As Lucija Spiljak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 14th of January, 2019, despite the continuing problems on Croatia's labour market and the mass exodus of the country's talented youth, Croatian students and student associations have some truly valuable projects which showcase real effort, work, and common proactivity with the hope for prosperity, survival and finding employment. Among them is eSTUDENT, the most active Croatian student association founded back in 2004 under the initiative of proactive students and assistants, with the wish that the association and its members become initiators of change, gain practical experience and develop a network of knowledge.

Students lead the association, its projects and its various initiatives, and their goal is, among other things, to provide additional education to other students with a variety of grants, projects, and study quality enhancement. Today, the association is made up of students from the University of Zagreb and other institutions of higher education, with more than 300 members, and each year the association organises more than twenty projects involving thousands of students from across the Republic of Croatia and the wider region. They also launched the Starter project with which, unlike classical student services, work finds the students.

"This involves state-of-the-art technology and programming solutions which have enabled us to send a job offer directly to via email to every student looking for an internship or for employment. Starter's application is free, fast and simple, it provides direct access to excellent jobs, practices and scholarships,'' explained Julija Puškar, the coordinator of Starter at eSTUDENT. They began with the Starter project to link proactive Croatian students to employment programs for the best companies operating across the Republic of Croatia.

"The Starter system is a platform which delivers ads to students, depending on their personal preferences, more specifically to a specific target group of students, many companies send their ads to our system, and members of eSTUDENT who are actively working on the system will forward ads to a particular student group on a daily basis. You just choose the type of ad you want to receive - practice, internship, part time jobs, full time jobs, and the so on.

So, Starter helps students out and makes it easier for them to look for internships or jobs, while allowing companies to search for the best candidates for certain jobs,'' explains Puškar. The first step sees the company send an advertisement to Starter, this ad is then passed on to students with specific interests, and then applications go directly to the employer.

Active members of the Starter team then review the application for the particular ad before submitting the application. There is also the possibility to receive advice on how to improve an application before submitting it to a business or company. In the academic year 2017/2018, the Starter system received more than 350,000 emails and has more than 3,500 active members. The eSTUDENT Student Association is also conducting several projects including Moot Court Croatia, App Start Contest, Case Study Competition, Elektroboj, Mozgalo, Smartup, and Vizionar.

Make sure to stay up to date with the praiseworthy initiatives of Croatian students and much more by following our dedicated Made in Croatia and lifestyle pages.

Click here for the original article by Lucija Spiljak for Poslovni Dnevnik

The challenge which any successful start-up entrepreneur has to face is how to harmonise their desire to retain ownership of their idea and the need for faster growth of business through external investments, says Ivan Pelivan, one of the directors of Stratowave Connect, a company which is developing products and solutions for wireless long-distance communication, reports Poslovni.hr on January 7, 2019.

They are one of the eighteen teams of the third generation of the Startup Factory acceleration programme, which was launched three years ago by the City of Zagreb and the Zagreb Innovation Center (ZICER) to strengthen the ecosystem for start-up entrepreneurship. At the 2018 Zagreb Connect, they were named one of the top five Start-Up Factory teams.

The internal team consists of Vilko Klein, Ivan Nikolić and Ivan Pelivan, who are joined by eight experts from electronics and information technology to sales and marketing. The young company started operating in April and was jointly founded by Vilko Klein and Ivan Pelivan.

The Stratowave name originates from the previous experiment with wireless communication from the stratosphere which was developed by Vilko Klein and Ivan Nikolić. The English name should facilitate the recognition of companies abroad, says Pelivan. “Our solution is unique in that it offers a range of 50 kilometres, and even more in the future, which we achieve through a combination of commercially available equipment and years of experience in the field of wireless technologies. Last year, we recognized that it was an ideal moment to launch the project. In just a few months, we gathered the initial members of the wider team. After we founded the company, we were joined by experts from the fields of marketing and information technology,” explains Pelivan.

