ΣΥΝΕΝΤΕΥΞΕΙΣ ΑΠΟ ΤΟ BALKANS.COM

Balkans.com: How long has Infomedia been doing business in Bosnia?

Ana Jovović: We have been doing business in Bosnia since 2000. Back then, we were a graphic and web design studio called Artsidestudio. In April 2006, we formed a company for information technologies, Infomedia Ltd, and since then we have been successfully developing our company.

Balkans.com: How long has your company been doing business in Montenegro?

Milan Ilić: For the last two years.

Balkans.com: What services do you provide to your clients?

Milan Ilić: Key2Montenegro is a property management company first and foremost; as such we offer property management & maintenance, keyholding, season & off-season lettings including full administration, as well as many other services - web design, online marketing, translation, legal etc.  Sometimes we're asked to help a client sell their property which we also do. Our main clients are holiday home owners who wish to release the full potential of their properties in Montenegro, mostly in the Bay of Kotor. With our help they can unlock that potential as if they were personally looking after it or better.  We look after their properties and maximize their income.

Balkans.com: Where does your company operate in the region? How is performance, including profitability, and what is the outlook?

Mladen Pejković: Vipnet is part of the Mobilkom Austria group, which has its own operations in eight countries in the region: Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia.

You have been like an ambassador for Serbia, traveling to many places around the world to enhance business ties for Serbia. What are the most interesting places you have visited, and what has the general response been?

I am delighted to mention that I have received positive interest in Serbia wherever I have been. Sadly the current global recession has not helped too much to draw investors, but that does mean that we can not move ahead and plan ahead.

I would say the most interesting places that want to know more about Serbia are the members of the European Union, Russia, and the United States. In addition, our government has been very good with incentives for attracting foreign companies to Serbia since they are treated as Serbian national companies with free transfer of financial and other assets, a low corporate profit tax of 10%, a low flat income tax rate of 12%, and a ten-year tax holiday for fixed-asset investments of above $7 million, and the creation of 100 new jobs. 

Cautious optimism over investment in Serbia

Mark Pullen: How did 2009 live up to the negative expectations at the end of 2008? Did investments exceed forecasts or was it as bad as predicted? How does Serbia compare regionally?

Bojan Jankovic: Well, it’s a really tough question, but if I had to sum it up in one sentence I’d say that it definitely wasn’t as bad as we anticipated. When you look at the data from 2009 (unfortunately, so far we only have data for the first nine months), up until September net FDI was 1.3 billion Euros and total FDI was 1.6 billion Euros – the difference of 200 and something million relating to Serbian companies investing abroad or companies taking their profits out. In the same period of 2008 we had almost 2.5 billion Euros, so it is a marked decrease.

Balkans.com Business News in conversation with Matej Mutis, Managing Director of Sportoveturnaje.sk, and former marketing director (2006-2009) at the Jacob Fleming Group.

Balkans.com: Which countries in the region that you are familiar with offer the best business environmentfor investors?

Matej Mutis: As a proud Slovak, I should say Slovakia. But there is a reason behind it. The Slovak economy has been described as a tiger economy (very similar to Dubai or Baltic countries) and our economic growth in 2007 reached double digits (10,4% - record high within EU countries). Since 2004, Slovakia has been an EU member state and we have relatively easily adopted the euro. We have adopted a 19% flat tax rate for both individuals and businesses.

Balkans.com: The social networking boom has turned into a global phenomenon and a virtual way of life (both private and professional) for some. Speaking to Balkans.com about the future of social networking from a corporate perspective, Ivana Jovanovic, ESS & TS Marketing Manager at Hewlett-Packard in Serbia , explains: All businesses are looking for a way to leverage social media to help their own sites and brands. Social media is a very important tool for HP, especially in the area of B2B communications strategy. We are investing resources in establishing an infrastructure that will enable us to interact with customers, partners, employees and influencers.Ivana Jovanović: Our marketing organisation, besides having a classical vertical direction, is also structured horizontally via centres of expertise. One of them is dealing with creating and implementing digital media strategies.