Novska has always been known as a town surrounded by a forest rich in oak and ash, and the population has long been engaged in forestry-related businesses. Today, the wood industry remains the most important economic sector in this westernmost town of Slavonia, where several sawmills operate. One of them, symbolically named after the Latin name for oak – Quercus, has been successfully operating for over 30 years and is now one of the largest producers of ash wood products in Europe.
It exports its wood products made from oak and ash – laminates, elements, country flooring, wood chips, tables, RUF briquettes, firewood, and sawn timber – to markets across Europe and beyond, and has significant drying capacities in 12 dryers.
The company traces its beginnings back to 1989 when Ante Mijić, the founder of Quercus, opened an additional business alongside his permanent job at the time. Like most locals, Mijić would go to work in the forest after his job, but he had a deep understanding of wood quality and processing methods, which made him well-known.
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Together with his wife, he managed the business in those early years, and in 1992 he registered a craft for the production of sawn timber and wholesale trade in construction materials and sawn timber. He opened his own sawmill in the village of Bročice near Novska, which still attracts the attention of drivers on the city bypass on the way to the Jasenovac border crossing, in 1998. Until then, log cutting was done at other sawmills in the vicinity of the town.
From the Beginning Together
Since then, modernization and development of the company, along with the expansion of the product range, have brought their quality to global recognition, but one thing has remained the same. Throughout all these years, the company has been in the hands of the family. Currently, nine members of the immediate family work in the company, already in the third generation. As explained by Ella Jagodin, HR manager at Quercus and one of the youngest family members, the transfer of business from the first to the second, and then from the second to the third generation has not been difficult at all.
– Our parents have always worked together with our grandfather, who always understood the younger generations and was aware of all the benefits that young people bring to the company. By 2008, the company was 100 percent owned by Ante Mijić, and when he decided to retire, ownership was divided among his daughters, the current directors Anita Cink and Andreja Crnojević, each receiving 30 percent, while he still owns 40 percent of the company. The transfer of business from the second to the third generation is still ongoing, and the second generation works in the company, but we all get along well, respecting the opinions of the older ones, as well as the older ones respecting the younger ones, so it is functioning well for now – describes Jagodin the working atmosphere at the sawmill, which employs a total of 110 workers, with plans for further hiring.