Pelivan, Klein and Nikolić used the self-employment incentives, which were indispensable for starting the business. Before they launched the company, they applied for the programme of support for entrepreneurial projects in Croatia designed for novice entrepreneurs. They were among the seven finalists among 350 applied projects. “The competition was crucial since it included mentoring and establishing business contacts. We have also received support from the Croatian Employment Service (CES), enabling us to enter the demanding world of private entrepreneurship,” says Pelivan.

Their goal is to expand to European markets, and they have already made contact with the companies in the region. “Reactions to our ideas, solutions and current results are positive. Potential clients and partners see great potential in implementing our communications solution in conjunction with drones, and it is up to us to turn them into practical commercial products,” explains one of the directors.

“We are proud that our idea has produced excellent results in a relatively short time which, of course, raises expectations, but we are confident we will meet them in the course of the next year. This year is crucial for us,” explains Pelivan.

The final product should be ready for production by 2020. As for the start-up itself, they see it as a way to commercialise their creative ideas. “One of the challenges in this journey is to align the desire to retain ownership of our idea with the need for faster growth through outside investments. The entrepreneur is the one making the ultimate decision,” Pelivan concludes.

More news on the Croatian start-ups can be found in our Business section.

Translated from Poslovni.hr (reported by Lucija Špiljak).

One young Croat who inherited his grandparents' love of the land, found his very first customers through advertising his products in Facebook sales groups, a move which proved to have been very much the correct one.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 27th of December, 2018, alongside his steady job in a private company, twenty-four-year-old Danijel Tkalec, a trader by profession, dedicates every moment of his free time to the job he loves - working on a property he inherited from his grandparents. As this young Croat says, he has been helping them every day since he was little, and already fell in love with such work as a child, according to Agroklub.

"All of their lives until four years ago, my grandparents had, along with land, pigs and cows, but they had to sell all of their livestock because of illness and their age, and this, as they say, ended the most beautiful period of their lives. That love towards to the ground they lived from was passed on to me and I decided to continue with what they started. I had a lot of advantages at the very start - my own land and mechanisation, I only needed some good will and faith to work, I started to buy pigs, part of them I left for breeding, part of them I started fattening up for next winter, and during the first years I started with chickens too. The beginning was difficult - the space I had wasn't really adequate, the biggest problem was that I didn't have a market for the placement of my products, which is why the feeling of uncertainty and my fear of failure were huge,'' recalls Danijel when discussing his humble beginnings four years ago.

Danijel found his first customers through advertising his products in no less than Facebook sales groups. Thanks to the recommendations of satisfied customers, his network of new and eager customers began to increase day by day. At the same time, the OPG's revenue increased, and the first earnings the young Croat got his hands on were invested immediately straight back into the business - he placed large hanging feeders along the length of the entire space, and his capacity increased.

"After the first year, in which I first broke the ice, I began growing vegetables. Firstly, I literally started out with pretty much anything, but now I have opted for two to three crops. As a relatively small manufacturer, I don't have the capacity to meet the needs of larger shopping facilities, and I sell my products exclusively through social networks, and when I collect the orders, I place them at the doors of my customers. My permanent customers have become like members of our family,'' says Danijel, who is currently taking care of five hectares of land and all of the challenges such a task brings with it.

Online shopping and social networking has become a global trend over the last several years because, due to our increasingly busy lifestyles, many people are more likely to shop online and go to pick up their goods without losing time going to stores and markets. It was this trend that this young Croat deftly used to sell the products from his OPG, which proved to be an extremely successful move, because in just four years, the demand for his products has surpassed the offer, Agroklub writes.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business and Made in Croatia pages for more information on Croatian companies, products and services, as well as doing business in Croatia and the overall business and investment climate.

Thanks to new product lines supported by European Union funds, the Zagreb company Green and More managed to successfully expand its exports and achieve an impressive 40 percent growth this year.

As Lucija Spiljak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 22nd of December, 2018, Green and More, a Zagreb company which specialises in food and nutritional supplements, has introduced its brand new and expanded product line, backed by prestigious international certifications. They celebrated ten years of their eco work on the Croatian market, and they have been defined as the eco producer which is striving to reach the highest standards, according to Ivana Stavljenić, the Zagreb company's director and co-founder.

