have linden and flower honey, and every year we send samples for analysis to the Central Laboratory for Honey Quality Control and we achieve the highest marks. Acacia was awarded a gold medal for quality, and linden honey got a silver medal in 2017 and in 2018 from the Beekeepers' Association of Bjelovar-Bilogora County. Our Super Honey is also really popular, it's an ‘immunobomb’ of three types of honey, propolis and raw pollen. We also sell honey in honeycomb, propolis, pollen, pure beeswax, and handmade wax figurines,'' stated the young beekeeper.

Markets, fairs, but also Facebook...

The products are sold at the Bjelovar market and in the City of Zagreb, they're also present in Bjelovar's primary school system through the Med programme which takes place in schools and of course on School Honey Day, as well as on several websites for family farms, on Facebook, Instagram and even on LinkedIn. OPG Narandja accepts orders online from Zagreb, and sends larger quantities by bus throughout Croatia.

"We're at fairs several times a year, in Bilogora and Medjimurje. This year we decided to drive our honey down to Dalmatia. Our honey is also present all over Europe thanks to friends who buy it from us - from Markaryd in Sweden where honey is eaten from the honeycomb, through to Munich and Neunburg vorm Wald in Germany - they love linden and flower honey, all the way to Klagenfurt and Ljubljana where classic acacia does best, as does our Super honey,'' they stated from OPG Narandja. This Croatian family company advises people to buy honey from proven Croatian honey producers.

When it comes beekeeping, Ela says, there are large investments, from the constant renewal of the number of bee colonies, the purchase of equipment and new hives, the replacement of queens, the treatment for the bees, preparations for strengthening the bees' immunity, the purchase of national jars, printing labels, down to sending honey away for expert analysis…

Many give up...

Therefore, as Ela explained, people who start beekeeping unfortunately tend to quite quickly give up because they don’t realise it’s not a temporary job or hobby.

"During the season, a beekeeper should be out in the apiary every day, he should be constantly educated, he needs to follow trends, be active in beekeeping associations, be present at fairs, on markets… The challenges are also external - recently there was a case of bee death in Medjimurje because a negligent farmer treated his crops with an agent that harms bees,'' they explained from OPG Narandja, whose family doesn't have such problems, but they do heavily depend on the weather conditions.

If there has been a frost or too much rain occurs in May when it comes to the acacia honey, the amount of honey obtained can drop by more than 50 percent.

''The worst was back in 2019, and the best was in 2018 when we got almost two tonnes of honey. This year is roughly somewhere in between,'' they state from the family business. Although they sell less at the Bjelovar market because the number of customers has decreased, they are doing excellently in Zagreb because people, as they say, have turned more to purchasing Croatian products.

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As Novac/Benard Ivezic writes on the 8th of September, 2020, after Croatian agricultural products were placed on the shelves of well known, heavily frequented supermarkets, large retail chains operating within Croatian have also shown keen interest in offering their customers high-tech Croatian-made products. CircuitMess, a Croatian startup, has succeeded in getting its games consoles on sale.

On Monday, Kaufland Croatia started selling a new version of the first Croatian mobile gaming console MAKERbuino, otherwise the best-selling product from the Croatian startup CircuitMess, which was founded by 21-year-old Albert Gajsak from Karlovac. The new version of the console is called Nibble and is technically far more advanced than the previous version was.

Albert Gajsak, the founder and director of CircuitMess, says that Nibble is the first product they have fully localised for the Croatian market and that they have high expectations from its sale. This is supported by the size of Kaufland's order, as well as the unofficial fact that it is currently being sold in 33 Kaufland stores.

''For CircuitMess, this is the single largest order to date and is our best-selling product so far. I can't talk about the size of the order, but I can say that in the last three years we have sold a total of 12,000 MAKERbuino consoles,'' said Gajsak.

Marija Franic, Head of Corporate Communications at Kaufland Croatia, revealed that they had ordered as many as a thousand Nibble consoles. She added that their collaboration with CircuitMess is excellent.

"We believe that it is very important to support Croatian startups, especially those that bring new technologies closer to children," noted Franic.

