It has been almost three years since entrepreneur Zvonimir Sedlić opened the first factory for proteins, starch, and fibers in Croatia in Novi Senkovac near Slatina, with an investment of 220 million kuna at the time, the largest in that industry to date. Through sustainable processing of beans, which he sources from numerous agricultural cooperative farmers in Croatia, products intended for the food industries in the European market are isolated. But why beans of all types?
– At Nutris, we have been developing a system from the beginning that looks at the entire food cycle, from seed to ingredient. Our approach is holistic: we connect regenerative agriculture, technological innovation, and circular production logic to create ingredients that are both functional and sustainable. Beans are the perfect plant for this model – they enrich the soil, require no intensive inputs, and fit excellently into crop rotations. Our cooperators apply practices that increase soil fertility, water retention, and biodiversity, and we extract proteins, starch, and fibers from those beans with high efficiency. Our process consumes more than 90 percent fewer resources compared to the production of dairy proteins, which means less water, less energy, and a drastically smaller carbon footprint. We recycle more than 80 percent of the water in the system, and by-products are returned to agriculture or the food chain – explains our interlocutor about their sustainable production process, which is not his first entrepreneurial venture.
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In 2019, he sold his company Invest Sedlić, which was engaged in the purchase and sale of grains, to Agrokom Natura, after which he quickly turned to developing a new business.
Business Turning Point
At the right moment, Sedlić recognized the importance of food production for reducing Europe’s dependence on imports, and the entire entrepreneurial story with bean isolate began, he admits, from his personal passion for food innovations, but also from the belief that Croatia can indeed be a leader in sustainable production.
– I grew up on a farm and have always been interested in how to better utilize what we have – fertile land, knowledge, and people. Europe is dependent on protein imports, and beans have proven to be the perfect crop: nutritionally rich and suitable for the soil and environment. Today, with the help of technology and natural processes, we transform beans into ingredients that form the basis of healthier diets – proteins, starch, and fibers – and we are building an ecosystem that connects agriculture and the food industry – explains this entrepreneur, who wants to create not only a sustainable product but also to establish a new, sustainable, and economically justified standard for food production.
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