The Zagreb company is the producer of the well-known Liquid Sun ecological product, a nutrition supplement made from young green wheat, and their new line of products delivers Green and More RAW cookies, which are also prestigious certificate holders which act as additional value and high-quality tags.

"The cookies are processed by the method of processing raw food at a temperature of up to 40 degrees celsius in order to preserve the nutritive value of its raw material, the closest to what it would be in its natural state, rich in protein and enzymes, minerals and vitamins," Stavljenić explained. The new line of products is available in three flavours of balanced blends of organic fruit, nuts and spices, without sugar, gluten, additives or potentially hamrful pesticides, and they are purely organic.

These products are pistachio/lemon biscuits with refreshing citrus aromas which provide for a special gastro experience, then cookies with the taste of true blueberries and cocoa, and orange cakes as the new dimension of the Zagreb company's chocolate gastro experience. In addition to these new products, the company can boast of new exports, relocating to a new production facility, as well as making use of incentives derived from EU funds.

"When we compare this year with last year, the company has been successful, marking its tenth anniversary on the Croatian market, presenting a new line of products that are carriers of international quality certifications, EU incentives and new exports. When it comes to revenue and sales, we're satisfied with our growth of about 40 percent,'' Stavljenić noted, adding that the Zagreb company's growth is a consequence of expanding the product line, and some recently contracted exports to the German market.

The ability to wthdraw funds from EU funds is of great importance to this Zagreb company. All the money they have withdrawn has not been used for machines and the like, but for the continual improvment of product quality.

"We've got money for new production process certification and for the website, which is important to us because it has a web shop built in. In addition, we've signed up for a bid for internationalisation, which means presentations at foreign fairs in Sweden and in England. I believe that we'll get the chance because we've passed the first phase. So far, we've withdrawn 470,000 kuna from EU funds, and if our bid for internationalisation goes through, that would make it an additional 200,000 kuna because in this project, we put four fairs in the two countries,'' added Stavljenić, stressing that consumers have to be offered more than just the same old story on both Croatian and foreign markets.

"We have been certified for at least the first year, with 85 percent of the grant, which is significant. We hope that with commercialisation and a higher export frequency, which is the intention, that it will be able to continue funding itself," said the director. There are currently six people employed in the company, and due to increased needs, which are mostly seasonal, they hire more part-time workers.

"In line with the expansion of the production program in Croatia and the opening of new export markets, we will increase this figure to match an adequate workload increase," added Stavljenić.

As stated by Stavljenić during the first quarter of 2019, the Zagreb company plans to introduce a line of yet more new products, and their products are expected to emerge on yet more new export markets. In addition to the shelves across the Republic of Croatia and other specialised stores which sell healthy and homemade food, Green and More's products are available through webshops and can be purchased in Germany, Bulgaria, Macedonia, and soon in the United Kingdom and Qatar.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business and Made in Croatia pages for much more on Croatian companies, products and services, as well as doing business in Croatia, and the business and investment climate.

Click here for the original article by Lucija Spiljak for Poslovni Dnevnik

The Vukovar company Code Consulting was proclaimed the best small company this year in Croatia, the winner of the Golden Kuna from the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK). They remain unprecedented in developing advanced IT solutions.

As Sergej Novosel Vuckovic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 21st of December, 2018, one of the 500 fastest growing technology companies in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, according to Deloitte's criteria, one Vukovar company stood out, and as it was voted as the best small company by the Croatian Chamber of Commerce, it was recently awarded the prestigious Golden Kuna (Zlatna Kuna) award.

The Vukovar company in question is Code Consulting which deals with software development and mobile applications (apps). Despite the fact that that in terms of growth, this company ''exploded'' by 545 percent and now also has the primacy in the category of small Croatian companies, its founder and director Saša Solomon doesn't seem to be all that phased.

"I don't consider that as a crown of work, but more like recognition that we do what we do well, and that we're going in the right direction, we aren't bothered about lists and prizes, but we're delighted to be recognised by the big players. We're still too young to be given a crown,'' said Salamon.

