Triathlon of Croatian Business: They Run, Swim, Cycle, and Wait for the State

Croatia runs fast, but it could be even faster. That message was directed at Prime Minister Andrej Plenković during the ‘Entrepreneurs’ Day’ organized by the Croatian Employers’ Association, along with clear measures that can be taken for Croatia to be perhaps not as fast as Usain Bolt, but to be at the level of a top triathlete.

And when you think about it, it is indeed easier to compare Croatian entrepreneurs to enthusiasts who prove to themselves that they can run, cycle, and swim simultaneously more for fun than for results than to the fastest man who has won everything that can be won.

From the podium, Irena Weber, the CEO of HUP, clearly made it known to the Prime Minister that his speech was not forgotten when he presented the report on the Government’s work in the Croatian Parliament, in which he mentioned how some entrepreneurs exploited inflationary pressures to increase profits and when he stated that ‘not everyone showed social responsibility and solidarity,’ and he further spiced it up with a story about excessive salaries for the CEOs of the largest companies.

Perhaps it was just a well-timed remark to ignite parliamentary debate, but in the context of the real economy, and real entrepreneurs, including the CEOs of the most powerful companies, it left a bitter taste. Because it is easy, almost seductively easy, to point fingers at profits, especially when it sounds politically grateful, but it is harder to admit that those same companies fill the budget, pay salaries, and carry investment cycles on their backs. And when other sources dry up, that sector will push GDP…

And that is why it is good to remind the Prime Minister that Croatian entrepreneurship is not a humanitarian organization, but a system that functions as well as the state allows it: without administrative barriers, with predictable policies, and with an environment that does not hinder investments, exports, and new jobs. And that is that. Weber’s response, although spoken measuredly, was actually very precise: if we are already talking about responsibility, then it must be mutual. The state cannot expect economic growth while simultaneously sending contradictory messages: one that encourages investments and another that discredits those who actually carry out those investments.

Entrepreneurs, of course, are not saints, but they are not exactly the usual culprits either. They are actors who react to the conditions set by the state, and those conditions include taxes, regulations, administration, and political stability. When the state makes those conditions predictable, both profit and growth and solidarity, if you will, look quite different.

In other words: the problem is not who has profit, but whether the state has a strategy. If it does, then events like the Government’s work report do not turn into a public remark for business, but into the beginning of a conversation about what needs to change for Croatia to finally stop holding itself back. And that may be the biggest challenge: to stop expecting the economy to grow despite the state, and to start building models in which it grows together with it.

The state must decide whether it wants entrepreneurs who apologize for success or those who produce it. And as long as that dilemma remains unresolved, all this we are talking about will not be an economic sprint or a triathlon, but running in place. The only question is whether the Prime Minister has heard all those messages. If not, then the problem is greater than any discussion about profit, because a state that does not listen to those who feed it cannot expect to run any faster than its own excuses.