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With trust in knowledge and values to IT solutions worth millions
Fifteen years ago, husband and wife team Anka and Mišo Brus were looking to offer companies locally-based IT expertise. This led them to form their own company - Agitavit Solutions. Today they offer customers IT business solutions with a staff of 80 employees. In recent years the business has grown, while increasing its share of the German market and continually developing and promoting its own products. They are always searching for new opportunities by researching the potential of new discoveries in the information technology field. As of 2017, half a million in profits are proof that the company meets, or rather exceeds the expectations of their customers.
Creating shoes for more than 600,000 children every year
The town of Miren in the Goriška region of Slovenia is famous for its over 100-year-old shoemaking tradition. From the very beginning, the family Petejan, who today specialize in the production of children’s shoes under the “Ciciban” brand, have been engaged in the shoemaking industry. Today, the third generation of the Petejan family is working in the family business, manufacturing over 600,000 pairs of children’s shoes a year. The three Petejan brothers agree that their business is a mission: when you are manufacturing children’s shoes or anything else that children will wear or use, you have an enormous amount of responsibility to make the product of very high quality and, in the case of footwear, as comfortable as possible.
A family-owned company such as Damatech could be described as steely. It is tough and strong, much like steel, which is the focus of their business. They specialize in marketing heat-treated steel for wearing parts, the tool industry and machine manufacturing. They see themselves as a top supplier of heat-treated steel solutions and provide services out to a 500 kilometer radius. Mateja and Darko Mikec founded the company together and ever since their growth has at times been so rapid that it saw their workforce expand from 18 in 2016 to 28 just a year later. Over the last six years they have invested €5 million in development, 80% of which came from their own capital, and for the past two years the company was included in the official selection for the Gazela award for the Gorenjska region.
With respect for the customers and love for the bees
Logar trade is a family company which commenced production of products related to beekeeping 40 years ago and today, they are among the finest producers of beekeeping equipment in Europe. They supply state-of-the-art, stainless steel beekeeping equipment, such as honey pourers, storage containers, cookers and accessories for melting and sterilizing wax, plus honeycomb uncapping containers, strainers and filters. Logar products are being used by amateur and professional beekeepers in more than 40 countries all over the world. The company puts a strong emphasis on quality, which is one of the main reasons for their success.
Stone requires significant expertise and surgical precision to transform, capabilities which are only attained by masters of their craft. Such people are to be found in the family company Marmor Hotavlje, which was founded in 1948. By following a clear vision supported by hard work, Marmor Hotavlje has established itself as one of the world’s leading stone processing companies. Today, almost 130 employees are involved in the provision of comprehensive premium quality services – from the engineering team, technologists, architects and designers to the master stonemasons and other experts.
The Oblak family has been following its vision for five generations
Bogdan Oblak, owner and Director of the Oblak Group company, has entrepreneurial roots dating, remarkably, back to the 18th century, since when five generations of his family have worked as craftsmen and entrepreneurs in the Logatec area. The company’s core business, and main investment area in recent years, is a range of concrete products, including paving stones, used in landscaping. Additionally, they receive revenue from the wholesale of cosmetics. The entire group of companies generated €12.5 million of revenues last year. As much as 98% of the output is sold wholesale to traders. The family is striving to advance the company’s recognition and thus, they have embarked on the first phase of a €2.5 million investment to update the first of their production lines.
A self-thought brewer and a graphic designer pushing the boundaries with their craft beer
The first bottle of craft beer from Ajdovščina-based brewery Pivovarna Pelicon appeared on the market five years ago. Only a year later, beer lovers voted it Slovenian brewery of the year, an award which was retained for the following two years. Last year their Pelicon Coffee Stout won a silver medal at the Beer World Championship in the Czech Republic. To round off the year’s success, both founders, 31-year-olds Matej Pelicon and Anita Lozar, received another prestigious award as Mladi podjetnik leta 2017 - young entrepreneur of the year. In 2015 they brewed a total of 60,000 liters of beer, a year later that number doubled and this past year it reached 150,000 liters.
The story of the Polycom family company is one of two brothers, Iztok and Igor Stanonik. With the generous financial and moral support of their parents, they decided to join forces in one company. The nature of their business and kinship of the brothers are embodied in the company name, where “Poly” refers to the material used and “com” represents the involvement of both brothers, as they are each other’s wingmen or “companions”. After 30 years, Polycom today operates at two production sites, in Poljane nad Škofjo Loko and Črnomelj, and has more than 270 employees. In 2017, they improved on their previous year’s revenue by almost by a quarter, to €31.2 million.
Rigo from Kras - a crucial part of international fashion industry
For nearly three decades, the Godnič family’s company Rigo, from Komen in the Kras region, has sold and repaired machinery for working with textiles and leather. Nine workers, employed in the parent company, now annually account for €4.5 million in revenue, while the whole Rigo group, also including Rigo International (Serbia) and Rigo Retex (FYR Macedonia), employs 20 people and each year generates an estimated €6 million. Their commitment to high quality and technical excellence has made them the only textile company in Slovenia to regularly win the Gazela prize. Since their machines are used by some of the world’s biggest fashion giants, they think of themselves as a crucial part of the fashion industry.
Spanning more than a quarter of a century, TERA Tolmin can boast a wealth of experience in the sale of technical thermoplastics and plastics processing equipment. The company is primarily engaged in the supply and resale of technical thermoplastics in their primary, granulate form. In addition, they supply spare parts and provide servicing and engineering services to manufacturers of equipment for processing plastics. The company has a portfolio of 400 domestic customers, all of which are major Slovenian companies, while abroad, their customer list contains over 100 firms. The company has 14 staff and achieved over €13 million of sales in 2017, of which 30% was accounted for by exports.
In 2018, we created the Family Business Slovenia 2018 book in collaboration with the following enterprises: Agitavit Solutions, Ciciban, Damatech, Logar Trade, Marmor Hotavlje, OBlak Group, Pivovarna Pelicon, Polycom Škofja Loka, Rigo and Tera.
In today’s disruptive world, realizing your ambition and growing your business is an exciting challenge. EY has a long history of working alongside many of the world’s most ambitious CEOs, owners and entrepreneurs to support them to accelerate their journey to market leadership. Drawing on their successes, we have distilled these insights to create the EY 7 Drivers of Growth.
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