Stjepan Oreskovic speaks for Telegraf: When will businessmen stop being enemies of state in Balkans?

Photo: Samir Ceric Kovacevic

Businesspeople are the engine of any country's development, but their path to success is paved with many obstacles, often even in their own country where they should have the understanding.

The Balkans has a few that stand out and many more that belong to small and medium enterprises. Among them, there are owners of family companies, those who started from scratch, but also those who broke through within a group.

Somehow, over the years, that same Balkans began to interpret them as the enemies of the state. The Weekend Media Festival panel was dedicated to this topic, and on the sidelines of the forum we spoke with one of the best known people among businessmen, who is also, "on the side," a scientist.

Stjepan Oreskovic, the majority co-owner of M+ Group, spoke for Telegraf Biznis about how businessmen operate in this region, whether he feels the difference between domestic and foreign investors, what problems they face, but also offered solutions to the biggest problems in the region.

"A completely different world in Croatia are those companies and people who have succeeded in the world market. Most of them are completely independent. We operate in 59 markets, we have 9,000 workers, but all our revenues are linked to multinational companies, we don't depend on the dominant model in Croatia," says Oreskovic.

He adds that for success and overcoming difficulties, the most important thing is to be well educated, persistent and your own person.

The results of his company speak in favor of that - in the first quarter of 2021, it achieved record business results with a 24% increase in revenue to 192 million kunas (HRK, Croatian currency). At the same time, a strong growth in profitability was achieved, so EBITDA rose to HRK 34 million. They are also achieving huge success on the stock market.

The company is headquartered in Zagreb and operates in nine countries. In addition to Croatia, they are also present in Slovenia, Serbia, Turkey, US...

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• How did businesspeople become enemy number one in the Balkans?

- That is exactly what is changing. A whole new generation of businessmen is coming who work according to other principles and they are in all Balkan countries. It is something that makes me happy the most.

Sometimes we are unable to recognize the future in the present and gladly look to the past. I would say, that is one of our problems, that is, we are attracted to looking back and do not see fantastic companies in each of the countries, which operate in world markets. They employ top well educated professionals and young people.

I know a lot of them personally. It is a world that I would always like to talk about, instead about this love embrace of old businessmen who learned to work the old way, they are educated according to the traditional model and that is why they love the other side of that dance. I am optimistic about new businessmen because they are people who do not have problems, obstacles, nor prejudices about who is who, or from which country they come from, because they are actually world businessmen.

As one of our famous athletes said, "How can you expect me to be narrow-minded when I'm a world champion?" - these people are world champions and a great hope.

Photo: Matija Habljak/PIXSELL

• In Serbia domestic businesspeople are protesting because of the subsidies given to foreign investors, that is, their number. Do you feel that, is there a difference?

- We have 29 companies worldwide. Each of them pays taxes in the state where they operate and employs people from that state. In that context, it is a company from that country. During the coronavirus pandemic, we had a "live screen" that showed how a country behaves towards its partners in a crisis. The range of reactions was incredibly wide. We solved it by having the branch in Turkey work with the local administration, in Serbia, with the Serbian, in America as well, and so on.

That logic does not exist in life. If you ask workers in a company that is registered in Serbia, for example, they will tell you what is the only right thing. It is therefore unnecessary to impose any logic, which is not economic, related to market or taxes.

• Businesspeople I spoke with in the region mostly talk about three problems - workforce, logistics and rising prices of raw materials, do you have those problems?

- Workforce is the key. As we operate in the IT and HR services sector, we don't encounter raw materials, although I see that it is a huge economic problem around the world.

We work with huge global companies, we have a great demand for labor. If we were to say, "The problem in your country is the employability of people, or those who are not specifically trained for something. We guarantee that we will employ 500 people, let's go together." We will sign a contract, so that young people can get an education, learn a language, and they will not leave the country, because in the end, we offer you a job.

• Are you planning to expand your investment in Serbia?

- We are listed on the stock exchange and we must be careful and fair to investors, but there could be nice and pleasant news very soon.

(Telegraf Biznis)