KAI, or when referred to by its full name ''Knowledge And Innovation'' is the very first Croatian humanoid robot, and just like you and I, it has arms, legs, a body and a head.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Bernard Ivezic writes on the 21st of October, 2019, KAI, manufactured and marketed by MVT Solutions, a startup based in Pisarovina, a place not far from Zagreb, is quite unlike any Croatian-made robot to date.

The appearance of the KAI robot can be printed on any 3D printer, its software can be customised as desired, since the system it was built on is used as "open source" and sensors can be added to it as and when a person wishes.

The Croatian startup MVT Solutions, has after three years of development fully prepared itself for mass production with ready-made versions of KAI robots. In addition, they also sell IoT cloud subscriptions, which provide other applications for their hardware. Ivan Golubić, the co-founder of MVT Solutions modestly says that the incredible KAI robot was created by the community.

"There are various open-source models and robot geometries that have been transformed into an educational robot with the help of the community, students, etc. The KAI robot consists of 4 motors, 3D printed elements, sensors and an IoTaaP Magnolia board, and users can 3D print it themselves, or order it,'' says Golubić, pointing out that they plan to sell several hundred KAI robots by the end of the year.

However, behind this little robot is a big business story indeed. The Croatian startup MVT Solutions first made its public appearance a mere two years ago when it launched the first Croatian smart Grunner X electric bike, which was later tested out by no less than the police force in Dubai.

In the meantime, it has developed several more products and has attracted the interest of a number of sound industry names. MVT Solutions is a specialist in the development of Internet of Things (IoT) systems. It offers development and prototyping services for IoT products for others, and has also developed its own so-called IoTaaP platform. The Croatian company's IoT platform drives both the KAI robot and the impressive Grunner X bike. It is hardly surprising that this innovative company has come under the radar of investors over the last couple of years.

Just two years ago, this startup was among the winners of the Zicer Accelerator Startup Factory, last year it was selected as the best IoT startup in the region as part of the EIT InnoEnergy PowerUp competition, and earlier this year, it found itself among the top 20 startups of choice by the business angel community in Norway.

"The hardware part of our IoT platform enables rapid development and Plug & Play mode with our cloud, and the cloud itself provides us with incredible scalability, both for clients and for investors," explains Golubić.

As has since been learned, now this Croatian company's first investment is on the horizon, which will enable the company to hire 20 more experts in the next year.

"We're currently closing an investment round that will raise the company's valuation to several million kuna, thereby opening up space for new clients, employees, and for a longer period new investments," explains Golubić. For now, he didn't want to talk about the investment in too much detail. He explains that their goal is to do an IPO in the next five to seven years, and they have already received community support in this. They were supported by experienced IT managers Dražen Pehar, and Vedran Blagus in their ongoing business development.

"I know it is long-term, but we have some firmly defined goals and I think that with my current 23 years, I still have an incredible amount of time for new business ventures and projects, so I can definitely say that we tend to become a leader in the IoT industry," says Golubić.

With the amazing little KAI robot, he explains, they are ready to begin mass production of their IoT devices. The first Croatian humanoid robot will, in addition to educating young and new IoT experts, also open space for them to embark on further pilot projects with their IoT platform.

"Over the next month, we'll launch pilot projects based on our IoT platform, with the first gas bottle delivery system providing up to 30% savings to distributors," says Golubić. The focus of the pilot is in Poland. MVT Solutions explains that this is a market with great potential in retail gas, and there are almost five million end users using gas from bottles. Another major project, he says, is related to Industry 4.0 in one of Croatia's factories, but he stopped there, refraining from revealing any further details. Otherwise, the Croatian MVT Solutions entered the first investment arrangement last year.

The Grunner X smart electric bike, which they developed on their own IoT platform and was the first bike with the IoT system in the world, was set apart last year as a separate business. Registered in Croatia, Grunner Bikes has developed, in partnership with Middle Eastern company Arabco Smart Technology, a special version of this amazing e-bike for the Dubai police.

"In three months, we've developed a state of the art product for one of the most developed police forces in the world," says Golubić.

