Success of Canadian Croatians & challenges of Croatian entrepreneurs in Austria to be presented at Meeting G2.5

ZAGREB, 9 October 2019 – The 5th edition of Meeting G2 – Building business bridges – which connects Croatians abroad with people and business opportunities in Croatia – will be held at the congress centre Forum Zagreb from 4-6 November 2019.  

More than 200 participants are expected, including around 70 successful business people of Croatian descent from abroad, who will, among other things, have the opportunity to learn about the success of Canadian-Croatian Business Network (CCBN) and the challenges of Croatian entrepreneurs in Austria in two panels during the programme. 

CCBN was established to improve and strengthen the relationship between Canadian and Croatian business people seeking to promote and expand potential economic opportunities between the two countries.  

One of the panel participants is Joe Bašić, president of the Canadian-Croatian Business Network, who will present their work and business success at the Conference. In the last nine years, since the inception of the network, trade between Canada and Croatia has increased more than five times. From 2010 to 2019 trade has gone from HRK 127 million to HRK 635 million. Croatia has become one of Canada’s main trade partners and has the largest trade exchange of all countries in the Southeast Europe region. 

“CCBN members are distinguished and successful business people, professionals and entrepreneurs who live and work in Croatia and have direct experience working in Canada. This experience enables them to truly understand the obstacles that may arise, and also provides the expertise and knowledge to overcome these barriers to succeed. I believe that there will be further growth in trade, especially on the basis of the signed Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which removes trade barriers in many sectors,”said Joe Bašić.  

Along with Joe Bašić, the panel will feature Denis Rukavina (Metronet), John Gasparac (PWC), Adrian Beljo (Edward Bernays College of Communication Management) and Dennis Zovko (Importanne Resort Dubrovnik) who will talk about concrete, successful examples of collaboration, as well as offer thoughts on how to help entrepreneurs from both countries improve cooperation.

On the panel organised by the Association of Croatian Entrepreneurs in Austria, experiences and challenges of working in Austria will be discussed. Several successful Croatian entrepreneurs coming from very demanding sectors such as IT, law, hospitality and consulting will offer their thoughts and advice. Mario Harapin (Delikro.at), Domagoj Dolinsek (Planradar), Bernard Batinić (Heptabit), Tomislav Stipic (Artus), Tanja Škorić (Startaparat) and Lucija Veličan (Talentarium) will share their entrepreneurial stories.  

“Austria represents an extremely strong market economically and the opportunities offered to Croatian companies in the Austrian market are great. For this reason, the Association of Croatian Entrepreneurs in Austria seeks to connect economies and facilitate business for Croatian entrepreneurs in Austria. We currently have 150 members, most of which come from the construction, metal-processing, tourism, IT and hospitality sectors where we achieve the best business results. We are proud that the members of our Association continue to actively cooperate with the Croatian market, “said Niko Ilic, President of the Association of Croatian Entrepreneurs in Austria. 

Meeting G2.5 is held under the auspices of the President of the Republic of Croatia, Kolinda Grabar Kitarović who will open the Conference.

Special emphasis will also be placed on presenting successful Croatian franchises and a programme called “A Moment for Inspiration”.  

On the first day, there will be a presentation of successful Croatian franchises and pitch sessions for startups, while the second day will feature five panel discussions, which will, in addition to the above, discuss the success of Croatian designers in the world, successful Croatian exporters and current affairs in the IT sector. Between the panels, participants will have the opportunity to get acquainted with several inspirational business stories. Highlighted will be Ivan Mrvoš the man behind the world-renowned smart benches, and duo Hrvoje Busic and Tomislav Anadolac who produce the best gin in the world. 

Ivan Mrvos’ smart bench in Split (Photo: Include)

Božo Skoko, a professor at the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Zagreb, will talk about the development of the identity and brand of the Republic of Croatia, and Natko Vlahović about the importance of Croatia’s presidency of the European Union. 

More information about the Conference can be found on the website and YouTube channel.