Gajsak added they agreed to co-operate in just three months. He stated that they have experimented a lot with sales channels from the beginning. So far, they have focused on the web, and now they are turning to physical stores as well.

CircuitMess managed to create MAKERbuino by raising more than 100,000 US dollars via Kickstarter three years ago. In the meantime, it started selling on eBay and Amazon and a number of other web stores.

''We lack cooperation with large retail chains like Kaufland and that's why, from a sales perspective, this is a new chapter for us. We'd like to reach an agreement to enter Kaufland with our products at least occasionally or even on a permanent basis,'' said Gajsak.

The innovativeness of this particular Croatian startup is also reflected in the company's business results. CircuitMess, which was founded just three years ago and today employs fifteen professionals, in its first full business year, 2018, had revenue of 1.1 million kuna and a net profit of 10,643 kuna. It jumped five times last year. Its revenue in 2019 stood at 5 million kuna, and its net profit amounted to 238,065 kuna.

"This year has started quite terribly, but because of everything we're doing, I hope that we'll manage to repeat last year's income or exceed it. However, it's difficult to try and predict that,'' concluded Gajsak.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marta Duic writes on the 3rd of September, 2020, Juraj Orehovec, a breeder of various types of poultry in Veliki Bukovac not far from Ludbreg, has been successfully building a business for 20 years. In order to achieve the most natural way of raising poultry, the stables on his farm are open, and they built everything right next to the river Plitvica so that they could dig water lagoons for their ducks and geese.

In the years which followed, they also started raising chickens, and a stable was built on the farm, where the chickens stay indoors for the first few weeks, and later have access to rich grassy areas. According to owner Juraj Orehovec, the focus of the business is primarily on free cultivation, which achieves high product quality.

They are launching an entire range, including indoor chickens and free-range chickens, roosters, ducks and geese, and recently a new brand of premium duck products called Royal Duck, which includes duck meat and liver pate, dried duck breast (Le Dame) and duck and goose fat (FATe).

''In 2020, through investments, we planned regular investments in the vehicle fleet, a regular overhaul of production capacities, preparation for obtaining an IFS certificate at our slaughterhouse, a packaging plant, a cutting plant and meat processing facilities. An application for support through EU funds was also made, which would provide new modern equipment for packaging and declaring meat,'' Juraj Orehovec revealed.

As much as 80 percent of the sales made are poultry (chickens). They successfully cooperate with the Metro retail chain and several smaller distributors.

"We have continuously invested in our production for 20 years, so we have the capacity to grow, slaughter and process about 1,500 tonnes of meat a year. In the last two years, we've been achieving organic growth of 5 to 10 percent,'' explained Juraj Orehovec.

Their open-type poultry farm covers 100,000 square feet and includes canopies, water lagoons, and uninterrupted access to grazing and daylight for the animals. In order to achieve a complete production cycle, the poultry feed is made partly from farming from their fields and partly for them by farmers from the surrounding areas. The most common crops in the composition of the mixture are corn and soybeans.

Owner Juraj Orehovec explained that in this way, they can claim that more than 90 percent of poultry feed is of local origin, and in addition it is certified as GMO free.

The closed farms consist of several modern stables, each with a capacity of 20,000 chickens. The last significant investment in the business was intended to expand the capacity of the open farm through the construction of a space for the preparation of poultry mix and in the space for hot meat processing within the slaughterhouse and packaging plant.

''At the beginning of the coronavirus era, the demand for meat grew, but given that poultry fattening is a branch of industry that needs to be organised about half a year in advance, we simply couldn't supply so much, there was an extraordinary level of demand. We worked at a level of capacity that was determined on the basis of the trends and that would be sufficient under normal circumstances, so we can't say that our sales increased because it was not feasible to adapt to such unpredictable market disruption so quickly. Shortly after, the market situation stabilised and the supply of goods, for now, is functioning well. The tourist season partially failed through May and June, but July and the first half of August were at the level of last year,'' said Orehovec

The totally free-range poultry are raised on their own, while when it comes to the indoor poultry, there is cooperation with other farms.