Last year, one of the co-owners of Grunner Bikes was announced as Chinese billionaire Xuegao Song, who simultaneously announced that he would build an electric car and scooter factory in Croatia. "A Chinese investor has entered the game as our partner in planned batch production," concludes Golubić.

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As Novac/Tena Sarcevic writes on the 21st of October, 2019, she isn't even 33 years old, and in just two years, Dragana Lipovac from Zagreb, has managed to get a company on its feet that has attracted around 300,000 euros in investments. Her startup, Hubbig, has succeeded in what she sees as the main point of such companies - "to shake off the established postulates of certain industries."

The industry where Dragana works is the freight forwarding company. She joined the industry at the age of nineteen and gained eleven years of experience in two companies. She realised that there was room for progress and the simplification of complicated procedures in that business, so she came up with the idea of ​​an application (app) that would solve such boring and bureaucratic hassles. She designed Hubbig and reported it to Startup Factory Zagreb, a startup accelerator program run by Zicer, marking just one of many steps taken by the company to date.

''I didn't think Hubbig would become so successful. I had absolutely no expectationsm'' says the founder of the Zagreb-based company, which today, at least judging by the investments it has managed to attract, has an extremely promising future.

Hubbig is actually a web platform that allows small freight forwarders, and larger ones too, to advertise their transportation services. Hubbig then connects carriers with an importer or exporter seeking a service.

''Let's say that a person works in the procurement of a retail chain and his boss tells him to find a transport truck going from Warsaw to Zagreb. Instead of calling several carriers, a person can simply go to Hubbig, enter what he wants to carry, how heavy his cargo is and from which destination he wants to transport it. When the app determines what is needed, Hubbig eliminates the carriers that aren't able to carry the cargo. Along with the carriers, the price they are looking for is automatically calculated,'' Dragana explained.

Otherwise, in a situation like this, several carriers should be called or contacted first, which will take time. This is precisely the area in which Hubbig is solving problems: the app rolls out complete offers, and the user seeking information immediately gets all the information and the specs about potential shipping.

When the user and the carrier connect via Hubbig, the transport is monitored from the moment the goods are picked up until they are delivered.

''The customers are not so alone, we have customer care, we provide all the necessary information and at any time you can send an email or call and ask about whatever you're interested in,'' said Dragana, explaining that the way her company profits from such a business model is very simple: they get a certain commission for every transport carried out.

The users are mostly from Croatia. - People import things. There are electronic components, toys, granites, textiles, furniture... There are various wholesale companies, but also smaller companies that are similar to those in Croatia in the way they function.

As was said before, the impressive Hubbig project, born in Zagreb, has received a lot of attention already at Startup Factory Zagreb, which was the first competition she applied to. She received media attention and came out as one of the winners, that is, her project was one of those that received financial support. At that time, the company was not yet open. In the same period, she entered the Zagreb Connect competition, where she won second place (which also involved a cash prize) and received a certain amount from the CES.

''Overall, this amounted to around 200,000 kuna, which was a great incentive for me to start my own business. That's what I did, and then I started building the platform,'' she stated as she recalls the period of two years ago.

For a person who was just starting out in entrepreneurship, she said, it seemed like a massive sum of money, but she invested all that money in the first five or six months of work alone.

''Of course, we had revenue, so it wasn't too chaotic, but there was still a lot to be invested in development, mostly in the IT dimension of the project. I started looking for extra investments, which I actually got extremely quickly, within three or four months, only to wait longer for it to be done. We got the money from the investments in about a year,'' she explained.

She was helped by her longtime friend Monika Mikac, who is now the co-owner of the company.

''We agreed that I'd give her a share in the company in return for giving me a lot of advice and attracting two investors. Admittedly, it's wrong to say that she attracted investors, they were attracted by the idea and the traffic Hubbig generated in 2018. There were, of course, negotiations with investors, which lasted several months, and due diligence took place. But relatively quickly, we agreed on everything. These are people who invest a lot in startups and aren't worried about their money, and on the other hand, they trust in everyone they invest in,'' said Dragana about Frank Kanayet Yepes, a Colombian who was the first investor in Rimac Automobili, and Ivan Glavaš, who is the founder of blockchain startup Forebit.

