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.

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July 27, 2020 – The new website called Dorean Society is led by three young Croatian economic enthusiasts, Dorian Antešić, Filipa Topčić and Teodora Raguž from Faculty of Business and Economics in Rijeka. They aim to create a comprehensive place of courses, career topics, recommendations, reviews, and all information needed for Business and Economics students to have a successful career.

The website is completely in English because they plan to create a community of Business and Economics students worldwide. Also, they want to publish articles by international students, business people, and professors.

Therefore, as founder Dorian Antešić says, “students can have a look in the opportunities that lay all around the globe”.

Knowledge for today and tomorrow

At first, it was only Antešić who had this idea of helping other students, but soon he recruited his colleagues Filipa Topčić and Teodora Raguž from Faculty of Business and Economics in Rijeka to start working on the website.

The Student Council of the University in Rijeka helped them financially with, as Antešić calls it, the “seed” money.

Source: Pixabay

For now, they are researching general topics of needed skills for Business and Economics students, but their long-term plan is to do broader research, get involved in international projects, and even collaborate with universities and businesses.

“We are researching what these students need to know now and what they will need to know in the future,” says Antešić.

Lack of students’ interest

What made Antešić create a helpful website for students is the lack of motivation for studying Business and Economics. As he explains, a lot of them applied to these fields because they weren’t sure what to study and it made them very passive.

Just like a lot of other students in Croatia from different study fields, they are lost, they don’t know what to do after they graduate and “they aren’t very informed about their career options or development of their field in present and where it is going,” says Antešić.

Source: Pixabay

“Considering that Business and Economics students make up the biggest percentage of students, I think this needs to change. This high percentage of students who are lost, passive and unmotivated about their studies can be transformed into proactive students, who are willing to learn as much as possible about their studies, research what their interests might be, maybe even start their own company while they are studying,” Antešić points out.

Ambitious goals

On the other side, Antešić has been interested in finance, his field of study, for a long time. He was not like other students described above.

“Since the beginning of my university years, I was active in international organizations, writing, and leading projects. I knew what interests me in business, what I want to become (entrepreneur), and why,” Antešić confidently says.

The effort to share his motivation with other students by helping them seems very ambitious. Nonetheless, the Dorean Society’s efforts are directed to the schools and faculties too.

“We want to research what Business and Economics schools can do to give more value to students, how to make them more active on a class or other activities, and how to prepare for the present and future needs of the market and society overall,” explains Antešić.

Dorian Antešić, founder of the Dorean Society website / Source: Private archive

“My belief is also that improved financial knowledge makes people less manipulated by politicians and they become more active in civic life. They know the connection between what they pay in taxes and what service they get for that money. This is a huge problem in Croatia since people think that we have ‘free’ services like healthcare, education, pension. These services cost a lot of money and the benefit we get in return is not appropriate,” Antešić thinks.

The importance of financial literacy

Even though the website is intended for students of Business and Economics, other students can also find it interesting as the content will be of use to everyone.

“We will talk about skills that are useful to every student and every person in general, like financial management. They will have the opportunity to learn more about personal finances, how to earn more money, how to spend it efficiently, save it and invest,” explains Antešić.

One of their objectives is the increase in financial literacy among people, especially young people. Antešić considers financial literacy important for every person because everyone is dealing with money daily.

“Financial literacy is the ability to understand and effectively apply various financial skills, including personal financial management, budgeting, and investing. It helps individuals make better long-term life decisions and makes them financially sustainable,” explains Antešić, adding that people need to know how to manage money more efficiently.

Source: Pixabay