„AZUBI-EUROPA“INTERNSHIP CALENDAR

Croatia 31 March 2014-11 April 2014

by Elisabeth Prill

apprentice for industrial management assistant

This project is funded by the European Union (ESF) and the Federal State of Saxony-Anhalt.

CONTENT

Some facts about the project Facts about Croatia Day 1 – Arrival in Zagreb Facts about Zagreb Day 2 – RWE and AHK Day 3 – Vocational school in Zagreb and visiting the town Day 4 – HAMAG invest and Medical Intertrade Day 5. – Nestlé Adriatic and vocational school in Zagreb Day 6/7- Weekend and arrival in Split and workshop in the hotel Facts about Split Day 8 – Chamber of commerce Split and University of Split Day 9 – Workshop in the hotel Day 10 – Croatian employers‘ association and visiting the town Day 11 – Workshop at the hotel Day 12 – Way back home Conclusion Sources

SOME FACTS ABOUT THE PROJECT

The project is co-financed by the European Union (ESF) and the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt and is organised by isw GmbH.

It is a good possibility for the trainees to learn more about the economy of SME ‘s (Small and medium-sized Enterprises) in the MOE (middle- and Eastern European) countries. They get to know the industry in another part of Europe, not only of the region they live in. This helps to understand and to compare the economical situation in two different countries.

Another point is that the trainees have

the opportunity to visit a lot of firms

and companies in various regions of

Croatia. Thus they can learn more

about the culture and the way of life

in this country. Furthermore they have the possibility

to get into contact with a lot of firms

and with different students. This is our group.

FACTS ABOUT CROATIA

Inhabitants: 4.3 million Capital: Zagreb Area: 56 600 km² GDP: 62 bill. $ 19 % unemployed high youth unemployment Unitary, parliamentary and constitutional republic

and central government Independence: since 25June 1991 1246 isles 20 regions and Zagreb + suburbs since 1st July 2013 a member of the European Union

(28th member state) 90% Croats, 4% Serbs, 6% Bosnians, Italians, Czech, Slovaks Currency: Kuna Official Language: Croatian Neighbouring Countries: Hungary, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro

The currency: Kuna

DAY 1- ARRIVAL IN ZAGREB

We took the plane from Halle/Leipzig and arrived at Zagreb at 1 o‘clock. Our group

consisted of 14 students from different vocational schools of the environs of Halle and the

coach, Ms. Kaufhold.

Zagreb is the largest City in Croatia with 780 000 inhabitants (with suburbs approx. 1.1

million). It is a metropolis with a nice old town and an interesting history.

In the evening we visited Zagreb in small groups and

Enjoyed the beautiful old city with the

Cathedral, the Ban Jelacic Sqare and the

Park Ribnjak.

The Art Pavilion

FACTS ABOUT ZAGREB

Capital of Croatia Largest city of Croatia Inhabitants: 780.000 (with the suburbs approx. 1.1 million) One of the biggest economic zones (the others are Rijeka and Osijek) Area: 641 km² most important centre of economy in Croatia River: Sava Seat of central government and

all government ministries a lot of very green parks

(for example Maksimir Park, Park Ribnjak)

http://www.direkt-kroatien.de/ferienwohnungen/zagreb

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zagreb

Ban Jelacic Square

The flag of Zagreb

DAY 2 – RWE AND AHK

After a very good breakfast in the hotel, we went to our first appointment in business dress.

The weather was on our side, so it wasn‘t too warm for a swallowtail.

With a private bus we went to RWE Hrvatska, specially to WWTP (waste water treatment

plant). ZOV (Zagrebacke otpadne vode d.o.o.) was founded in 1998 and was charged to

plan, finance and erect the WWTP as well as the related infrastructure. RWE is a part of the

ZOV and operates this area together with ZOV.

In Croatia, RWE has 3 parts. We learned that there

are the coal-fired power plant in Plomin, which

is run by RWE with HEP, furthermore ZOV

and last but not least RWE Energija. We learned

that the latter is responsible for public lighting,

procurement and sales of electricity to final

customers, mainly SME‘s.

This is the area of the WWTP.

AHK For every visit it was our task to search the route. So everyone of us had the possibility to try to find

out the right way in an unknown and foreign town. Furthermore, after these meetings one of us had to say thank you and to give a present to our current host.