''We raised money there, which helped us greatly in our development. In the meantime, we also received a 200,000 kuna loan from Zicer and around 1.3 million kuna from EU funds. In a month, we will be celebrating two years of Hubbig's existence, and I calculated that we raised 300,000 euros in total. We're small, but we've received awards because it is assumed that we will soon become big. We could become competitors to big players. We have the technology that will allow us to do that,'' the Zagreb entrepreneur says.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 18th of October, 2019, ''Mad Props'', as the only Croatian agency in this year's selection, made it to the finals in the Corporate Celebration category among dozens of other agencies, competing with seven other agencies from Belgium, Austria, Germany and France for the award.

The five-day Maistra event called the ''Grand Opening of the Grand Park Hotel Rovinj & Adris 44 Cup'', which brought together the social and business elite from the 29th of May to the 2nd of June in Rovinj and ended with a spectacular concert by the sea from the global tenor Andrea Bocellia, the Croatian agency ''Mad Props'' was included in the finals of the competition, the so called shortlist of one of the most important and prestigious event festivals in the world - BEA World, in the Corporate Celebration category.

BEA World, the International Festival of Events and Communication, to be held in Milan this year, from November the 27th to the 30th, was launched way back in 2006 to highlight the importance of marketing events, and has since established itself as the most important and challenging annual event festival. This year, agencies from thirty countries from around the world will compete in three large and as many as 25 subcategories, and the importance of this event is highlighted by the sheer number of agencies reporting to join the competition - 100 have entered the finals this year alone.

As previously mentioned, Mad Props, as the sole Croatian agency in this year's selection, made it to the finals in the Corporate Celebration category among dozens of other agencies, competing with seven other agencies from Belgium, Austria, Germany and France for the award.

''Entering the finale itself is a huge success for us, as BEA is one of the most prestigious global event festivals that promotes creativity and production excellence, with participants being renowned creatives and experts from around the world. It's an enormous recognition and honour that we've been placed in such company, that we'll have the opportunity to see the best international events in Milan and present our biggest and certainly most spectacular event so far, which we're extremely proud of and are happy to have gained the confidence and the opportunity to do,'' stated Zrinka Topalušić-Paleka, the co-owner and director of Mad Props.

The grand opening of the Grand Park Hotel Rovinj, organised by Mad Props for their client, Maistra, has already won one professional award - back in June at the Ljubljana Conventa Crossover event in Slovenia, they entered the finals and finished third in the ''Crossover'' category.

''This is a tribute to our entire team that has been preparing the event for the last six months, to our technical teams that have been mounting in the rain and wind for days, in parallel at several different locations. Technically and programmatically it is one of the most challenging projects we've worked on, but also one of those in which we're learning, developing and pushing boundaries,'' said event director Mateo Paleka.

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This will be her fourth store, after the ones in Zagreb, Split and Stuttgart, and she also has a web shop from which her products can be shipped to all countries in Europe and America. Croatian fashion designer Aleksandra Dojčinović is about to open a shop in Switzerland, located in the very heart of beautiful Zurich.

As Marta Duic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 17th of October, 2019, in addition to the boutique in Stuttgart, Germany, this Croatian designer's brand is also present in a number of smaller foreign concept boutiques, and her plans are to go on to conquer distant markets.

"There are many events and collaborations with agencies in Zurich behind me, as well as editorials for Swiss and German fashion magazines. Things have now matured and come to fruition, I'm pleased how both my team and I have prepared for this project and it's great when everything goes the way it should. The space is small, only about forty square metres, but it's located between the Dolce & Gabbana and Louboutin stores, which gives it a dose of exclusivity and luxury. The investment was around the same as it was when I opened the stores in Zagreb and Split, between 700,000 and one million kuna,'' Dojčinović revealed.

