May the 10th, 2024 – Mate Rimac has stated that he’s thrown the towel in in regard to trying to help his hometown of Livno in neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina. He had set up a tourism company there, but it was met with raised eyebrows instead of open arms by locals.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, according to Jutarnji list, Livno residents have rebelled against the tourism project created by Mate Rimac and investor Marin Mumoza. They claimed that the project will pollute the environment and that Mate Rimac and Marin Mumoza bought 30,000 square metres cheaply from the Livno administration, and also alleged that they intended that 465,000 square metres be taken as a concession.
Mate Rimac, who simply wanted to give his hometown a helping hand, responded quite frankly on Facebook:
“A lot has been written about this recently, so I guess it’s okay for me to say something myself. Jutarnji even put this story on the cover of their printed edition, with my picture of course. They obviously went to chat to people in the local village bars, without anyone even bothering to ask me anything. What amazing journalism.
I always liked going to Livno. People have been leaving that town for a long time, but in the last 15-20 years, it really is literally dying out. In the off-season, when the guest workers return to Germany, it’s almost totally deserted. I was always sorry to see that beautiful place left to die completely, so I wanted to contribute, according to my capabilities. I wanted to make an attempt to start something. Back in 2018, I founded the business incubator called Linnovate – a non-profit association that helps start-up entrepreneurs to build their companies.
In the beginning, I thought of helping in the establishment of technology-oriented companies, but it quickly became clear that this wasn’t very realistic for Livno. Then we decided we’d try and help everyone – from people who started agricultural production, jam production, carpentry trades, kindergartens… With this, we helped create about 50 jobs. We gave founders grants and interest-free loans without collateral/guarantee (and without taking a stake) for good projects. Everything was financed from my private pocket. So… pure philanthropy, because there was never going to be any sort of [financial] return.
Then I met Marin – a man who pushed on and on even without me. He worked at an extremely high level and had everything a true entrepreneur needs. When I started talking to Marin about investing in his project, a very famous and globally successful Foundry was also interested in investing. He asked me about the investment return – when it will pay off. I told him: “if you’re thinking about returns, then this isn’t an investment for you.” I don’ think I’ll ever see a single euro that I invest in Livno again. We’re doing this to get something moving down there.” He couldn’t go into an investment that has a small chance of capital return, but I wanted to try, even if it failed – I tried to do something good for my end, for my hometown.
I wanted to do it so that I wouldn’t end up being angry with myself when I’m old that I didn’t try while it was still possible, before Livno became completely extinct. In total, I invested close to two million euros in Marin’s company Continental Adventure. Marin asked me if I wanted 70-80% of the company for that money, given that there was nothing yet and all the capital came from me. I “took” only 40%, because I want the company to be his, because it’s relatively easy to give someone money, but it takes a lot of energy to fight the good fight every day. The goal was – to create something beautiful in Livno that many others can copy the idea of and that can create as many jobs and as much value as possible in the end. So far, it has created 12 jobs, and the plan was 70 within a couple of years. Until recently…
Livno and Livanjsko polje (the Livno field) boast gorgeous nature. In addition to being beautiful, it’s also huge. One can literally drive for hours with off-road vehicles and be away from civilisation. It never occurred to me that one small piece of that expanse would become a problem. Especially since the project is perfectly integrated into nature, away from populated areas. Continental Adventure is reached by macadam tracks, and the buildings can’t even be seen from the village.
It’s completely alright for me if people are against something and present arguments as to why they feel like that. I thought we were doing a good thing for the community. I’d allocated funds from my own pocket so that something good could be done. And then I hear that they cut the power lines that supply the CA settlement (left without electricity for days), that there are petitions against the project, insults and slander against me, that I’m doing it to get rich and things like that. For context: I built a company worth over 2 billion euros – the investment in CA is 0.1% of that. I personally own 5 cars, each of which is worth more than the entire investment in Continental Adventure. Do you really think that I need to earn money from the forest in Livno? That I don’t have a smarter way to invest?
People tend to create conspiracies that don’t exist at all. Yes, we bought the land for 1 Bosnian Convertible Mark per m2 – at a public tender from Livno itself, that’s he same price that dozens of others also bought for at that time. I don’t understand what we were supposed to do – ask Livno to make an exception for us and sell us the land for 5 times the market price? Btw, the land was already up for construction before we bought it, and not, as was falsely written, that we converted it. What we had to do was clean up the rubbish that the villagers had been dumping there for decades, on that so-called sacred land of theirs.
People look at things solely from their own perspective and I guess they know that they themselves would not do anything selfless, that THEY wouldn’t do something good without their benefit. And that’s why they believe that others don’t wouldn’t possibly such things either. Unfortunately, some of us are actually that naive, that stupid…
But now I’ve realised – who am I to come and bother to help? Who am I to prevent the extinction of my hometown? Although I had the intention of doing a lot more in Livno (I’m only 36 years old, and I just sold 1% of my company [which I’ve been building with blood, sweat and tears for the last 15 years] for my “private pocket”, with which I’ve been financing all this), but I this was a good lesson. I won’t do ANYTHING anymore unless it’s something I do for myself. Thanks for that lesson.
P.S. As for the astronomical earnings I’ll have from this project – here’s the offer. Let the villagers collect the money and I will sell them my share for exactly the same amount that I’ve invested in the project so far. No interest, no margin – 1:1 my investment. Let them earn those “astronomical sums of cash” instead of me,” wrote Mate Rimac on social media.