Salamon is a young entrepreneur whose personal profile on the Code Consulting website says that his the favourite book is the classic Little Prince and his favourite fim is the Matrix. In addition, he has more than fifteen years of experience in software development and system administration under his belt, and he continues to get excited by all new technologies and challenges. Code Consulting was founded in Vukovar, which is otherwise Salamon's hometown, back in 2012. Salamon brought the company up to the status of a desirable and trusted partner working for the American market, where it mainly exports its program products.

The slogan for this Vukovar company is Let the computer do the job, which means that they are running technologically advanced solutions, just by applying the knowledge of people in Vukovar.

"We cover all stages of development, from planning and technical design with the client, UI/UX design, development, testing, and infrastructure, so that we can provide a full service to our customers, but I don't think we are specialists for a specific area, we mostly work on big, long-term projects, projects which are somehow related to medicine and regulated software, but we're not exclusive. What works well for us is to work on smaller projects for a long time, with customers who have a vision and are ready to accept suggestions and criticisms.

We're usually their extended team and we're involved in making technical decisions and consulting on ways of getting things done, team organisation, everything,'' explained Salamon when talking about the work methodology within this Vukovar company, which cooperates mainly with clients over in America.

The list this company cooperates with includes, among others, Varian Medical Systems, the world's leading manufacturer of medical devices and cancer treatment software, Glocco, which develops modern anti-diabetes solutions, then the University of California in San Diego.

When asked about the company's earnings and whether or not it continues to grow, Salamon doesn't mention the actual figures, but notes that he's satisfied with the rate of growth. It's going at its own pace, revenue increases year after year, but growth itself is a bit slow because they are somewhat limited by the number of people who can work in the team. 

According to the Poslovna.hr portal, this computer consultancy business had revenues of 11,693,874 kuna last year, and it has been operating with a profit over the last two years (in 2017, revenues amounted to 2.99 million kuna), which is on a very steady upward path.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business and Made in Croatia pages for much more on Croatian companies, products and services, doing business in Croatia, and the overall business and investment climate.

Click here for the original article by Sergej Novosel Vuckovic for Poslovni Dnevnik

One Croatian company has developed a type of artificial intelligence purely for hotels, and as of next summer, various hotels belonging to the Jadranka Group will have the brand new system made available for their guests from around the world.

''Alexa, what can I do today?'' a guest of the Lošinj Bellevue Hotel will soon be able to ask.

''You can go and visit Susak and Ilovik, or visit the wellness pool. In the evening, I'd suggest going to the Matsunoki Japanese restaurant,'' Alexa, Amazon's virtual assistant, will respond.

As Novac.hr/Filip Pavic writes on the 10th of December, 2018, no, we're not talking about some dreamlike hotel in the year 2048, but about 2019's tourist season in the hotel accommodation belonging to the Jadranka Group. This Croatian hotel company, will become the first in Croatia, and in the world, to introduce a special type of ''hotel artificial intelligence'' to its accommodation facilities.

"We've created a system of artificial intelligence that will give to each guest, in a given moment, taking into account the enormous amount of data, a prediction of the type of content and services the hotel has that they might be interested in," explained Marko Lukičić, a member of the board of directors of the Jadranka Group, who is also the co-founder of Acquaint, the Croatian company which thought of and then designed this artificial intelligence system, which is solely for hotels.

As has been said, the whole system, which is currently called Amenity Recommender, is fully functional and is currently being tested in five hotels belonging to the Jadranka Group on the island of Lošinj - The Bellevue and the Alhambra, which are both five-star facilities, as well as in Aurora, Vespera, and Punta, each with a four-star rating.

''The plan is to equip the rooms of Hotel Bellevue with Amazon Echo, which are speakers through which the guest can talk to Alexa the virtual assistant, before the next tourist season. She will ''lend'' her voice to our artificial intelligence system. We will also connect the system with the hotel TV system and customer relationship management system (CRM) to be able to communicate with the guest across all channels,'' Lukičić added.