According to her, they have not yet grown enough to be able to take on large and strong markets, but they plan to conquer the US, and at the end of the year they will sign contracts to enter the Russian and Australian markets.

"Our store in Stuttgart is also showing great results, and the web shop is designed to send purchased goods to almost all European countries and the US. In Croatia, we generate around 7.5-8 million kuna, with overseas sales carrying around 2.5-3 million kuna in revenue, therefore over 30 per cent of the sales are from overseas. We're still a small brand, but the foundations for growth are solid and well laid out,'' Dojčinović added.

The innovative Croatian designer also noted that in ten months they have released ten ready-to-wear and festive mini-collections and had a show at the Nikola Tesla Technical Museum in Zagreb, which hosted world-renowned Croatian scientists. This creator is also the first Croatian participant in the Veuve Clicquot World Competition and the only woman with two EY Entrepreneur of the Year nominations.

Her fashion studio employs 28 workers, and she has noted that she does not intend to expand production.

"I started with only one seamstress, and today there are about thirty of us and we're all women. Production is extremely demanding, and textile production is something that you only do in Croatia only if you love it endlessly. My journey from my humble beginnings to today's results wasn't simple, but it was the only way possible for me. The right figures, given the time, knowledge and energy of the whole team, have not yet been reached, and more serious growth is expected over the next two years,'' concludes Dojčinović.

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The successful Croatian rent-a-car company Carwiz has now signed new franchise partnerships expanding its operations in Ireland, Malta, Iceland and Poland.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 16th of October, 2019, in just one month, the Croatian Carwiz rent-a-car company completed negotiations and positioned four new franchise forms of business on the world map.

The newly launched franchise form in Iceland and a signed partnership with one of Iceland's oldest and most promising companies, Icerental 4x4, led by Magnús Arnar Kjartansson, soon joined the partnership with Fugazi Car Rentals Limited, a company that is part of the international Famalco Group in Malta.

This Maltese giant, led by Hermann Mallia and Sandra Mallia, is shaping its strength and advantage through various industries that are the subject of a successful corporation business - from renewable energy real estate services to the property, retail and rental management industry, as well as car service and logistics. By signing a partnership with Fugazi Car Rentals, Carwiz has marketed its business success in two countries, Malta and Ireland.

At the same time, negotiations with partners from Poland were completed, with the Carwiz family joining Inter Fleet Franchise Sp, headed by two partners, Tomasz Supany and Tomasz Pulter. Inter Fleet Franchise Sp, a company owned by a powerful investment fund, has gained a strong market position in its homeland of Poland due to its business operations so far, has positioned itself at the top of the leader board, while due to the quality of the Carwiz brand and the ease of doing business with the Croatian company, it has decided on brand synergy and ultimately on signing an agreement.

“A successful business strategy, positive brand image and internal efforts have proven to be an effective formula for expanding the Carwiz brand. My franchisees and my entire team have done a great job, which I'm extremely proud of, because for us, new franchises are not only a number we want to reach, but a carefully planned positioning and a pass to strengthen our position in the rent-a-car industry,'' stated Krešimir Dobrilović, founder and CEO of Carwiz.

Franchise manager, Vladimir Banović, participated in the successful marketing of Carwiz's franchise business model in fourteen countries. At the same time, Vladimir provides existing partners with support in the business process with the aim of improving the quality of the brand. Carwiz has also revealed that their franchise managers are currently negotiating with three new potential clients.

With its 4,000 vehicles and over sixty locations worldwide, Croatia's Carwiz rent-a-car is one of the leaders in the rental car industry, with almost one hundred employees in Croatia.

Over the past year, thanks to a proven and successful franchise business model, Carwiz has launched partnerships and collaborations in Greece, Serbia, Turkey, Morocco, Albania, Latvia, St. Maarten and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and as of this month, partners from Ireland, Iceland, Malta and Poland can experience business success.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik/Lucija Spiljak writes on the 11th of October, 2019, in fifteen years, one Zagreb-based company has grown from a small team in an apartment building into a respectable team of experts dedicated to developing and innovating their own Internet of Things (IoT) technology products. They create solutions that are used in automatic energy consumption reading systems.

