Large Companies Open to Collaboration with Entrepreneurs

The first speed networking event for female entrepreneurs and representatives of large companies was held in Zagreb. About ten companies learned through brief conversations what twenty Croatian entrepreneurs have to offer.

The Women in Adria business network organized a speed networking event for female entrepreneurs and representatives of large companies. The companies that showed interest in collaborating with entrepreneurs include DM, Privredna banka Zagreb, IBM, Falkensteiner, Westin, Megatrend, Poslovna inteligencija, and Crowe Horwath.

Each entrepreneur had five minutes to present their products and services to representatives of a specific corporation. It turned out that this was enough time for some of them to start concrete collaboration with the corporations.

– Speed networking is one of the most efficient ways for entrepreneurs to present what and how they work and to open up the possibility for corporations to include them among their suppliers. Namely, sending emails with offers rarely opens doors to procurement in large companies for entrepreneurs. Therefore, live contact is essential, but even then, entrepreneurs face significant obstacles. The procurement process of large companies is consolidated through group-level contracts, which does not favor entrepreneurs. Companies owned by women are often the smallest in the small business segment, which is often perceived as a disadvantage, although small companies, due to their size, are more flexible and innovative and can thus be synergistic partners to larger ones, said Ivana Matić, founder of the Women in Adria business network.

Selecting entrepreneurs as suppliers directly impacts the development of female entrepreneurship, but large companies also benefit from such procurement. Developing and maintaining supplier diversity increases large companies’ chances of hearing new ideas, applying new methods, and gaining access to new solutions to meet their customers’ needs. Such collaboration enables them to innovate, provide higher quality products, and deliver excellent service to the markets in which they operate. Companies that are leaders in social responsibility increasingly pay attention to supplier diversity because it brings greater profitability and significant benefits to the community in which the company operates.

In addition to networking, Women in Adria will also start the process of certifying companies next year as part of the Top Companies for Entrepreneurs project to give more entrepreneurs the opportunity to present themselves to large companies.