Namely, this hotel artificial intelligence system will be a kind of virtual consultant and tourist guide that will try to predict what the guest wants to see and experience while on holiday. Excursions, restaurants, museums, wellness, diving courses, massages, yacht rentals, etc.

The ''virtual receptionist" will choose three specific recommendations for the guest among the 750 available services, taking into account enormous amounts of available data. Among other things, the age, sex, country of origin of the guest, as well as who they're with on holiday, the room in which they're staying and the which period in which it is will be taken into account to provide the best recommendations. As extensive as that is, that is not all. The system will also ''keep its eye'' on the weather and change the offers recommended should the weather take an unfavourable turn.

''It's important to emphasise the fact that this artificial intelligence deals with anonymous guest information and based on this data, it is not possible to detect the guests' identity. It doesn't accumulate data, it simply processes it,'' explained Lukičić, noting that the rules of the Personal Data Protection Act (GDPR) will be absolutely respected.

The constant advancing of technology has been bringing in the question of just what will happen to staff, human staff, that is, who used to be the ones to perform such tasks. Will they be replaced by artificial intelligence? No, says Lukičić, stating that the intentions behind this innovative invention were never to remove the need for a human touch in this industry.

''The receptionists will have a key supervisory role, and they'll also get acquainted with artificial intelligence with courses. Provided with information, they will be able to offer a more quality service and create an even better experience for the guest,'' added Lukičić.

Otherwise, the whole story came to light just two years ago. Back then, Lukičić, as the responsible person for the digital transformation of the Jadranka Group, was given the opportunity to test his ​​artificial intelligence idea which has been ''seducing'' him continually from back in his student days spent at FER.

"When we began with that whole story, of course, we tried to find an already finished solution. We contacted companies which already have their own artificial intelligence platforms, such as Google, IBM and Microsoft, but we've come to the conclusion that they could only offer us generic intelligence or a chatbot. We needed something much more precise,'' recalls Lukičić. His list of criteria for the hotel system of artificial intelligence was highly specific and seemingly impossible to reach at the time.

"We were looking for a company that had profound expertise in hotel industry, expertise in machine learning and data knowledge, as well as programming, to make us a special type artificial intelligence. As expected, we couldn't find such a company,''

Lukičić realised that in order to truly get their hands on what they needed, they had to set up their own company that would bring all these skills together properly. In other words, start completely from scratch. He readily admitted that after this Croatian company was created, the actual process of developing artificial intelligence was a painstaking one.

''A lot of statistics, linear algebra, learning, programming, studying, and discussion were needed to eventually have a very small number of code lines. And, there you go, the artificial intelligence was born. But with the science-fantasy part of the story, there was also a business story,''

According to Lukičić, besides its futuristic possibilities, artificial intelligence also provides the possibility of raising hotel revenues in a very specific way. Namely, artificial intelligence of this kind requires very little investment and relies solely on customer spending. There is no need to expand accommodation capacities or raise prices, which are the traditional ways in which to raise revenue. The goal, he says, is to increase the overall value of the facilities through subtle content delivery, without aggressive and offputting sales pitches and a bombardment of offers.

''According to our tests, in regard to a four-star luxury hotel on the island of Lošinj, which has very low maintenance costs, the profits after the introduction of artificial intelligence doubled,'' stated Lukičić, noting that the benefit will depend on a number of factors, such as the type of hotel, its existing maintenance costs, as well as any planned investments for the future.

As far as further plans are concerned, Lukičić hopes that by the end of the year, Acquaint, which currently has only six employees, could sign a global agreement to introduce their system to some European and Asian hotels.

''We're already working with Oracle engineers to create a certified interface for our product. That would make Oracle one of our sales channels,'' says Lukičić, referring to the Croatian company's collaboration with a multinational IT company. They are also in contact with Amazon, the largest e-merchant whose voice technology is being used already, but for any type of official co-operation, he will have to open an office across the pond in the United States.

"All this gives us enough arguments to say that what we do makes sense even though we're currently a research and development company and we aren't making any revenue," Lukičić concluded.

Make sure to stay up to date with more information on Croatian companies, products and services, as well as the business and investment climate in Croatia by following our dedicated Made in Croatia and business pages.

