April 19, 2022 - Luka Soldo, a young entrepreneur from Podolje in Baranja, had the business idea of the year in 2021. Having developed from his desire to quit smoking, three years later he has managed to help others do the same with the help of his herbal tea, Herbie.

As SiB.hr writes, the Osijek-Baranja County prefect Ivan Anušić praised the efforts of the young entrepreneur Luka Soldo, a 22-year-old student who founded Herbie with the help of family and friends to raise awareness of the health effects of herbal teas.

Luka gave up cigarettes with the help of self-created herbal mixtures and took the opportunity to recommend the use of herbs in the form of tea, whose effects include significant cleansing of the lungs, calming the body, and strengthening immunity, thus helping reduce nicotine addiction.

The production process of the natural mixtures takes place completely by hand in Podolje in Baranja, and Luka and his family pay special attention to the storage and packaging of the plants, which do not contain nicotine, pesticides, or any other harmful additives.

"Luka is only at the beginning of his business and entrepreneurial career, yet he has already shown great talent and effort. He started very early with a commendable project that won the award for the best business idea in Croatia and proved to be a project of benefit to the whole community, which will also help the livelihood of his family and potential employees. I wanted to meet him, hear his thoughts and let him know that Osijek-Baranja County is there for him and other young people to help the realisation of their dreams and projects. Entrepreneurship, trade, and innovation are always in our focus because only by using our own resources can we build a strong economy”, the prefect stressed.

"I am grateful to the prefect and Osijek-Baranja County for their willingness to help me and other young entrepreneurs in the implementation of our projects. This is an additional reason to stay in the county and Croatia. The idea came to me because I wanted to help my own addiction to cigarettes, as well as other people's.

We started producing a herbal mixture without nicotine, i.e. tea, with which we want to still give people an opportunity to use herbs for relaxation, sending a message that the desire to relax and calm down is completely normal, but can be done differently. So far, we have received several awards that have given wind to our sails, and we desire to expand our business outside of Croatia and employ people from our county. In one year, we managed to win the award for the best business idea, expand to all five largest cities in Croatia and present our product at an international fair in Barcelona. Now our goal is to expand to other markets, primarily in Slovenia, and to become available in smaller cities in Croatia, where we are also recording customer interest.

Still, the most important thing we managed to achieve was having five people quit smoking. As for the ingredients we use, there are 13 plants, with the main ingredient being mullein (wild tobacco) accompanied by a few herbs to improve the taste, such as bearberry, raspberry, blackberry, and rose petals. The hardest part was getting the right flavours, and now after three years of trying all kinds of recipes, we know how to hit the right ones”, said Luka.

In addition to the above, it should be emphasized that Herbie was named the best business idea for 2021 in the Republic of Croatia and awarded 25,000 euros in the international competition of the Crown program of the Sisak-Moslavina Development Agency SIMORA. A total of 300 participants from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro took part in the project.

For more, check out our business section.

As much as people prefer to stick with the depressing stories of there being no jobs, or no workers, or whichever saga fits best with their coffee that morning, there are moves being made in the continental part of the country for the greater good, and one economic boost for Croatia is on its way, in the form of one of the largest tea factories in not only the region, but the whole of Europe.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 11th of December, 2018, the current plan is to allow for the completely uninterrupted operation of the factory in order to continuously deliver ready-made products to markets that have already been contracted.

In what is certain to be a significant economic boost for Croatia, in the Rakita business zone in Kladare, the Spider Group is building a large, modern tea factory worth 28 million kuna, in which as many as 400 million teabags will be packed annually. In addition, fifty new employees will also be sought and recruited. As mentioned, this factory will be the largest tea factory in the region and among the largest in Europe, according to a report from Glas Slavonije.

The Spider Group specialises in the processing of medicinal and aromatic herbs and the production of teas and preparations based on such herbs. All of the Spider Group companies - Spider Group d.o.o., Biofarma d.o.o., Dolla d.o.o., Jan-spider d.o.o., as well as Herbarium d.o.o., are integral parts of a solid business unit which produces high-quality, finished products on both the domestic and on international markets.

One of the main features of the Spider Group is intense growth and continued investment in technology, as well as infrastructure development, which confirms that previous investments made by the company are being continued forward with more new ones.

Back in 2016, an investment cycle of more than 15,000,000 kuna was completed, which directly strengthened the group's overall competitiveness on the world market. In mid 2018, a new investment was successfully launched, amounting to more than 28,000,000 kuna for the construction and the equipping of factories for the packing of teas in the Rakita business zone in Pitomača, according to Denis Nemčević of the aforementioned group.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business page for more news on the Croatian economy, as well as on doing business in Croatia and the country's overall business and investment climate.

A tale of smart investment and the proper use of EU funds.