The Zagreb-based company Holosys boasts more than twenty products used in automatic water and energy readout systems, water and gas infrastructure monitoring and energy efficiency monitoring systems, which are marketed in various infrastructure facilities both here in Croatia and abroad.

The company from Zagreb was started in 2004 by Bojan Grbec, Ivan Lukačević, Zoran Zoričić and Tomislav Lekić, engineers with valuable experience in large systems, which, as director Tomislav Lekić explains, was a great and key combination to launch their own project, celebrating a successful fifteen years of doing business this year.

So far, they have sold their products in more than fifty countries across four continents, and more than 500,000 metres of water and gas consumption worldwide are connected through some of this Zagreb company's systems.

In recent years, they have seen strong revenue growth - in 2014 they had four million kuna in revenue, and last year they reached nine million kuna. They expect to finish 30-40 percent growth this year when compared to 2018. "This is largely the result of our orientation towards foreign markets, where we can see great potential in the future," Lekić said.

But, let's go back to where it all began... The company's creators had, according to the director, valuable experience in manufacturing and development in companies such as RIZ transmitters and Siemens, but they were faced with a new, completely different challenge.

"During the moments of first starting a company, you can manage processes more directly and efficiently, which is both a challenge and a risk. At the very beginning, we worked in a leased space of 36 m2 in an apartment building in Dugave, and today we're located in a leased 800 m2 in the Jankomir business zone, and there are currently 28 of us,'' Lekić recounts as he looks back to his company's beginnings.

In the early years, with the development of some of our own products, much of the revenue came from product development jobs for others. In 2012, they made the strategic decision to invest all of their development into their own products and make a living from them. Even then, they focused on the Internet of Things (IoT), smart energy and water.

"Looking back, I'm proud that we've accomplished many of our goals, some within the deadline, some a little slower.

For example, five years ago we said that within five years we'd develop and produce more than twenty of our own products, and we were able to do that. We intended to increase the number of customers and our sales activities, especially abroad, and we managed to continue in the same direction, which is all the fruit of organic and gradual growth.

The key to successful business in our case was to focus on our own development and manufacturing, identifying trends, and giving up on time in some industries, and instead focusing on IoT and AMR (Automatic Meter Reading).

Often, you have a number of ideas that do look great, but it's important to choose one or two and focus and then come up with the best product possible At one point, we also worked on traffic reporting systems, where we developed great products and got valuable references, but we still decided to focus on another area,'' Lekić explains.

Zagreb's Holosys also offers a complete communication and surveillance IoT solution - from delivering quality and durable sensors to energy and water meters, to delivering a set of devices and antennas to amplify and receive signals, to processing data in software and turning it into meaningful and easy to understand information through business decisions.

"Our products and solutions, whether they be a power readout module, data collection hubs, antenna systems or data processing and analysis software, were created within Holosys.

They're based on their own knowledge and bring numerous benefits to utilities and end-users through cost-effective system maintenance, accurate and timely information on energy and water consumption, and infrastructure damage, preventing major breakdowns and losses such as pipe crashes, " Lekić explains.

The Zagreb-based company offers solutions on technologies that are widely accepted across the world, from the currently most widely accepted wired and wireless M-Bus technology to the ''hot'' and new NB-IoT communications technology that is still very much in its infancy.

"In Croatia, our appliances can be found in all areas, both in plumbing and gas installations, as well as in many public facilities. We market a good portion directly abroad, and our clients are water and gas distributors, construction companies and faithful partners who supply our products and they are installed in Croatia and abroad, primarily in the EU,'' Lekić points out. The company, he adds, nurtures a team spirit and strives for a work culture and careful staffing to select the right people for the team.

"We stand out for our innovation and this is what our employees need to be able to fully identify with. We explore new opportunities every day, whether in code programming, creating technical solutions for devices, or spotting new opportunities in the business development market. Our employees, across all departments, must be prepared to review existing solutions and create new ones daily, and above all to be motivated by the results of the research. Regardless, we're trying and succeeding in being competitive in wages and other benefits, and so far there's been no need to import labour. We have enough quality candidates from the Croatian labour market,'' the company's director claims.