On the part of AHK Mr Gunther Neubert welcomed us and gave us a short introduction into the work of the AHK. AHK means the German-Croatian Chamber of Commerce. For some of us it was a good fortune that he spoke German. After this everyone had an impression of the main functions of the AHK:

The main functions of the AHK is to support

German investors in Croatia and to

inform about the rights, the laws, the import,

the export and the cooperation in Croatia.

For the members of the AHK they organize

meetings regarding different subjects and give

recommendations of their members to

firms in Germany or in Croatia.

They organize a meeting for their members

in a restaurant in Zagreb every month.

http://kroatien.ahk.de 04/07/2014

DAY 3 – VOCATIONAL SCHOOL AND VISITING THE TOWN

The vocational school in Zagreb is called the „Uprava Skola Zagreb“ and has two different parts for the students: the part of fashion and design and the administration.

This day we visited only the first

part and we learned more about this

type of school. The students go to

that school for three or four years. A German teacher showed us different workshops of sculptors and the studios of

shoemakers and tailors.

It‘s all hand-made. On the left tailors and on the right the

products of shoemakers.

RALLY OF THE CITY In the afternoon we had the task to visit the town in small groups and to answer different

questions about the history of important persons and places in Zagreb. My group consisted of four members, it was a great work together.

Some nice places: Ban Jelacic Square The Mandusevac Fountain The Cathedral The Croatian National

TheatreThis Fountain was built above a natural spring and was important for Zagreb to supply drinking water until the 19th century.

Ban Jelacic abolished serfdom and held the first elections for the Croatian Sabor or Parliament.

The Cathedral of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

RALLY OF THE CITY

One task of our rally was to find out the meaning of the name „Zagreb“.

We found out that the origin of the name Zagreb is a legend about the spring:

„One sunny day an old Croatian war leader was returning from battle tired and thirsty, and asked a beautiful girl called Manda to scoop up some water from the spring for him.”

In Croatian the word for „to scoop up water“ means „zagrabiti“. This was the birth of the name of Zagreb.

And last but not least the young girl Manda gave the name to the Fountain „Mandusevac“.

DAY 4 – HAMAG INVEST AND MEDICAL INTERTRADE

Here it was the first time for us to speak business

English. At first it was difficult for all of us to

understand, but after a while we got used to it.

We learned something about the work of

HAMAG Invest:

- The company tries to promote and to develop investments in Croatia and guarantees bank credits for SME‘s like a certificate that their investment

is quite safe so that the bank can give a credit to the SME‘s.

It was founded in 1994 as the Croatian Guarantee Agency. It was established by the government of the Republic of Croatia (1995) and is an

independent institution under the supervision of the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Grafts.

Finally, in 2002 it became the Croatian SME Agency.

MEDICAL INTERTRADE

In the evening we visited the headquarters of the Medical Intertrade in Sveta Nadelja near Zagreb. It is 100 % self-financed.

Medical Intertrade was founded on 31th May 1990 in Vukovar in the East of Croatia. During the Independence War from 1991 until 1996 this area was completely destroyed. So three different business units were born in Croatia. (Sveta Nadelja, Solin and Vukovar)

The business unit in Solin provides the services in the south of Croatia and Vukovar does the same for the northeast of Croatia.

In Sveta Nadalja it is a warehouse and the distribution of all the health products for hospitals, pharmacies, health centres and wholesalers.

There are other business units in Slovenia (Ljubljana) and in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo).

DAY 5 – NESTLÉ AND VOCATIONAL SCHOOL

It was founded by Henri Nestlé in Vevey (Swiss) in1866.

In 2016 the company celebrates its 150th anniversary.

Henri Nestlé was a pharmacist and in 1867 he applied for the first patent on baby’s milk.

Today Nestlé isn‘t centralised, but it is the largest food maker of the world. The headquarters are in Vevey near Lausanne and there are 1000 employees. Worldwide

the company employs 330 000 people.

In Croatia Nestlé just imports the products. Thus we could only visit the department of administration.

The visit included three speakers with different

contents in their presentations:

the history of Nestlé, the economy in Croatia,

marketing strategy and the main products in Croatia.

VOCATIONAL SCHOOL

Here we learned some interesting facts about the different school system in Croatia. The Croatian students had prepared a presentation in German and we presented our

presentation about the German school system, too. After that we had time to discuss and talk in German as well as in English.