In addition, they process all of their poultry within their slaughterhouse and distribute it through their own logistics chain. Last year, they raised about 50,000 ducks and about 50,000 free-range roosters and chickens, while in the slaughterhouse they processed about 1,000 tonnes of meat.

Juraj Orehovec's farm is very much appreciated in neighbouring Hungary...

"Most of our production is placed on the Croatian market through our own chain of butchers, trading houses and shops, as well as through private butchers. One of the export markets is Hungary where we place live chickens from indoor breeding in cooperation with a company that helps us organise breeding and production.

Our Croatian chickens are valued in Hungary for being GMO free. Negotiations on entering the German and Austrian markets are still ongoing for the products of the new Royal Duck line. In the near future, we're planning for additional investments in our production capacities in the slaughterhouse, increasing the production capacity and maintaining the existing quality with the placement of new products on foreign markets.

As one of the goals, I can point out the positioning of the Royal Duck product line on European Union markets alongside the esteemed French and Spanish pates,'' concluded the ambitious Juraj Orehovec.

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As Marta Duic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 25th of August, 2020, at the end of July, Zenja Moskaljov, the owner of the Zagreb pet shop Dog & Style, set up a vending machine in front of his store with a specific range of products for pets.

The idea developed, he revealed, at a business lunch with a friend and business partner, franchise mentor Andrija Colak, who connected him with the company Automatik servis from Buzet, which sold him a vending machine.

In this particular vending machine you can find basic products for pets - sweets, toys, daily meals, and dog waste bags that customers need on a daily basis.

''We’ve carefully studied which products sell the most when customers go for a walk with their dog or hang out for coffee at nearby cafes where pets can have fun with their treats and while our store is closed. I never dreamed that customers would like it so much. They pass, stop and take pictures, and social media was burning with positive comments after the announcement. I'm proud that this is the first such machine in Zagreb, Croatia, and in the region,'' said Zenja Moskaljov.

It's worth mentioning that the Dog & Style store offers more than a thousand items, which is the result of carefully listening to the market during seven years of operation, and today it has five employees. After five years of business, they moved to a new location in Mainz Street, where for two years now they have been offering food and equipment for dogs and cats, dog and cat grooming services and a veterinary pharmacy.

They earn additional income by holding courses for new dog groomers. Zenja Moskaljov says that Iva Antolic, his partner and associate, is responsible for the design of the complete Dog & Style brand. In addition to vending machines, their last major investment was franchising their business.

"Andrija Colak as a consultant is responsible for setting up a complete franchise project that lasted almost a year. The project of offering our own franchise has seen the light of day this summer and I can say that there are a lot of interested clients, and for several of them we're already looking at locations in Zagreb. Through the franchise investment, we hope to significantly expand that number in the near future, both in Zagreb and in the whole of Croatia, and in a five-year cycle, within the immediate region and the EU,'' Zenja Moskaljov noted.

The owner of the pet shop noted that, in every pet store, dog and cat food makes up 50 percent of the sales range, followed by sweets and equipment, then bathing and haircut services, and finally veterinary products.

"Fortunately, the company's activities have enabled us to work during the coronavirus crisis, and we achieved a record month in sales in March. The company's revenues are still growing from month to month, our revenue has increased by 60 percent when compared to 2019,'' concluded Zenja Moskaljov.

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August the 25th, 2020 - Croatia has been forced out of its draconian comfort zone and been made to go digital as a result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. At the height of the pandemic, even the likes of Fina and MUP, who appear to have a strange fetish for making people line up in airless rooms with numbers in their hands, offered online services much like the rest of the world in the 21st century.

As testing for the new coronavirus is ramped up across the country, an interactive map which offers all the information a potential testee might desire has now been published.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 24th of August, 2020, the National Civil Protection Headquarters has published a list of all centres located across the Republic of Croatia where coronavirus testing can be done, and while that is great, talented Croatian computer scientist Vladimir Vince has created an interactive map with a clear overview of testing sites, addresses and contact information.