Through these fifteen years of work, there are many projects that they are proud of.

"Some of our devices are in Tahiti, our water consumption reading modules are near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, they're all over Europe, Africa... We've provided services for major infrastructure projects around the world, and our products have been installed in numerous communal areas. When I look at the whole thing, what matters is the proven quality of our products and the positive perception from our customers. They see the concrete benefits - from reading the usage of energy and water in real time, lowering the costs of business, stopping financial losses, being able to properly look into failures...

For example, using our technology can reduce unnecessary energy losses by up to 70 percent. Therefore, we can say that the devices are ecological in function and we believe that this is how we contribute, in a small way, to the preservation of our planet.

This realisation also brings satisfaction through a sense of purpose to the work. We're most proud of the team that we've been able to gather together over the years, both within Holosys and among our partners, and their long-standing trust that we have maintained,'' the director points out.

He also referred to the smart energy industry, which is in a phase of dynamic development due to the increasing need for energy efficiency, and solutions for remote sensing of energy, gas and water consumption are, he says, one of the most important links in this process, due to precision of measurement, simplicity of usage and of course - savings.

"We plan to launch new products in the near future in line with 5G telecom development and in this segment we expect stronger market development. Accordingly, we're positioning ourselves as an innovator and leader in the application of new IoT technologies, such as NB-IoT, which should simplify the reading system. Our solutions are not only easier, faster and more accurate to obtain data, but also to change the way we do business and engage in business processes,'' explains Lekić.

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Here in Croatia, he's known as a political activist, a whistleblower and as a skilled computer hacker, but that isn't all this talented Croat is about. Denis Periša, a computer genius who hails from the Dalmatian city of Šibenik is the man who built a free internet network in the city, and is also a priceless employee who works with the police in successfully searching for cyber criminals.

As Morski/Jurica Gaspar writes on the 8th of October, 2019, the ever-talented Denis Periša has come up with the idea for a device intended for search and rescue missions out at sea. This very topic was discussed back in summer, but in the meantime, it was precisely the drama around the search for another Croat lost at sea, Dino Miškić, that progressed Denis' tool that could make such situations unnecessary in the future, and save many lives with the help of cheap and very easily accessible technology.

''I'm sorry that more people aren't involved with microcontrollers and what is currently the best LoRaWAN network available in the whole of Šibenik and its surroundings. Šibenik is the first city in the region to give people that to use and develop.

To put together what we were talking about, it would be some kind of small microcontroller that, in the couple of instances where submersion [of a vessel] really ends up occurring, would activate the GPS and a beacon, and later on, a SAR ship could go out on the high seas where it's easily reachable, even if it's fifty kilometres away [from the sinking vessel]. When it comes to designing and testing this device out, I'd easily be able to install the application on all MUP vessels,'' stated Denis, with an introductory story about his idea.

''The device could be smaller. This first and largest is a microcontroller with a lot of unnecessary nonsense, so it's obviously bigger. That's the brain. You program it to work with these two sensors, for example, in certain conditions. Next to it is a LoRa communication chip, and to the right is, let's say, a gyroscope, or it can be a moisture sensor and/or a GPS system. Everything is soldered to one another, the case is printed out and that's the concept. Later, this is sent to the factory and all of it is put on one small plate,'' explained Denis.

And how does this work in the wake of a sinking ship with a crew on board?

''Well, however you can imagine. It just needs an idea. Let's say a moisture sensor and a gyroscope - to detect a sudden rolling over and the presence of water, in that way we can be sure someone is in trouble. From being in standby mode, the GPS wakes up and sends the ship's location via the LoRa system. This type of technology is very accessible nowadays. So, it could be a scenario that this set of sensors is connected to a life raft and let's say one of the sensors, specifically the one next to the red one that will, for example, measure the altitude and if that altitude goes down, to trigger an emergency beacon that will send out the vessel's GPS position.

