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Igor Madzarevic, Economic Adviser at the Embassy of Finland in Belgrade – A Hungarian student of a Nordic caliber
Friday, 10.06.2016.
08:55
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- It`s a great pleasure tobe representing Finnish interests and to be that country`srepresentative. The Finnish are punctual, precise, strictly keepingto schedules, good cooperators, reliable partners and never changingthe terms of agreements – says Madzarevic in his interview foreKapija.
Our interviewee`s Nordicadventure began, untypically, in Hungary, which he had left hishometown of Cacak for in the early 2000s to study internationaleconomy.
- A friend of my parents isa professor at the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade. His son wasstudying in Budapest and advised my father, provided he had themeans, to send my older brother an me to study there. We choseeconomics by a process of elimination, because we knew what we didn`twant to study. Students` life was truly special and we made friendsfrom all parts of the world: Seychelles, South Korea, Vietnam, China,Venezuela, Mexico, Middle East, nearly all countries of Europe andthe Eastern Bloc, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan. I misssocializing with them now, but I visit Budapest very often, and I`mfree to say I`m more familiar with it than with Belgrade.
After graduating, hereceived the scholarship for two-year master academic studies inHungary. After he finished those, he returned to Belgrade with theintention of trying his hand at private business. Together with his family, through consulting agency FinCon, which they had founded inHungary, he invested two years of work and money in oil business. Hecame to see, however, that it`s hard to enter those circles withoutany experience. He gave up the business, but only for temporarily, hesays.
In the meantime, FinConestablished cooperation in Hungary with Finpro and this is where hisFinnish story begins.
- There was a need forsomeone who`d cover the Western Balkans – represent the interest ofFinnish companies in this market, so my brother started the business.For private reasons, however, he wished to return to Belgrade,whereas I continued to work for Finpro. I hadn`t known much aboutFinnish companies before then, and when I thought of Finland, Ithought, like most, of the north, Lapland and Nokia. Still, thanks tomy brother`s experience and our cooperation, I was ready to take overall the duties.
Finnish vision
Hestayed for almost three years in Hungary, working for Finpro, and inearly 2013 he started doing field work from a Belgrade base. His jobremained the same – he represented the interests of Finnish companies, mostly by providing consulting services. He did marketresearch, sought business partners, identified market potentials andeverything that could help promote Finnish economy and cooperationwith local companies and institutions.
- It`seasy to represent Finnish companies because their products areworld-known. Even the companies you hear about for the first time,which is rare nowadays, is easy to promote, because quality alwayscomes first. I mentioned Nokia and it is important to emphasize thatit had a big influence of the entire Finnish IT industry. Companieswhose origins are as Nokia`s spin-offs have recently exceeded Nokiaitself, when it was in its prime, in value.
Inworking for Finpro, one Madzarevic`s priorities was to cooperate withthe Embassy of Finland in Belgrade. He was regularly attending themonthly meetings and kept in contact with people, therebyunofficially becoming a part of the Embassy.
- Icooperated very well with mister Obrad Prohaska, who had been theEconomic Adviser at the Embassy for 38 whole years and he was anextraordinary mentor and supporter to me. We worked on many projects,prepared plans and I took the place of Economic Adviser on January 1,following his retirement.
Finnishcompanies are still his priority, and he is constantly working onpromoting the entire region in Finland, as the Embassy in Belgradecovers, in addition to Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia as well.
Thereare around 70 distributors of Finnish equipment and servicesoperating in Serbia at the moment and, officially, 9 Finnish companies. According to the Finnish statistics, the value of theannual trade is around EUR 43 mil. There aren`t, however, many Serbian companies operating in the Finnish market, and the main reason for that, Madzarevic says, is that the Finnish market is verydemanding.
- Qualitycomes first, and the opportunity could be seized by agricultural products, after meeting the standards and with exclusive packaging.One of the biggest exporters from Serbia to Finland is Tigar, which manufactures rubber boots, and the textile industry also has thepotential, as does the metal components processing industry. I`m free to make an exclusive announcement of the first Serbian investment Finland, which should be realized by the end of the year.
Onthe other hand, our interviewee adds, the business climate in Serbiahas changed and there are more and more Finnish investors interestedin the Serbian market.
- Finnishcompanies are rather cautious, which is why each investment isaccompanied by a thorough analysis, and they more gladly opt forstarting the business through a distributor, and only the found thecompany, the example of which is KONE Serbia. I was lucky to beinvolved early on, while still in Hungary, in the investment of PKCGroup in Smederevo, and now there`s a question of whether SISU Autohas given up on FAP from Priboj, which we all meet every day at the Embassy.
Madzarevicsays that the Finnish investor hasn`t given up on the Priboj factory,but that the negotiations have stopped. Our interviewee emphasizesthat the privatization in Serbia is a rather complicated processwhich demands complex solutions, whereas Finnish companies arebringing to the market their unique vision and intellectual capital,whose value is still not recognized well enough in Serbia and theregion.
- Ibelieve that in the coming years there will be more Finnish companiesin Serbia. I`m not just talking about the investments. What mattersis mutual cooperation, exchange of experiences and that which we canoffer each other. The Embassy supports Serbia`s integration into theEU and we hope that Serbia will come closer to the EU in four or fiveyears, if not enter the Union.
Family harbor in Belgrade
Privately, Madzarevic sees himself in the same place where he is now. He saysthat the Finnish love to make long-term plans, but that he can`t makesuch a plan for himself.
- Ilived in Cacak, studied in Budapest, returned to Belgradetemporarily, then to Budapest again and also spent a year inKragujevac due to my wife`s working there. I`m not normally a man wholikes to change his environment. I do believe now that we will stayin Belgrade for a long time and we`re planning to buy a flat here.
(Withhis wife and children) He loves visiting Cacak, his birthplace. He isespecially fond of family gatherings at his family house in Slatina,where the Madzarevic family hails from. Due to his studies, but alsohis mother`s origins as a Vojvodina Hungarian from Senta, he enjoyshome cooking and preparing gulas,or perklet in Hungarian, himself.
Heused to play football as a boy, but had no ambitions of becoming aprofessional player. Some of his schoolmates from Cacak, like MarkoLomic, now have international careers.
Heplays football in his free time now, and is also an avid jogger, andhe spends most of his free time with his children. He is father to athree-year old girl and a boy of six months. He attended the birthsof both his children, which he considers some of the most incredibleexperiences of his life.
- Thefamily is my biggest motivator. I draw great amounts of energy andwill from my wife and children and from by brothers and parents too.My father thought me to always strive for something great, but alsoto keep my goals only slightly greater than my abilities, so that Idon`t get lost in my ambitions. I believe this is the key tolong-term success. It`s the model I applied myself and the one I`llteach my children to adopt too.
IvanaBezarevic
