In recognition of International Women’s Day, recognized on March 8 every year, Expat in Croatia wishes to honor and pay tribute to incredible female entrepreneurs across Croatia.
During January 2022, we accepted nominations of any business that is 50% or more female-owned and registered in Croatia. Our independent panel (see below) selected 35 extraordinary businesses from the pool of nominees. See full list of winners below.
Throughout the month of March, we shared their stories, including what they do, why they do it, and how they built their companies in Croatia.
Through this series, we highlighted how business owners have achieved success in Croatia and overcome the challenges of bureaucracy. In addition, we drew attention to smaller businesses that are just at the beginning of their journey.
Our illustrious panel
Lili Rodić (Entrepreneur)
Lili Rodić is a serial web entrepreneur, CEO at Ador web solution company from Zagreb since 1996. She has a good knowledge of team leading and developing web-orientated solutions for clients in short notice. Lili organized the first Girl Geek Dinner in Croatia (2010), formed CROWD and organized Fight Club events to promote IT industry (2007-2013) and since 2012 is co-founder of WECroatia (ASSOCIATION OF CROATIAN WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS) with whom she led education, lectures and recently Push-Up events in Croatian city libraries.
View LinkedIn profile here
Ida Hamer (Journalist)
Ida Hamer is a television news reporter at the RTL Croatia. Within the news, she has her own segment, a project called “Foreigner in Croatia ” where she makes reports and interviews foreigners who decided to make Croatia their home. Before starting her career, she lived in the UK for three years where she graduated Multimedia Journalism at the University of Northampton. She calls herself a dreamer and a coffee addict and loves creativity and positivity.
View LinkedIn profile here.
Don Markušić (Lawyer)
Don Markušić is the first Common Law Lawyer to be admitted to practice in Croatia and is one of the only lawyers registered with the Croatian Chamber of Law that has passed both the bar in Anglo-saxon law and Croatian law. He is Vice President of the American Chamber of Commerce, Transparency International and Expert Advisor on the Parliamentary Legislative Committee, President of ACAP Zagreb and a member of the Association of Croatian Defenders from Glina who are recovering from PTSD.
View his LinkedIn profile here.
2022 Winners
Tier 1
- Afrika u mom srcu – View promo
- Art Spark, obrt za ilustracije i grafički dizajn – View promo
- Atelier Peridot Dubrovnik – View promo
- Break Time – Handmade in Croatia – View promo
- Cro to Go – View promo
- Duga Toys – View promo
- Elixir Vitae Studio – View promo
- ERIKA obrt za snimanje važnih događaja – View promo
- Etno motiv, d.o.o. – View promo
- Fantastique, turistički obrt – View promo
- Flower Children – View promo
- Fokus fizio, vl. Karolina Jaksic – View promo
- Freskura, d.o.o. – View promo
- Fun2Learn, d.o.o. – View promo
- KIBERone – View promo
- Kištra, j.d.o.o. – View promo
- Konoba Stari Podrum
- Mikki’s Croatian Kitchen – View promo
- Mishka boutique Split – View promo
- My Dubrovnik, d.o.o. – View promo
- Obrt Studio – View promo
- Obrtničke usluge, ALDURA – SPORT – View promo
- Opg Martina Tuta – View promo
- Saltwater Remote Work & Lifestyle Specialists – View promo
- Shanti, vl. Korana Kolec – View promo
- Shhhefica, obrt za usluge – View promo
- Sino 21 – View promo
- Tamara obrt za turizam i turistička agencija vl. T. Jurković – View promo
- Vivero Plant Shop – View promo
- Vježbaonica, vl. Jelena Skender – View promo
Tier 2
Blue Bike Zagreb
View interview
Fierce Women, d.o.o.
Kazivačica (Secret Zagreb) View interview
Tabitha’s Glass Emporium View
View interview
Krilatica, obrt za edukaciju i savjetovanje
View interview
How the winners were selected
There are two tiers:
- Tier #1 – Young businesses
- Companies will be featured across Expat in Croatia social media (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram).
- Promotion will include a photo, a brief summary of the business and the owner and a call-to-action on how our readers can support them.
- 30 businesses will be selected for this tier.
- Tier #2 – Established businesses in operation for 5 years or more
- We will interview the owner about their business journey in Croatia, including photos and a call-to-action on how our readers can support them.
- This interview will be published on expatincroatia.com, and promoted within our newsletter and across social media.
- 5 businesses will be selected for this tier.
This series is open to all foreign and Croatian female entrepreneurs with a registered company or trade in Croatia. A business must be at least 50% female-owned to qualify.
Each business was awarded points by our panelists across 7 categories measuring uniqueness, sustainability, community involvement, and environmental consciousness. The businesses with the most points were selected.
We conducted interviews with the winning businesses during February, for promotion in March. You can see those interviews and promotions at the above links in the winners list.