It's clear to me that not everyone can do this, and some don't have access to it, but the fact that life rafts don't have something like this is unacceptable. This could have saved lives,'' concludes this innovative Croat, showing some miniature chips worth about fifty kuna, which could be sewn onto the seafarer's clothing, reducing potentially tragic search and rescue missions in future to the shortest possible time, thus saving lives.

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As Novac/Vid Baric writes on the 4th of October, 2019, some Croatian socks, more specifically from the Dogma Socks brand from Samobor, are ready to take on foreign markets.

''The idea came before my departure for the Olympics. I wanted to make sports socks that I'd perform in when in Sochi, and that was relatively easy for me, considering that my family has owned a sock factory for thirty years, which, admittedly, aren't socks for sports, but for everyday life.

I made these socks, took them to the Olympics, and then went on to develop my own brand. I didn't think it would become my business, but I started little by little and now it's more of a serious story,'' stated Morena Makar, who until a few years ago, was the best Croatian snowboarder in the halfpipe discipline. She has a rich World Cup career behind her, as well as a historic placement at the Olympics.

The Makar family sock factory is located in Samobor, where her Dogma socks are made, a brand specialising in running, skiing/snowboarding, hiking, trekking... Morena spent half of her life wearing such socks, snowboarding all over the world, and she therefore knew what do do and how to do it to get a quality and functional sports sock.

These are the first such socks to be made in Croatia, and Makar runs a totally one girl show here. She procures her materials from Switzerland, Spain and Slovenia, designs the product herself, designs its functionality, monitors the production, packages them, advertises them and distributes them, all by herself. Since she started taking the Dogma socks story more seriously, she says, she's managed to sell up to twenty thousand pairs of socks a year, and they can be purchased in Slovenia, Austria, Germany and Romania, in addition to specialised sports stores operating here in Croatia. Dogma socks will also be available on Amazon's popular webshop soon.

''I'm surrounded by socks from dawn til dusk. I dream of them!'' the girl who has already conquered the Croatian market says, and now it's time for Dogma socks to ''introduce themselves'' to foreigners and find their place on foreign markets.

She is aided by some top influencers/athletes she has on her team and who are spreading the word about her products. If everything goes according to plan, the two top snowboarders should perform wearing Croatian Dogma socks at the next Beijing Winter Olympic Games.

''Croatia is a relatively small market for such a product, the focus is now to conquer foreign markets and become a recognisable brand there. It was difficult in the beginning, people are distrustful because they've never heard of us, but over time, that will go away,'' explained Makar, who over the years has collaborated with the heroes from the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service (HGSS), who help people in need, while wearing Dogma socks.

''HGSS rescuers tried my socks out two years ago. They liked them and I even developed one line specifically for them. We continued our cooperation and this year we decided to make products marked with their logo. I like this story because a percentage of the sales revenue of these socks goes to HGSS and their work, and our products are credible and validated by individuals to whom functional socks matter a lot,'' Makar stated, before continuing on the line of the details of Dogma socks, in which a lot effort and thought has been invested.

''I develop models in collaboration with athletes who test out prototypes and further develop socks with me. In the Dogma family we have athletes, marathoners, triathletes, snowboarders... top athletes from all over the world who know what kind of product they need and what could change in the technology of making socks,'' Makar explains, whose socks, depending on model and purpose, contain various agents, as well as callus neutralisers, they're also made from quick-drying materials.

It's worth mentioning that many of Dogma's models are seam free, which further prevents the possibility of calluses, and there is Aircon technology that regulates the temperature of your feet. When you're cold, they will keep you warm, when you are hot, they will keep you cold. The socks will remain dry and will not moisten your feet.

Skiers, mountaineers and snowboarders, however, wear Dogma socks made of merino wool because it has proven to be the best material for this kind of activity. Socks seem to have become a real science.

Makar agrees, claiming that the importance of proper socks has long been underestimated. Today, many don't see the value of a good, functional sock, and in Croatia everything revolves around the white socks that everyone wants, no matter what they do or what kind of sport they're into.

