As Poslovni Dnevnik/Sergej Novosel Vuckovic writes on the 5th of August, 2019, in the height of the tourist season, more specifically in mid-July, in the small Petrijanec municipality just north of Varaždin County and on the border with Medjimurje (Croatia) and neighbouring Slovenia, two young men decided to open a facility to produce filaments for 3D (three-dimensional) printers. They are the only ones to do so in all of Croatia.
Valentino Jovan and David Lukaček are both 28 years of age and are good friends, the first of the two is an expert in mechanical engineering, and the second graduated with a degree in electrical engineering, and has years of experience in manufacturing electrical companies and mechanical engineering companies under his belt.
Encouraged, as they stated, by the lack of certain products and services and the desire to develop their own original solutions here in Croatia, they founded the company last June, called DiV Plastic (the pair’s initials) and set off down that proverbial road.
“The best feeling is when we create something new of value while trying to contribute to our community,” Valentino Jovan, one of two CEOs and business partners, told Poslovni Dnevnik. David Lukaček even returned to Croatia from living over in Germany to start the project and took all of that responsibility and risk with him.
There are four employees in this company from Northern Croatia in total, and they make filaments, which is their main, however not their only activity.
“The filaments are actually ”ink” for 3D printers. It’s a plastic wire that is made from several types of material depending on the properties you want ,and in many different colours, they come in various variations, we initially turned to the production of filaments, which are technical materials, but we also have another nine materials available to us in cooperation with our partners from Slovenia. By the end of the year, we plan to expand the production of filaments to three more materials,” explained Jovan.
DiV Plastic, therefore, is developing and applying new technologies in the growing 3D printing segment, with the goal of doing the same by recycling waste plastics.
”The filaments we manufacture are from original new plastics. In terms of recycling, we’ve reoriented our products mainly for agricultural applications, and we plan to convert a lot of recycled plastics that would end up in landfills into usable products. Our goals are to process a minimum of 5-7 tonnes of recycled plastic per year, hopefully by the end of 2020,” Jovan points out.
An important question remains, given the fact that this company from the north of Croatia is the only one in the whole of Croatia to engage in this type of business – Just what is the market for that type of printing like in Croatia?
”At the very beginning, I started 3D printing three years ago when there were only a few dozen 3D printers. This has been changing rapidly over the last year, with printers becoming cheaper and more accessible to businesses, hobbyists, students, schools, and associations. We collaborate with schools, technical science associations, hobbyists… More and more companies are realising the benefits of 3D printing for prototyping, patterns, gadgets… and so our cooperation with them is increasing,” explained the young director.
Their current portfolio contains 3D modelling, 3D printing, document production and designs specifically requested by their increasing number of customers.
They’re also thinking of expanding, and they have pointed out the fact that they are preparing more interesting products and services. For now, their focus is primarily on Croatia’s market, but as soon as they are ready to explore opportunities abroad, they will take that chance.
In spring, the young men underwent a mentoring program for beginner entrepreneurs, and the president of the Croatian Network of Business Angels, Davorin Štetner, praised them. As he told Poslovni Dnevnik back at the time, he was impressed by the quality and creativity of DiV Plastics, which he believes will soon be ready for business angel investment.
“I’d like to thank Mr. Davorin for his business-related advice. It has been enjoyable and he has been helpful on the mentoring program, and I hope we will continue our collaboration,” said Jovan, also giving a snapshot of the state of the domestic startup scene.
“It’s mostly IT companies. I think the Croatian startup scene is relatively good in terms of circumstances. We lack the skilled staff, from engineers to marketing experts, we lack the hardware factories so that newly developed products don’t have to go and be made in China or somewhere else abroad,” said Valentino Jovan. As new entrepreneurs, they have already encountered the neuralgic points of Croatia’s draconian system.
“We were most troubled by the lack of information and a lot of half-true or totally wrong information. It is difficult for us to find out all of the conditions we need to satisfy, what documentation is required. Young entrepreneurs are left to study and read manuals and find out laws and to decide what applies to them or not.
When it comes to production, especially newer technologies, you’re just left to do it yourself. The second biggest obstacle is finding proper business spaces, from the beginning, we were looking for one suitable for our type of production, and only recently we were able to move in, and it’s been almost a year.
For young entrepreneurs, offices are generally available, which is great if you’re an IT company, but as soon as you have machines you need to have in function, then there are problems. Most of these premises don’t have adequate access, proper installations… ” Jovan warned.
Fortunately, they managed to get a meeting with Željko Posavec from their municipality, who quickly recognised the needs of young ambitious entrepreneurs.
”We received 55,000 kuna in support from HZZ and this is really important for all young entrepreneurs to be able to really get started in the beginning. We are also entitled to certain benefits because we employ mostly young people under the age of 30,” the founders of this company from Northern Croatia state.
Their results are, for the time being, better than expected, with total revenues of 121,791 kuna last year, a profit of several thousand kuna.
”We expect multiple revenue increases this year due to increased business volume. We’re pleased with the situation and the development, and we hope to continue this steady growth in revenue as we have done so far,” concluded DiV Plastic’s CEO, Valentino Jovan.
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