“The source for the sites is the Croatian Government’s official website for timely coronavirus information, except in cases where the sites aren't available on the official site but have been independently verified. In this case, the source is the website or information phone line of the institution. This map is for informational purposes only and we can't guarantee the accuracy of the data; we still recommend that you contact the test centres yourself even when ordering a test isn't mandatory,'' it is stated on the new page koronatestiranje.com

On the interactive map, you can find an overview of locations where you can get a PCR test for the new coronavirus across Croatia, with detailed information about addresses, contact information and opening/operation hours.

By clicking on a particular location, you will also receive information on whether you need to make an order for the test, whether a referral is required, whether there is a drive-in option, how long you'll likely wait and similar details. In addition, it is clearly indicated whether or not a particular location is listed on the official website of the Government so as to avoid confusion, N1 reported.

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After stagnation due to the situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the first passengers of the first Croatian super yacht, Katina, were received.

As Novac/Jozo Vrdoljak writes on the 19th of August, 2020, two families with children arrived, four adults and seven children, who will sail on Katina on the Croatian side of the Adriatic for seven days. As the captain of that 60-metre-long yacht, Antonio Koludrovic, reveals, these are charter guests who will stay for seven days, and then after two days Katina will welcome more new guests. Katina sails in the Caribbean, the Bahamas or the Seychelles for half a year, and spends half the season in the Mediterranean.

The first Croatian super yacht was in operation in the Seychelles for four weeks at the end of last year and the beginning of this year, and they managed to remain in operation for another four weeks because guests decided to give up on using big cruisers and instead rented Katina.

According to Koludrovic, they managed to gain those four weeks in the Seychelles because of the pandemic, but there was a cancellation two weeks into July following the tennis tournament debacle in Zadar. This year, the yacht charter, as the captain of Katina noted, is solid because big cruisers aren't operating. However, despite that, guests are still planning to travel at the last minute.

''We boarded the first guests on the Adriatic this year in Split and sailed to Dubrovnik and then we returned to Split. These are often Forbes-listed guests, vacationing on this Croatian super yacht with their families,'' the captain revealed.

Apart from some people wanting special food requirements, the guests don't really ask for anything special. Katina's crew will also organise parties for children and more. The vessel also boasts its own aqua-park.

''The price of seven-day stay such as that mentioned stands at around 300,000 euros. As part of that price, guests receive everything: three daily meals, including drinks, the fuel is paid for, as are all of the implied port taxes,'' the captain stated.

''Princesses from Saudi Arabia, current and former presidents, and Arab princes have stayed on Katina. The most interesting of them all was a group of Russians and Brits who came with a guide. They came to fish in the Indian Ocean for two weeks. This year we will certainly have twelve weeks of charter, which is satisfactory for 2020 as four weeks guarantee sustainability. This year everything is different,'' the captain of this Croatian super yacht noted, who has been working on yachts for 21 years, but has been attached to ships since he was a child.

''My family, who is from Stomorska on Solta, has been renting boats since 1958, when my nono started driving the French and then the Germans around. We had a wine boat that we later transformed into a tourist boat,'' added Koludrovic.

This impressive Croatian super yacht is sixty metres long, its four decks in the six VIP cabins can accommodate twelve passengers cared for by fifteen crew members and three shore-based employees, and are designed for cruising the Mediterranean and the Caribbean. Guests come from Saudi Arabia, Israel, Argentina, Brazil, Great Britain, Russia, Ukraine, Austria...

''Katina was constructed in Brodosplit, the entire crew is local, and as far as the Adriatic is concerned, we can rightly say that we can give the guests the most and show them the most,'' Koludrovic pointed out. Brigita Vuleta has been working aboard the vessel for several months, and detailed her experiences:

''There are of course some more demanding guests, but also those who have almost no requirements, they simply behave normally and casually. Some are initially professional or colder towards the crew, and some immediately start communicating on a more friendly, open level. It has also been noticed that both types of guest, sooner or later, want to communicate with the crew. They like to hear our side of the story and the way we live.

We, on the other hand, learn from some things from them that we couldn't learn elsewhere. This is perhaps the best way to get to know the lifestyle of wealthier people and see how their families function. It's an experience that few have. We try to be at their service all the time and do our best. The guest should never see that we are, for example, tired or in a bad mood,'' concluded Brigita.

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