Click here for the original article by Filip Pavic for Novac.hr/Jutarnji

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 3rd of December, 2018, over the past five years, ENNA has become a regionally recognisable Croatian company, strongly positioned in the field of energy, logistics, distribution and infrastructure, making a name for itself as a very serious, integrated logistic operator unique in the region.

While news about the emigration from Croatia and especially from Slavonia continues to depress the masses everyday, for the Vukovar-based Energia naturalis group (ENNA) in 2018, positive news about new investments and good business results came about. Engaged in the energy sector, the company decided to take advantage of the plethora of benefits of the common European energy market which opened up to Croatia after joining the European Union. They spent years learning about other markets and were intensively preparing, and the results of trade on the aforementioned common European market came in 2017, and eventually reflected in some excellent business results.

The headquarters of ENNA lies in the Eastern Croatian city of Vukovar, and it continues to successfully operate through companies located in Hungary, Switzerland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Slovenia.

Their success is based primarily on a wealth of knowledge, this young and ambitious team are oriented towards the digitalisation of the processes that take place within the company. In a way, ENNA represents a new generation on the Croatian business scene, recognising opportunities in a liberalised and growing integrated common European market. Thanks to this, this Croatian company achieved an incredibly impressive 1.2 billion euro in consolidated revenues last year.

Over the past two years, ENNA has invested more than 78 million euro into its business, strategically deciding on investments which make the most out of the synergistic potential within their own company portfolio. This year, they have continued to invest in rail freight and in the Port of Ploče, ESCO, various renewable energy sources, and energy trading, in which they remain the most successful. The ENNA ESCO company is currently completing the energetic reconstruction of a general hospital in Varaždin, and the energetic renewal of the police academy building in Zagreb is still ongoing. At the same time, in the Vukovar economic zone, the cogeneration plant for the production of electricity for biomass - ENNA biomass Vukovar and the new PPD business building, are now being completed.

The confirmation of their serious position is certainly proven by the collaboration with globally successful foreign partners. This Vukovar-based Croatian company has cooperated with VTTI, one of the largest operators and owners of oil storage terminals in the world, with Gazprom in the natural gas trade, and with INA, they're developing a strategic partnership in the Petrokemija recapitalisation project.

The ENNA Group is in an intense digitalization process, with particular attention being paid to the education of its employees, through its own education and training system.

The real core of Energia naturalis is a PPD group that deals with the import, sale, supply and continued distribution of natural gas, and that story is one of seventeen long years of unwavering persistence.

As stated, that story started about seventeen years ago, PPD has been operating since 2001 and its beginnings are related to obtaining gas concessions in the town of Vukovar and nine municipalities in the wider area of Vukovar-Srijem County. The result is them becoming the 100 percent owner(s) of this high quality distribution network in a country that is entirely built on private investment.

Their capital was already over 100 million kuna, while their annual income was 50 million kuna. Over the last ten years, the company has managed to gain more than 13,000 permanent customers. The opening of the gas market, marked up as one of the conditions for Croatia's accession to the European Union, finally occurred in 2012, with Croatia joining the bloc the following year. PPD welcomed the move, armed with the knowledge and experience of the neighbouring Hungarian market which they had been constantly visiting and studying for years before.

Since then, their revenue has increased significantly, and their interest has increased alongside that revenue growth. In the ENNA group, which is the owner of PPD and twenty other companies, 300 people are employed, and that is a figure which continues to rise.

Special engagement in the Vukovar region is considered a socially responsible business, in which ENNA and PPD participate through the continuous training of their employees and the New tomorrow (Novo sutra) foundation, which invests in socially useful projects in Slavonia and in scholarships for Slavonian students.

In addition to investing back into their own business and employees, they also invest in sport - and are the proud sponsors of successful clubs such as RK PPD Zagreb and the ENNA Vukovar women's volleyball club. Thus, in addition to achieving excellent results, this Croatian company can also boast of investing in children and young people through some of the things that mean the most to them.

