Young entrepreneur of the year 2013 is encouraging young entrepreneurial hopefuls to make themselves heard. “The selection Young entrepreneur of the year represents confirmation for a company that they’re doing things right, but the media visibility is also welcome, because it facilitates contact with bigger companies. The selection is a good indicator of the entrepreneurship environment in Slovenia, which is developing in the right direction,” is the conviction of Kristina Kočet Hudrap, CEO of Tiko Pro, who was chosen as the Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2013 at the competition organized by the Young Entrepreneur Institute.
Last year brewers, this year …
For the eighth year in a row, the Young Entrepreneur Institute is inviting young entrepreneurs to apply to the selection and make themselves heard as well as tighten the competition in the fight for the successor of Anita Lozar and Matej Pelicon, cofounders of the boutique brewery Pelicon, who received the title last year. They are accepting applications for the Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2018 until 31 May at the portal mladipodjetnik.si.
When Tiko Pro was chosen in 2013, the company had six full-time employees, now there are 13 of them just in Slovenia. The company is based in Slovenia, but has a branch in Croatia. Last year, within the Interreg Slovenia-Austria programme, Austria confirmed their project in collaboration with Talum and the Graz Technical University. “Now we’re looking for opportunities to penetrate the Austrian market, but we won’t go there alone, we’ll find a complementary company. In Serbia, we will join forces with partners from Beograd to organize a one-day workshop on obtaining European funds,” is how Kristina Kočet Hudrap is predicting further development steps.
Success never comes overnight
Even though Tiko Pro employees aren’t related, the CEO is convinced that the company is becoming increasingly more like a family company. She believes in the entrepreneurial spirit of young people, but also reminds them that business success definitely can’t come overnight. “You need to make an effort for success and sometimes also wait patiently for it.” She is grateful that for the past few years, dr. Jure Knez, president of the DEWESoft gazelle, has been sharing his business experience with young entrepreneurs, also at business weekends in one of Europe’s capitals, where he shares his rich business ideas, warns them about the mistakes, and encourages them towards development on a global level.
Read the article on Dnevnik.si (in Slovene).
