Danijela Fisakov - President of the Slovenian Business Club - I do my best to make responsibility become my alter ego

Danijela Fisakov (Photo: lična arhiva)

A wish for a financial expert career was beaten by another love in Belgrade. Born in Ljubljana, she packed her suitcases twice to Serbian capital which she considers her home today. After successful HR career in both countries, in March this year, Danijela Fisakov was appointed President of the Slovenian Business Club.

That`s her latest business challenge, as she says. Optimism helps her to succeed in it.

You can see her in Belgrade, at celebrities` concerts, in Majdan restaurant or in Ada Ciganlija. She likes short, weekend trips so she is trying to meet Serbia outsied Belgrade as well and she is still longing for weekends at the local beach Bobina in Istra.

In her interview for eKapija, she discovers why she does not separate her private form business life, how she is planning to increase the important of the cluc she is heading and what the most important reality she has been through.

The destiny`s game

She learnt to be independent even in the earliest schooling period. In Slovenia, parents are trying to learn their kids to become independent as soon as possible while in Serbia she got different impression. As a girl, she was hoping to become a forensic expert but after the Subic high school. she opted for economy studies in Ljubljana.

Her next stop was Ljubljana-based broker company, PM&A. She worked on Kolosej-Celje project and she was expecting a successful career in a field she educated for.

- Upon one of my visits in Belgrade, I met another love which has beaten the love for a financial expert career. I was not patient to waits for the Kolosej-Celije project. I quit my current job and moved. I spent some time working some commercial jobs for Ilirika broker company and then the life showed it had different plans for me and I had to go back to Ljubljana. Working in an international human resources company, Manpower, I met with challenged of human resources. when Sportina decided to expand to Serbian market, current manager in Belgrade, Joze Bajuk, a great expert and manager, invited my run the HR Department. My personal and private plans matched and it was the second time I moved to Belgrade and here I am for eight years.

Return to Belgrade turned out to be a good decision. In the first year, the number of staff in Sportina increased from 40 to 240. In the meantime, she transferred her HR knowledge and experience to a Serbian production company which had 350 staff in prime time.

"Relaxed"

Working for different companies, Danijela learnt a lot on specifics of environment where they come from. This is how she got introduced to Serbia better.

- When you accept a commitment, you must pay attention to people towards which you have commitments and in Serbia, it is a common thing to hear an advice "Just relax!". A characteristic I value most is responsibility and I do my best to make responsibility my alter ego. At the same time, I expect the same from my associates and other people in my environment.

(From the meeting of the Slovenian Business Club)

With the sense of huge responsibility, in early March she took over the position of the President of the Slovenian Business Club. Years back in time, she was attending meetings and on her friends` talk, she applied for the head position in this association. It was a unique opportunity to connect love for Belgrade and Ljubljana through work.

- As the President of the Slovenian Business Club, I accepted not only management of only one organization but also a huge responsibility of managing a significant brand and every brand must be nourished and one must invest in it i order to make it survive and become even more influential and recognizable in business world. In the upcoming period, I will invest all necessary energy, knowledge and work in order to increase the level of importance this club had in its prime time in business environment it operates in, to contribute to intensifying and expansion of club activities as well as to connecting it with other business clubs in Serbia - Danijela says decisively.

She is adding, laughingly:

- I am not afraid that I will be bored in the next period.

Job and household work

She does not like using the phrase " at work and in private life" even though she is trying to separate these two fields, she admits that in practice it is almost impossible. Danijela spent even her holiday working in Ljubljana, i.e. promoting the Slovenian Business Club.

- The phone rings after the official working hours as well. Business meetings and gatherings are often held in the evenings. Work with people implies a full day working hours. It is a common thing that I find myself having an important phone call by holding a phone in one hand while I use the other hand for doing something else. In order for a man to be successful, he must be committed to it.

Although being very serious and professional in anything she does, the most important responsibility exams are her daughter Katarina (3,5) and her son Viktor Vuk (2).

- Profession fills my lungs with air and children fill my heart - she says.

- It is a very demanding reality to help them that they grow into capable and responsible people with moral values, skills and education through game and without drills. This especially goes for parents with numerous business commitments. It is not simple to align job and parenthood but when the family is fully supportive, it is feasible.

Since her job does not provide too much free time, she is committed to her children and husband at weekends. They enjoy spending them in Ada, in her husband`s family house in Lipovica and they often visit Majdan, where children attend the Children`s Cultural Center.

Whenever she finds time, she likes to visit a good concert and the last stop was the spectacular performance of Jenifer Lopez.

The scent of conifers and the crickets` song

She easily got used to the life in Belgrade but she still objects it traffic jams and non-hygiene. Ljubljana of her childhood was "boring city", ideal for family life and that is what she misses a bit, she admits. She misses most after all summer weekends at the seaside.

- Never-ending summers at the local beach Bobina in Istra evoke sentimental memories of carefree children`s days. I liked the sea then and I would like to live by the sea at least when retired.

She traveled a lot with her husband earlier. She was equally excited both when encountering new Parisian and Rome streets and in Egyptian deserts and coasts of Thailand. She has met Serbia better during the recent years.

- At the moment, we are saving adrenaline for some future travels when kids grow up. In the meantime, over and over again, ,we ensure ourselves that blood is not water: joy and excitement for every packing and mentioning of any kind of a travel are the announcement of future, great, mutual adventures.

Ivana Bezarevic