September 17, 2020 - A conference of the TASKFORCOME team was held on Wednesday evening to encourage the development of foreign entrepreneurship in the City of Split. A one-stop-shop is an initiative intended for facilitating the process of opening a business for future citizens of Split.

Opening your company in a new country is very challenging, especially in Croatia, because of its exhausting bureaucracy. Everyone who tried to start their business here is familiar with filling out tons of papers and knocking on thousands of doors to get an answer. 

"We will try through this project to bring this whole process closer to you, to your friends or anyone who has some ideas about starting their own company, start-up, or becoming a social entrepreneur", Marin Urlić, from CEDRA Split, said.

Toni Jerković from the Service for International and EU Projects of the City of Split welcomed all gathered and explained that Split is not only a destination for rest and entertainment but can become the core of development and launching entrepreneurial ideas and ventures.

"We believe that Croatia, as part of the European Union, is developing and opening to foreigners that want to start their business here. In this project, the City of Split saw an opportunity to equip the now-abandoned space in the Multimedia Cultural Center (better known as the Youth Center) and open a one-stop-shop, and thus use the potential of empty public spaces for the benefit of not only immigrants but also the local population", he stressed.

Those interested will be able to get free advice and support in starting a business - from consulting tips for developing plans, strategies, and processes in their company to marketing, financial and other advice for the development of innovative products.

It is expected that the one-stop-shop will be equipped by the end of this year, and civil society organizations from the Youth Center Platform will also operate in that area.

Michael Freer, who moved from Great Britain to Split five years ago, shared his experience. He fell in love with the mountains, sea, and the climate and decided to stay. He used to work for CEDRA Split, but he left them for his own company, Ensoco. He wants to share the first-hand experience and help others with useful information when starting a business in a new environment where you know neither the language nor culture.

"Through this project, we want to help all foreigners from all countries from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Albania, China, from EU member states. Those from BiH and Serbia, as well as from Russia, know the language, they can communicate here, but they need advice on starting a business. We want to create an ecosystem between local people and foreigners to show that Croatia is not just a place for a week or two vacation but a great place to live", Michael explained.

Besides Michael, Sarah Dyson from Expat in Croatia and Nick from 45 degrees sailing also shared their experiences.

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August 31, 2020 - Despite the current Covid-19 situation, entrepreneurs continue to battle and innovate to push through 2020, and for any non-Croatian entrepreneur in Dalmatia, you’ll even get support to do so. Meet TASKFORCOME!

Grad Split, in partnership with Udruga CEDRA Split, has announced the launch of weekly one-stop shops to support any migrant (non-Croatian citizen) entrepreneurs start or develop their business this September.

The one-stop shops will provide free business-related mentoring and consultancy such as business and marketing strategy, financial planning, product development, and market research. The one-stop-shop will also connect budding and current foreign entrepreneurs to other business support providers such as lawyers, marketers, designers, and so on, to form a package of support in those risky early stages of the business.

They will be run by Michael Freer, originally from the United Kingdom, but now lives in Trolokve, Dalmatia where he runs his own social enterprise, ensoco, which offers similar services to social entrepreneurs or impact-driven entrepreneurs in Croatia and the UK.

If you’d like to get involved, then you can either join their Facebook Group or contact Michael Freer directly This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The overall project is called TASKFORCOME which is funded within the 3rd Call of INTERREG CE program within the priority 1 -Cooperating on innovation to make CENTRAL EUROPE more competitive. 

It addresses two of the major challenges of the EU and its member states: the socio-economic integration of immigrants and the potential of social innovation for social and economic development. It aims to increase the engagement and commitment of key actors in social innovation. 

The partners involved are to improve the skills and develop targeted support for migrants and social entrepreneurs, and elaborate policy frameworks and related funding instruments. More information can be found here.

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