Desing wins Investment of the Year Award - 2014 Aurea presented by eKapija business web portal

(Danka Kolarevic, the award winner, and Zeljko Sertic)

The Desing company is the winner of the 2014 Aurea Investment of the Year Award presented by the business web portal eKapija for the sixth year in a row. This Belgrade-based manufacturer of fruit preparations launched industrial production of semi-candied cherry in its factory in Knjazevac in late 2013, using an innovative technology that reduces sugar concentration by 20% while simultaneously preserving the sensor characteristics of the product. Aside from this technology, Desing has also developed a technological equipment and established its own Innovation Center dedicated to further improvement of production processes.

The main award was presented to the winner by Zeljko Sertic, the director of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, in the presence of numerous representatives of diplomatic corps, business community and the media.

Danka Kolarevic, the deputy director of Desing who received the award on behalf of the company, pointed out that people at Desing had had faith that they can shape their production into a recognizable Serbian product and become a reliable partner to top multinationals in the food industry.

- Serbia is the world`s sixth largest cherry producer, and we want to be a leader in inventing ways to make quality products from cherries for the ice cream, baking and confectionery industries. By constantly investing in the production facility in Knjazevac and recruiting young people, we have encouraged the development of local community and founded our own Innovation Center after 22 years of work. This award proves that we are still young and curious, but also mature enough to successfully start a big business. Aurea will make it much easier for us to get the market more familiar with the results of our research – said Kolarevic.

(finalists with the president of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce)

In addition to the main award, eKapija also granted two special awards – for the best innovation and for the best social utility. The honor to win the award for the best innovation went to the Eko Fungi company which received it for their production of edible mushrooms from celullosic residues, while the award for the best social utility went to the Alwag company for their PET packaging recycling plant in Nova Gajdobra.

Zdravko Loncar, the managing director of eKapija, stressed that the idea behind the Aurea Award was to promote the projects that were good for Serbia`s sustainable development.

- It is a real pleasure to see that this year`s winner is a domestic company investing in agriculture, which opened an innovation center in the rural part of Serbia, develops cooperation with the Faculty of Agriculture, processes domestic fruits, and exports final products. An even greater pleasure is to see that all finalists for the Aurea Award are companies leading us to a brighter future and representing the examples of good business practice in Serbia that all should look up to.

The strategic partner of eKapija on the 2014 Aurea project is the insurance company Coface. Djordje Zivanovic, the director of Coface Serbia, noted that the Coface Group was contributing to the success and growth of 35,000 companies world wide, adding that the aim of their participation in this project was to raise the awareness of our economy and encourage the development of business environment.

(award winners with eKapija and Coface representatives)

- I am very glad that despite the current difficult business conditions in our country, we have such good projects shortlisted for the 2014 Aurea Award. Coface Serbia takes active part in direct promotion of the Serbian economy. As a strategic partner of this award, we want once again to send out a strong message and encourage companies to develop new ideas, originality and quality projects that will benefit the entire business ambiance in Serbia.

Other finalists for this year`s Aurea Investment of the Year Award are the following five projects: Kuerk – Making products from recycled tire, Republic Eco Hostel in Uzice, Henkel – New production facility for Bref cleaning products, HCP – Symphony POS sales terminal, and Elnos BL – Factory for producing compact prefabricated concrete SF6 substations Biosco CS.

The winners of the main and special 2014 Aurea awards were selected by a five-member jury, while one vote was cast by the readers of eKapija and the visitors of aurea.rs web portal. In order to be eligible for the award, the projects had to be implemented in the previous calendar year and to meet the following three criteria: innovation, social utility and financial potential.

About the 2014 Aurea Award winner

Taking into account the proofs of nutritive cherry values and food industry needs for the production of preparations from this fruit, Desing started industrial production of semi-candied cherries in late 2013. The new, innovative technology decreases sugar concentration by up to 20% and at the same time keeps the sensor product features. These new products are used in the ice-cream and confectionary industries and the HoReCa sector.

In the first production cycle, Desing produced some 3 tons of semi-candied cherry. The plan for 2014 is to produce some 25 tons. With the conquest of technology and cooperation with scientific and expert institutions, Desing set up its Innovation Center in Knjazevac-based section, comprising a research and development center and a modern lab where apart from technological research and production process development, knowledge transfer and staff skills and knowledge development will be carried out.

Desing has been operating since 1992 and is one of three approved suppliers for McDonald’s in Europe. Apart from that, buyers of products from Knjazevac-based sections are NESTLE Ice Cream, Puratos, BakeMark, Knjaz Milos, Pionir, Swisslion, Medela, Bambi, Frikom, Costa Coffee, Roggenart, Ice Cream Factory.