''We at Dogma are trying to change that,'' Morena Makar replies, adding that she has also been able to develop functional material to prevent odors. These socks were tested by the HGSS guys, too, confirming that it works.

''It's also very important to us that our production doesn't harm the environment. Therefore, our packaging is made from recycled materials and our socks are made with environmentally certified materials. We also try to use as little plastic as possible in our production,'' explains Morena Makar, adding that Dogma, which started with socks, now also produces functional sports T-shirts, as well as various other sports accessories of a functional nature, such as winter hats, sweaters and headgear.

A few years since Sochi took place, the world is richer for Croatia's Dogma socks, socks that Makar claims can really enhance the training of top athletes.

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A Croatian pistol from a well known firearms company has attracted nothing but praise from across the Atlantic on the American market, placing yet another Croatian product in high esteem on foreign/distant markets.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 3rd of October, 2019, the Croatian firearms company HS Produkt has premiered a brand new Hellcat pistol today, marketed under the Springfield Armory brand on the American market, which is currently the best concealed carry, personal safety and self-defense pistol, according to bot its constructors and its end users.

The Hellcat pistol is a product of two long years of painstaking development alongside some top engineers, shooters and self-defense experts. With smaller dimensions and stunning tank capacity, the gun has already conquered the American market, which has nothing but words of absolute praise for weapons of Croatian origin, for their ergonomics and for their enviable precision.

This is a pistol from the segment of 9 mm microcompact pistols that has emerged as fierce competition on the dominant SIG Sauer P365 pistol market. The Hellcat is currently available in two configurations; standard and OSP (Optic Sight Pistol), which provides for the installation of optical devices, this also applies to the previous model XD used and liked by American police and federal agencies.

What separates the Croatian-made Hellcat from other pistols on the market is its tank, because its standard capacity is 11 plus 1 ammo, making it unique in the world (the P365 has a capacity of 10 plus 1), and there is an extended version with 13 plus 1 ammunition of 9 millimeters, according to a report from tportal.

With its small, comfortable size and advanced features, the already popular Croatian Hellcat offers strong durability and a special-purpose forged steel pipe.

The gun frame is lightweight and strong with a seamless texture. According to the users of the pistol, the weapon is very comfortable to carry and ergonomically tailored for maximum control, with maximum flexibility as needed.

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As Lucija Spiljak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 1st of October, 2019, the ACT Group's director Teo Petričević stated that ''individuals who build a value framework with a strong, proactive message create great social change,'' at the Zagreb Innovation Centre (Zicer) at the Zagreb Fair (Velesajam), where the winners of the Social Impact Award Croatia awards were announced.

The aim of the program is to encourage students and young people between the ages of 14 and 30 to be part of the development of social entrepreneurship in the world through the realisation of their own entrepreneurial ideas, which will aim to solve social and environmental problems. A jury of social entrepreneurs, faculty lecturers, business advisers and program partners awarded three teams.

The jury handed out awards to Invisible Zagreb's projects - which the first educational tour in the Republic of Croatia led by former and current homeless people, Clear Coast - a mobile application for locating, reporting and forwarding information on illegal dumping sites and landfills to the competent waste management and marine and coastal pollution services, and Service4you, where people explore their skills and satisfy their various needs.

Finaktivci also won votes from the audience, and this is a project aimed primarily at educating pre-schoolers about finances and teaching them how to use their money more wisely. In addition to the cash prizes, the winners of the competition were awarded free participation in the SIA2019 international conference in Kiev, Ukraine, as well as priceless mentoring support.

"We want to give young people a sense of social entrepreneurship and teach them how to start a business and turn their mistakes into something good. We have provided them with mentors who have guided 158 young people through five workshops this year in Zagreb, Osijek and Split.

If you have a good idea, get started with it, you can count on our support,'' said Renata Glad, National Coordinator of SIA Croatia. The Social Impact Award program is otherwise implemented in more than twenty countries in Europe, Asia and Africa, and involves more than 8,000 students and young people annually.

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