Financial management is the heart of successful business - Seminar held by eKapija and Institute of Economic Sciences

(Dr. Dejan Eric giving a lecture)

Knowledge of financial management and planning are a key to the success of every organization. They are used to define the directions of future actions, reduce risks and uncertainties, minimize irrationality in behavior, define control standards, facilitate coordination, and enable easier reactions to changes - this is a conclusion of the free seminar "Financial Planning and Management in Innovative Projects," which was organized Tuesday (June 4th) in Belgrade by the eKapija business portal in cooperation with the Institute of Economic Sciences, for representatives of all companies nominated for the Aurea Award.

The Aurea Award is presented once a year by eKapija to the projects that best met three criteria - innovation, social utility and financial potential - in the previous year.

This seminar was also backed by the Innovation Fund, Basler Osiguranje, SGS Beograd, and the Serbian Chamber of Commerce (SCC).

The aim of the seminar is to directly help local entrepreneurs to get information on the ways to develop their business idea, secure funding for their projects, and all the things they should do and pay attention to in order to successfully implement their projects.

- Our five-year experience in organizing the Aurea Investment of the Year event has shown that many innovative projects, based on good ideas, often lack an adequate financial plan, and that companies, despite their huge efforts and initiatives, usually have insufficient business experience and knowledge to cope with all the problems they face. It is of great importance for entrepreneurs to learn the basics of financial management and grasp the significance of financial planning in the business, and we have also placed a special focus on the management of innovative projects. We are doing our best to help local entrepreneurs improve their chances for success in the market as well as apply more successfully for the grants they require - said eKapija CEO Zdravko Loncar.

The seminar was attended by the representatives of about 30 companies from different industries: information technologies, energy, medicine, agriculture, food, trade, tourism... During the seminar they had an opportunity to systematize their existing knowledge and learn more about financial management, strategic decision making, investment planning, standardization, significance and making of business plans, management of innovative projects, investment analysis, as well as to perceive all potential sources of finance available in the country and abroad.

(Dejan Eric and Zdravko Loncar)

- In these difficult times, when most people are only fighting to survive, there is not much time to think about education. However, no survival or progress is possible without continuous improvement, education, and the expansion of horizons. For people at the Institute of Economic Sciences, which celebrates its 55th anniversary this year, organization of one such free educational seminar is a sign of concern for domestic economy. We hope this will also serve as an example of how something good can be done without investment and in the times of crisis. The right changes come from people's minds, and and our task is to initiate them through certainly one of the most important things - education - said Dr. Dejan Eric, director of the Institute of Economic Sciences.

Lectures at this seminar were also given by Innovation Fund Director Dr. Ljiljana Kundakovic, MA Natasa Kecman, an independent consultant at the EU Cooperation Bureau of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, SGS Beograd CEO Marinko Ukropina, Chairman of the Basler Osiguranje Managing Board Dr. Vladimir Medan, and Assistant Director of the Institute of Economic Sciences Dr. Ivan Stosic.

Photos from this event are available at our Facebook page.