A Chance for New Partners, Joint Ventures and Export Markets - More than 600 Representatives of Small and Medium Business at the Regional Gathering of the ProCredit Bank Clients

In search of new business partners, export markets, but also investors, Serbian businessmen headed for Greece this week. The destination was Thessaloniki, which hosted the regional gathering of the ProCredit bank clients on 9 May. In only one day, more than 600 owners of small and medium businesses, from 9 countries of the region, had the opportunity to have a series of meetings with potential business partners from the area.

As many as 603 meetings were agreed on for 85 Serbian companies, which is to say that each representative had an average of 7 meetings.

Mlađan Ljubić, the manager of the "Ecoagri" company, came to Thessaloniki in search of an investor. The company from Bela Crkva deals in organic production of agrarian produce on the area of as much as 2,000 hectares. They are growing rapeseed, sunflowers, wheat, spelt, oat, barley, rye, soy, but they want to widen their array of products.

- Our exporting is regulated, we have signed agreements for sales in Switzerland and Germany, and we are searching for an investor in order to start producing flour and cold pressed oil, thereby making the system complete - says Ljubić in his interview for "eKapija".

Our interviewee adds that they find the Russian, Ukranian and Greek companies to be the most interesting to them, not only for the size of the markets in which they're doing business, but also for the initiative and search for the possibilities of investing money.

- It's too early to draw conclusions about solid agreements, the most important thing is that we've established contacts and that each of us has made at least 20 new acquaintances, of which four or five will no doubt prove to be serious about future negotiations about cooperation.

Svetlana Tolmačeva Dingarac, chairman of the board of ProCredit bank in Serbia says for "eKapija" that, in organizing such events, it is of great importance for the bank to find among its clients the companies with maximum compatibility, that is to say those that are potential buyers or procurers or clients who are in similar line of business with whom they can exchange experiences.

- In order to make the best connection, we had to gather information on each company about which markets it operates in, what it does, which markets it finds interesting. It all resulted in an event which was attended by clients from 9 countries, more than 600 companies and 700 participants which were paired for 3,500 meetings.

The "Energize" company, ProCredit bank's partner in solar stations used for irrigation, presented its colleagues from the region with solutions they had been applying with the intention of transferring their experiences to other markets as well.

- There's sunshine everywhere, especially in Greece, where most of the interest came from. We talked with companies from Romania, Albania and Macedonia and each meeting was quite useful. We exchanged contact information and come tomorrow we're beginning to put things into practice and search for new opportunities to improve our business activities - said Vladimir Popović, general manager of the company.

Blagoje Popović, a co-owner of "Karton val", one of the leading producers of cardboard sheets and boxes in Serbia has held 6 of 8 scheduled meetings.

- Everything functioned flawlessly. We had expected to interest potential partners because we have a world-class innovation - a collapsible cardboard box for fruits and vegetables which solved the problem of air transport and unprofitable delivery of cardboard packaging, and we managed to do so. Closing a deal is a long process, but we are satisfied with the responses we got, especially from the companies with which we are competing in a way. We know that healthy competition stimulates production, and I think we gave them further incentive with our product - Popović optimistically points out.

The inter-connecting between businessmen in Thessaloniki organized by the ProCredit group is a continuation of the positive practice of the B2B business meetings previously held in Serbia, Macedonia and Albania.

Business people from the areas of production, agriculture, services, and numerous exporting companies were not only given the opportunity to hold a series of meetings with potential business partners from the countries in the region, but also to exchange opinions with the leading people in ProCredit Holding, the majority owner of all ProCredit banks in the countries of the region. The significance of small and medium companies for the development of economy, financing energy-efficient solutions, new banking technologies and possibility of support to the business activities that this banking group offers, were just some of the themes presented by the ProCredit group representatives to the participants.

ProCredit Bank a.d. Beograd

ProCredit bank

ProCredit Holding

Ecoagri

Mlađan Ljubić

Svetlana Tolmačeva Dingarac

Energize

Vladimir Popović

Blagoje Popović

Karton val

B2B meetings of ProCredit bank clients