Make sure to follow our business and Made in Croatia pages for more information on Croatian companies, Croatian products, and doing business in Croatia.

As Suzana Varosanec/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 29th of November, 2018, Business Intelligence (Poslovna inteligencija), the leading company for the implementation of analytical and strategic ICT consulting in Southeast Europe, is planning to take its business across the Atlantic to the North American continent, most likely to Canada, in a move which would be the next big step for the Croatian ICT company following the opening of their offices in two major European cities, London and Vienna.

The bold plan was confirmed by the president of the management of the aforementioned Croatian ICT company, Dražen Oreščanin, who Poslovni Dnevnik caught up with while he was on an official trip to Canada, where the Croatian-Canadian Economic Forum in Toronto was held. He was heading there as part of visit of numerous Croatian businessmen, which had already been reported by the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK).
 
What are your estimates of the possible effects of the visit of our economic delegation to Canada?

Every step we made towards developing cooperation is a good step, and can make moves. During this visit, several activities were held - a forum with the Canadian-Croatian Chamber of Commerce, B2B meetings with interested Toronto companies, a meeting with the local community of Croatian emigrants in Toronto, a visit to the Kitchener Technology Centre, Waterloo University, and two hi-tech companies in Toronto. Existing contacts are interesting, and time will show whether or not it will result in some specific work.
 
What are the impressions on strengthening economic cooperation?

I think there's a mutual interest, the current commodity trade is fairly small, and the numbers grow year after year. The new CETA deal makes it much easier to trade between the European Union and Canada, and the very fact that HGK and the ambassadors of both countries are actively involved in the organisation of such a visit speaks of mutual interest and great potential.
 
What do the Canadians generally say about the business climate and the benefits of starting a business and investing in our country?

The conversations I mainly led were focused on potential opportunities that we as a Business Intelligence have on the Canadian market, but I didn't  talk to my interlocutors about just those topics. Recently, the Canadian company Constellation took over IN2, one of the largest IT companies in Croatia, so it's obvious that investment interest exists.
 
What is the potential for further expansion of the company on the Canadian market, as well as cooperation with the companies over there?

I certainly see the potential, I hope that some of the conversations we've had to turn into some concrete opportunities and work. We're certainly planning to open up a company on the North American continent after we open companies in London and Vienna. What I've seen during this visit is truly exceptional and very competitive when compared to other places we're contemplating in the United States. We'll probably make a final decision based on the volume of work we have in a specific part of the US and Canada, and here, the potential for a company like Business Intelligence is definitely big.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business and Made in Croatia pages for more information on this Croatian ICT company, other various companies from up and down the country and their services.

Click here for the original article/interview by Suzana Varosanec for Poslovni Dnevnik

The Šibenik company, Capax, currently employs twenty people and, as they themselves have pointed out, are constantly looking for new, quality members of staff.

As Darko Bicak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 24th of November, 2018, after a successful September when they presented themselves as the only Croatian exhibitor at the prestigious Monaco Yacht Show, as well as managing to win the Golden Kuna (Zlatna Kuna) award for the best small company in Šibenik-Knin County, Capax opened its new headquarters in the historic Dalmatian city of Šibenik at the end of October this year.

Covering an area of 900 square metres and in addition to the brand new office, located at the new facility is a spacious service workshop and the only laboratory designed for engine oil analysis in the wider area. Capax already offers videocopy services, ultrasonic measurements, vibration analysis and thermography, but only now with the engine oil analysis specialist lab services has the Šibenik company managed to raise itself to yet another higher level. All these services will also open up new markets such as those which involve dealing with work boats, construction machinery, locomotives, windmills, and more.

While this is a Šibenik company, renovation works are carried out in nearby Trogir, within the Trogir Service Centre (SCT), with which Adria Docks has recently been established. Adria Docks manages renovations, optimises work processes, and ultimately controls the quality of the outsourced works. Within the framework of a long-term joint venture with the Trogir shipyard, in an area of about 250 square metres in the SCT area, lies the second part of Capax's investment, a test station for ship and industrial engines of up to 3.4 megawatts.

