How America met Đakovo…
Lately, all the headlines that involve the word ”Slavonia” are often negative, sad tales that tell the depressing stories of Slavonia’s native residents being forced to leave to look for work in Germany, Ireland, and so on. Rarely does the media allow a positive story to come out of Eastern Croatia, so whenever one does – it is worth shouting about!
As Poslovni Dnevnik reports on the 30th of September, 2017, Ancona Group d.o.o. from Đakovo, has been entrusted with the task of equipping five hotels in the United States, from New York, to Washington to Miami. This company, founded in 2000, has manufactured furniture since 2003.
The first products made were kitchenettes, and they started building their own factory in 2005, today, it is an impressive building which boasts a wide range of offers. Furnishings from this Đakovo company have even been exhibited in Dubai, Qatar and Libya. Nevertheless, their business orientation was directed towards Western Europe, and now America, which, as the owner and director Markica Stanušić states, has now happened.
”We’ve got a contract to equip five American hotels in 2017 and 2018. Four hotels belong to the Club Quarters chain, of which three are in New York and one in Washington, these four have to be equipped by the end of the year. Next week, I’m going to America for a deal for more possible fittings next year. There are indications that this could turn into a very serious job. There is also an agreement for a hotel belonging to the Even chain, located in Miami, and we have to get that done by March or April next year,” explained Stanušić.
“Last year I was in America over Christmas and New Year. I happened to book the Club Quarters hotel and when I arrived, I expected much more. We passed about a dozen hotels, but it seemed to me that the furniture was terribly cheap, modest. I contacted an agent I met at the fair and asked if we had the opportunity to compete there. There was a bid, and exactly for that same hotel where I was staying for the first time,” Stanušić says.
When the company succeeded in persuading the Americans to come to Đakovo, they agreed on the work.
“They’d never imported anything from Europe, everything was mostly from the Middle East. I don’t know what they were expecting here, but when they saw the company, our business approach, they were astounded!” Stanušić recalls.
There are currently 120 employees in the Đakovo Ancona company, and three years ago, they purchased a building in Darda which had fallen into bankruptcy and opened a new company, Modul, which produces chairs, beds, sofas, and more.
