Plastika Skaza, d. o. o.

A family business managed by professional managers

Like most family businesses, the Skaza company has grown almost from scratch. Their story began 40 years ago in a garage, a place where a lot of tremendous ideas typically originate. Franc and Martina Skaza, the founders, were eager to include their son Igor in the family business. Later, Igor’s wife Tanja also joined the company, leaving her job in Zlatarna Celje, where she was director of sales, in order to get involved in the industry of plastics. “When I first started to work in the company, I was in charge of staff management. My aim was to become personally acquainted with every member of staff and identify the heart of the company. Because at the time we were typical subcontractors working for Gorenje and Ikea, we decided to find our particular innovations and competitive advantages. Within a year of joining the company, I became a member of the leadership,” says Tanja, describing the beginnings of her career with Skaza.

Over time, their garage activity developed and alongside it, the need for recruitment of additional staff. The most recent world economic crisis suddenly put brakes on the company’s growth as the warning bells kept ringing. They realized that big changes were needed, so they turned the company “on its head” and completely reorganized it. They began to provide training and education for employees, created a new entrepreneurial culture and took urgent strategic decisions. “We decided to set up our own brand, which now generates almost €2 million of  revenue annually. Since 2008, we have grown four-fold from €8 million revenue to €35.2 million in 2016; from a few thousand square meters of business area to 15,000 square meters, and from 73 employees to 320,” says Tanja Skaza, Director of the company, outlining their impressive growth.

One of the key decisions the company took was to entrust executive functions to a young generation of managers who are not family  members. “As co-owners of the company, my husband and I are primarily involved in drafting strategies and providing development guidelines, ensuring provision of a creative internal entrepreneurial culture and widespread brand recognition. Day-to-day operational work is led by our ambitious managers of organizational units, operating according to the principle of mini internal companies, with all the associated competences and responsibilities. Ours is probably one of the very few examples of a family business in Slovenia, managed by a team who are not family members,” explains the Director.

Education of all employees as the basis of success

Although the company now has a large number of employees, they maintain genuine contact with them and cultivate good mutual relations. “Good relations and freedom of creativity are the combination that lead to employee affiliation and motivation to be creative and efficient,” believes Tanja. Because they greatly appreciate and respect knowledge, ideas and creativity, they invest heavily in education. Last year, every employee  received on average of almost four business days of training. “We have an additional advantage of working with the world’s leading companies in individual industries and gaining a vast amount of knowledge from our customers,” reveals the Director, of the added value.

Her major role in the company is to change and educate staff, making them realize that at work, they have to step out of their comfort zone as it is change that drives progress. “People need to be aware that success depends on all of us, not only our customers. I insist that the consumer comes first, just as I put staff first,” adds Tanja Skaza and continues: “I believe a leader is successful when they understand when I explain that I’m not the one paying their salary, it’s their team.”

A combination of tradition and innovation

Tanja quickly found her role in the family business that operates in more than a quarter of world markets and provides more than 90% of the  solutions for multinational companies. Although some may be deceived by the company’s size, Plastika Skaza operates according to the principles of a family business. “My family is extremely important to me. It is typical of family businesses that one feels surrounded by family at work and so you treat employees as your family. Nevertheless, ours is a slightly different family,” explains Tanja. She emphasizes that the company sees employees as an extended family that succeeds or fails as one: “I always say that family businesses have one great advantage over large multinational corporations, and that is affiliation - the loyalty of people who would do anything for the company. This is where we can make a change for people as multinationals lack this affiliation of employees.” Tanja and her husband place commitment to the family tradition alongside their commitment to employees and their families.

Igor Skaza and his team are primarily concerned with monitoring industry trends and focusing on innovation and the development of future solutions. Skaza Lab is a small, perceptive and innovative “cell”, where he and his team develop new products and continually search for better solutions for global customers. “The competitiveness of the industry at the global level does not allow us to rest on our laurels. Materials are constantly changing and being replaced by more natural and people-friendly materials. In addition, shape, design and colors are continuously evolving to reflect changes in our lives. Due to lifestyle changes the very functionality of products is also changing, making combining our materials with others such as metal, wood and the like an additional opportunity for innovation. Here we rank among 3% of the most advanced companies in the world,” points out Igor Skaza.

Sky-high, but achievable goals

Due to their achievements in the field of development and plastic processing, they have received numerous awards and considerable recognition in recent years. They rank among the five fastest growing technology companies in Central Europe and are among the winners of “Creators of the Century”, awarded by the International Economic Forum (EMF) Perspektive. Based on the criteria of business success, innovation and business ethics, the prestigious commission of the European Business Awards made them one of their finalists.

Plastika Skaza is completely focused on the future, which may soon involve the youngest members of the Skaza family, aged 12 and 7. The Company’s ambitions are extremely high: by 2020, they aim to reach €100 million of revenue, €20 million of which is expected to be generated from sales of their own brands. The company is further strengthening its well-established Skaza brand by rebranding Style Your Life (product lines Viva, Solo, Contessa and Pick&Go) and the Mind Your Eco brand, which is most recognizable for the Bokashi Organico mini compost maker. “Our aim for the next five years is for half of households worldwide to own at least one of our products. We are already present in 56 countries and given our efficient and ambitious team, we believe that this goal is achievable,” says the Director of their plans.