[POWERFUL BUSINESSWOMEN] Vesna Ramljak: Boldness and Courage at the Beginning, Later Experience and Caution

Vesna Ramljak, the most powerful businesswoman in Croatia, is the owner and director of Sancta Domenica from Sveta Nedelja. An authorized importer of Panasonic, Sony, Samsung, LG, and PlayStation, she markets her products through a chain of specialized stores and through a web shop. With revenue exceeding 900 million kuna, Sancta Domenica is the largest Croatian company in exclusively female ownership and leads the list of the top one hundred ‘female’ companies, which we publish in the new issue of Lider.

Over the past 20 years, the owner has brought her company to a convincing leadership position in the extremely demanding Croatian consumer electronics market, where many brands and retailers have rapidly grown but also fallen even faster. Vesna Ramljak has managed to avoid these traps and continuously adapt to the market. Thus, now, during the epidemic, there is a clear shift towards online trading. In the most turbulent year, she found time to answer a few questions.

How did you manage to go from zero to nearly a billion kuna in revenue and a leadership position in the consumer electronics market?

We have 20 years of dedication, perseverance, and genuine love for the work we do. Over 20 years, the company goes through various challenges, grows, and develops under given circumstances. Our advantage has been a rather conservative approach to finances, allowing us to survive the crisis period and stably welcome the period when market growth began. We have planned our investments carefully to ensure stable growth.

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—How is constant growth possible in an extremely turbulent sector, with numerous challengers, as well as companies – from global brands to local representatives – that collapse overnight?

We have tailored our offerings to the Croatian consumer in such a way that they can shop in a pleasant atmosphere, whether in physical retail or online, always with competitive offers and, most importantly, with the most diverse payment methods, thus bringing luxury products closer to the widest circle of consumers. With top-notch service at the sales points as well as after purchase, customers have recognized us, and in 2019 we further expanded our product portfolio as well as our sales locations. It is also worth emphasizing the trust we have gained from the principals we have successfully represented for many years in the Croatian market.

Is the ‘female business handwriting’ (if you believe it exists) an advantage or a disadvantage in all of this?

Looking at the success of a company led by a woman can certainly be encouraging for young women to dare and embark on their own entrepreneurial ventures, which is happening more and more frequently. I am always happy to help with advice and support, although everyone’s path and circumstances are different. I can say that in my case, a certain kind of boldness and courage was decisive, at least in the beginning, and later, of course, a lot of experience and caution.

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