On Monday 26 April 2022, a panel discussion was held on “How to turn the idea into reality?" with Doris Sošić, Head of Europe Direct Rijeka. Organizer of the panel, Start Up Association, brought together 14 participants, including representatives of existing and future entrepreneurs, the Polytechnic of Rijeka, the media and students.
At the beginning of the panel, each participant presented themselves in a few sentences. They described companies, associations, educational institutions under which they operate, in short their experience and their idea (if they own it). The panel consisted of two parts. The first part of the panel discussed the topic networking; how stakeholders can improve the local community through cooperation, and the second part was discussed how to turn an idea into reality (through a project, association or company).
The question with which the discussion was initiated was: Is Croatia a start-up nation?’. The participants concluded that the Croatian people love safety and are not prone to risk, but despite this, the participants noticed that startup workshops, business incubators and opportunities for entrepreneurial development are increasingly being organized in Croatia. They also concluded that young people today have more opportunities and opportunities than young people before (before about 20-30). The difference was due to the emergence of the Internet.
The question that followed was What are the challenges of entrepreneurs in Croatia?’. The answers were different: from problems with bureaucracy in the Republic of Croatia, the purchase of land for business operations that require land to perform activities, to problems in the entrepreneur himself. Discussion participants concluded that bureaucracy is a problem for them, but the more they are in business, the easier it is for them to deal with the issue of bureaucracy. A problem arises in the absence of information: which documents are required for the opening of trades and similar items. They find the solution on the CES website where they conclude that there is concrete information and in various groups on the Facebook platform where participants share their experiences with each other, which greatly facilitates their business. They point out that the Covid-19 pandemic has had a major impact on people-to-people relations because entrepreneurs do not socialize with each other and thus cannot exchange their experiences or connect with each other. But this panel is exactly what entrepreneurs need to connect. Participants agreed that self-employment funds pose a major problem to them because they do not cover all activities. Entrepreneurs have found a solution to this problem in adaptation. They try to focus the description of their activities on those falling within the activities covered by the self-employment fund. They conclude that an entrepreneur must be persistent and patient and that entrepreneurship is the way to solve problems. They point out that business incubators, such as PORIN, greatly facilitate the process of entering the market. They also point out that their experience in college has enabled them to easily overcome the problems they face, and state that professors continue to provide them with help after completing their studies.
The question arises as to whether incentives for undertakings are sufficient for an undertaking to operate or whether financing is a problem for undertakings. Entrepreneurs agree that state aid is sufficient for business, but also point out that aid is difficult to obtain due to the already mentioned bureaucracy.
Through experience, participants conclude that the disadvantage for banks in the RC is that it is easier to obtain a loan in a bank as a natural person than as a legal person.
They claim that it is easy to start a business, but it is difficult to survive, and that there is no company that has not been close to bankruptcy at least once.
Finally, the question arises. how important mentors are or how important their support is. This question is the only question that has divided the participants. It is concluded that the entrepreneur himself is the greatest support and that the importance of the entrepreneur plays a great role; how the role of parents represents mentoring at an earlier stage of life, and after that this role passes to teachers, professors. But they agree in one. Man will only look for a solution when the problem will arise and will develop through problem solving.
Since participants who are not entrepreneurs also participated in the panel, the question arises ,Is it better to work in one's own company or to be employed in someone else's? “. They conclude that both options have their advantages and disadvantages and that everything depends on the person as an individual. As part of this question, we also discussed how to gain additional knowledge for a job.
At the end of the panel, the participants conclude that in order to succeed, an undertaking must be realistic and objective. They suggest that before starting a business, an entrepreneur should work in several branches to see his abilities and that good health is the most important thing, so the entrepreneur must learn to cope with stress, because realistically, entrepreneurship is a stressful job.
After the end of the panel, there was socializing and networking of participants. Participants exchanged contacts and talked to each other.
