Aero East Europe wins 2013 Aurea Investment of the Year Award presented by eKapija business portal

Milorad Matic and Bozidar Laganin (Photo: ekapija.com)

Aero East Europe is the winner of this year`s investment of the year award Aurea. This factory from Kraljevo launched a new airplane in 2012 - SILA 450 C, which is specially adapted to the ultralight aircraft market.

The main award was presented to the winner by SIEPA CEO Bozidar Laganin in the presence of numerous representatives of diplomatic corps, business community and the media at the awards ceremony at Aeroklub restaurant in Belgrade.

Milorad Matic, director of the Aero East Europe company, expressed gratitude to eKapija and pointed out that they were highly honored to receive that award as Aurea promoted real values.

- Winning this award is a message for us that it is worthwhile to make long-term plans, even in these difficult times, because results will definitely come sooner or later. Our new aircraft SILA 450 C, which is completely designed in line with special LTF-UL standards, has won a German certificate that will be officially handed to us on April 24th at the largest international aviation fair. We have inked an agreement worth more than EUR 1.2 million with a German distributor for 27 SILA 450 C airplanes. Our market is whole Europe, and we also negotiate with prospective buyers from Australia, America and Africa.

In addition to the main award, two special awards were also presented today. The Best Innovation Award went to the BSK company from Obrenovac for its harvester that uses air to pick berry-like fruits - KOKAN 500S.

(winners with the director of SIEPA)

The jury had a difficult task, and this was the first time that two Best Social Utility awards were presented. One of them went to Kirka Suri for its micro biomass burning plant and the other was presented to Jugo-Impex E.E.R for its recycling plant.

- Last year was very difficult for the entire business community in Serbia, in the region as well as globally. It is a real pleasure to see that even in this situation, there are companies that operate well and invest in the projects we can only be proud of. It is also great to see the courage shown by Aero East Europe when comparing its aircraft made in Kraljevo with Cesna and when expressing readiness to compete with such giants in the global market. We could say similar things about all other shortlisted projects for the 2013 Aurea Award. The mission of Aurea is to help the promotion of all these projects, and we hope that the news about them will reach those creating business environment in Serbia as projects like these represent a ticket for a brighter future of our country - said eKapija CEO Zdravko Loncar.

This year`s partner of eKapija on the Aurea project is Novi Sad-based IT company M&I Systems, Co. Group. Dragoljub Prijic, global services director at the company, said that the operations of M&I Systems, Co. Group had been based on innovations, advanced technologies and original products and solutions for more than two decades.

(SIEPA Director Bozidar Laganin, finalists, jury members and eKapija representatives)

- We have accepted eKapija`s invitation to become its partner on the Aurea project because we want to support all the projects appreciating the initiative and aspiration to create new values and make contribution to the community through business activities. We hope that this year`s shortlisted projects will additionally motivate the creators of innovative ideas to succeed and persist in their plans, which is why they deserve the attention of their respective industries as well as the entire business environment.

The business portal eKapija presented the Aurea Award for the fifth consecutive year.

Out of over 30 projects that applied for the 2013 Aurea Award, eight entered the finals as they best met the following three criteria: innovation, social utility and financial potential. This year`s finalists were as follows: Kirka Suri – Micro biomass burning plant, Throne Solutions – Data backup software, BSK - Machine for harvesting berry fruits using air, Jugo-Impex – Recycling plant, Vojvodinasume – Cold storage plant for game, Foodland – Organic food factory, Carlsberg – Supercompost – Innovative use of waste, Aero East Europe – Ultralight aircraft SILA 450C.

The winner was decided by a six-member jury consisting of the representatives of eminent organizations and business associations, renowned businessmen and leading domestic economists, whereas the seventh vote was cast by the visitors of aurea.rs.

To see the photos from this event, please go to the official Aurea site or our Facebook page.