What is the future of Croatian companies after the withdrawal of their founders?

The issue of business transfer in Croatia will become increasingly relevant in the upcoming period, and the results of a large study by the Center for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises and Entrepreneurship (CEPOR), along with partners the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Crafts, the Croatian Employers’ Association, Privredna banka Zagreb d.d., and Deloitte Croatia, were presented to the public today.

– As many as 17,000 companies are owned by individuals over the age of 55, and we do not have a strategy to ensure that these companies survive in the upcoming period of 5 to 10 years. Over 180,000 jobs could be at risk if the business transfer is not more successful or faster – warned Zdenka Lončar, the former assistant minister of entrepreneurship and crafts.

Only thirty-three percent of companies are successfully in the process of transferring from one generation to another, noted Zoran Kureljušić, executive director of the Marketing Sector of Privredna banka Zagreb. He adds that the average client of his bank who has a loan is 52 years old, which is certainly the reason why it is important for the bank that transfers are successful.

– If the nineties were the years of establishment, now are the years of transfer – claims Kureljušić.

Launching campaigns aimed at raising owners’ awareness of the complexity of transfers, co-financing education and advisory services in the business transfer process, highlighting alternative solutions, and strengthening the quality and availability of advisory support for the business transfer process of small and medium enterprises are some of the recommendations that CEPOR proposes to ensure that the mentioned process goes as successfully as possible.

The presentation of the results of the research ‘Business Transfer Barometer Croatia 2015’ concluded with a panel discussion of members of the Lider Family Business Club, where the role of moderator was played by Lider’s editor-in-chief Miodrag Šajatović and Mirela Alpeza, director of CEPOR, with participation from Ilija Tokić, founder and president of the supervisory board of Tokić, Ivan Topčić, owner and director of TIM Kabel, Denis Nemčević, president of the management board of Spider grupa d.o.o., and Durđica Zagorec, founder of Biovitalis d.o.o.

– We have started the transfer, we will collaborate on projects with Deloitte and CEPOR, and the plan is not for our company to survive for the next 5 or ten years, but for a hundred years – stated Tokić.

Topčić, on the other hand, says that every time they decide to address this issue in more detail, but have not yet done so in the right way.

– This is the most complex problem faced by family businesses – believes the owner and director of TIM Kabel.

A member of the younger generation, those on whom the future of family businesses depends, Denis Nemčević, warned that in the transfer of a company, the focus should be on the management system of the company, not just on its successor. Nemčević also praised Lider, which warned his company during its family business conferences to act in a timely manner.

Durđica Zagorec and her company Biovitalis are successful examples of business transfer within the family.

– I completed my business at the age of 55, I left the company, and handed the business over to my daughter. The process did not happen overnight, but was a logical sequence of an active period of 5 years. I am perfectly satisfied with this state of affairs – concluded Zagorec.