The total value of the investment is more than 15 million kuna, of which 5.5 million kuna are non-refundable funds from the European Structural Funds indended for the building of production capacities and the investment in equipment.

"Access to the client, respect for their demands and a true effort to achieve goals through project and refit management have inspired us as the leaders of the domestic yachting industry. We have well equipped and educated service teams for the most common types of marine engines, clutches and generators we find on larger yachts and on mega yachts. Our service engineers are ready to solve every problem, whether it's mechanical, or electrical, or something else,'' they state from Capax.

They add that for subcontractors, whenever possible, they use the services of other Croatian companies and hope that their success will stimulate other companies from the Croatian nautical sector to invest and develop themselves more. Capax was initially founded by three like-minded people, Mario Baljkas, Teo Petričević and Željko Tesi. As previously mentioned, they currently employ twenty people and are constantly on the look out for new, high quality staff. The company continues to record steady and stable revenue growth, and last year, those figures amounted to about 30 million kuna.

The clients of this Šibenik company are typically the owners of yachts, or the management bodies of yachts, as well as insurance companies and shipyards and marinas. They specialise in technical engineering, consulting and supervision in shipbuilding, diagnostics, servicing, and the repair of marine engines, their maintenance and inspection in terms of value assurance for insurance purposes, as well as for sellers and/or new owners.

They are the authorised servicing body of some of the most prominent marine engines in this segment of the market, including Caterpillar, MTU, John Deere, and ZF, in addition to Šibenik, they also have offices in neighbouring Montenegro and in Albania.

Otherwise, this year, Capax was the first Croatian company to appear at the Monaco Yacht Show after four years in early autumn. they were one of the 580 exhibitors from 38 countries around the world.

"We're very pleased with the effect of participating in the fair and we believe that it will bring us more ships to service and overhaul to Croatia, and we wish to encourage other domestic companies to join us in the coming years,'' Petričević said.

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Click here for the original article by Darko Bicak for Poslovni Dnevnik

“Croatia’s food and defence industries are already present in this market, and now is the time to step up with other sectors as well, such as IT, industry, robots and infrastructure. Today's cooperation agreement must be implemented, and our chambers will play a key role in that,” said vice-president of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) for international affairs and EU Ivan Barbarić, opening an economic forum in Dubai where he announced the establishment of the HGK's office in the UAE, reports Poslovni.hr on November 12, 2018.

Arab partners have demonstrated great interest in Croatian robots which will help them learn robotics. “I am convinced that in the period ahead, STEMI robots will teach people from UAE how to program, create 3D-models and their own mobile apps. I had a series of very specific conversations, which is why I am confident about the realisation of these business opportunities,” said Slobodan Velikić from STEMI.

Colliers International Croatia has been working on attracting investors from Dubai and Abu Dhabi for the last year and a half. “Some of the largest investors and developers, such as Damac and Emaar, have visited Croatia and recognised its potential. As a result of our efforts, we are in active negotiations and we expect to close several projects in the coastal areas and Zagreb,” said Vedrana Likan.

Atiq Nassib, vice-president of the Dubai Trade and Industry Chamber, said that the forum is the beginning of more successful and deeper cooperation between Croatia and the UAE. "We have fantastic relations with the Croatian government and we are grateful for its great support in the Expo 2020 organization. I am also pleased to see that the number of tourists from Croatia has increased to 14,000. We are businesspeople by nature and we are interested in business. We want to develop the agriculture and food industry, transportation, education. You are an interesting partner and we need to work together,” said Nassib.

Croatian Ambassador based in Egypt Tomislav Bošnjak announced the opening of the Croatian consulate in Dubai and stressed that Croatia has the capacity to participate in the development of the UAE. He pointed out that the two peoples agree in many ways and share the same values.

In addition to taking part in the economic forum, the economic delegation will also visit the international exhibition and the annual conference on oil and gas and energy ADIPEC 2018, where Croatian companies are participating.

The UAE boasts the most diverse and most open economy of the Middle East, political stability, diversified economy, favourable business climate and financial strength.

For more on Croatia and UAE, click here.