In Croatia the pupils go to the primary school until the eight class and than they can choose between the college or a kind of vocational school.

The vocational school lasts three or four years. During that time the students only have lessons. In Croatia there is no dual system like in Germany. For any practical experience the students have to do a work placement during their summer holidays.

The college time is four or five years. Having passed their college-exams they can go to a university.

Today more and more students choose the way of college and the university to improve their chance to find a god job.

A lot of young people in Croatia are unemployed. So they often decide to go in another country in Europe to work there for a time or even for their whole life.

DAY 6/7 – ARRIVAL IN SPLIT AND WORKSHOP

It took us five hours to travel from Zagreb to Split. It was a very interesting route with a lot of new

tunnels. The highway A1, which was completed

last year, is a new and important road connection

for this region as well as for the economy of Croatia. During the workshop in the hotel we learned

something about business English and the

economic of Croatia. Here we got to know

once again that the quote of unemployment

among young people is very high. Thus

many young people are forced to look for

a job abroad. Besides we practised our business English,

e.g. the situation of a business telephone call. It is Split view from The Marjan.

FACTS ABOUT SPLIT Area (Split and Dalmatia): 14 106 km² (land: 4 572 km² ) Area of Split: 80 km² Population: 178 192 inhabitants 25% unemployed placed on a peninsula The old town is a UNESCO World Heritage because it is the best preserved and the

oldest in the world. important branches of economy: tourism and ship-building largest city in the south of Croatia and one of the oldest in this area (over 1700 years

old)

DAY 8 – CHAMBER OF COMMERCE SPLIT AND THE UNIVERSITY OF SPLIT

The Croatian Chamber of Commerce

is an independent professional

business organisation.

We learned that it is involved in the new European entrepreneurship support network.

In 1852 it was established and organised in a European tradition like the chambers in Austria or in Germany.

It is an organisation in Croatia and his headquarters are in Zagreb. There are 20 chambers in different cities, for example in Split.

The task of this Chamber is to promote, represent and protect their members‘ common interests towards governmental authorities home and abroad.

THE UNIVERSITY OF SPLIT

Here, we visit the Department for Professional Studies in Split. This is the second largest in Croatia with 2 000 full-time, approx. 1 000 part-time students and 120 employees.

It was founded in 1974 as a public university and since 2003 it is the University of Split. It is for professional studies and the students are there for three or four years.

There are five different departments:

electrical and mechanical engineering,

information technology, finance accounting

and business trade.

We made the acquaintance of students from the

project „Erasmus“, who were from Germany. After our English presentation of our vocational

school system in English and our region we

had time to talk and discuss with some students

and professors.

DAY 9 – WORKSHOP IN THE HOTEL

In this workshop we learned something about how to prepare a good presentation. The important websites for any information about economy in MOE countries are GTaI,

AHK, EEN, iXPOS and europages. Finally we had time to prepare our presentation.

Last but not least Ms. Kaufhold showed us some video clips of our English presentation at the University of Split. So we could see and learn how we talk in front of a class.

Of course we did not like it very much but

it helped us to find our mistakes.

In addition we saw what we had done well.

DAY 10 – CROATIAN EMPLOYERS‘ ASSOCIATION AND RALLY OF THE CITY

On this day the weather wasn‘t on our side. It was the

second rainy day during our two weeks stay.

In this meeting we had learned something about the

Croatian Employers‘ Association (CEA).

It is a voluntary, non – profitable independent employers‘ association protecting and promoting its members‘ rights and interests. And a second mission is the protection and promotion of member companies‘ rights and interests.

It was founded in the first half of 1993 and since 1993 it is a member of the international Organisation of Employers (IOE – Geneva).

The business units are in Zagreb, Split, Rijeka and Osijek. In Zagreb there are the headquarters with 46 employers.

RALLY OF THE CITY

We had the task to make our own visit of Split with us

being the guides. So everyone had to choose one

of the famous buildings and sights of Split. I had chosen the Cathedral of Domnius, the oldest Cathedral of the world. It is a catholic

cathedral and was originally built as Diocletian‘s mausoleum. Diocletian was a Roman imperator, by the way the only one which died of a natural death.

There are two differences:

The church was built for the Virgin Mary and the bell Tower

for Duje. The oldest monuments in the Cathedral are the remarkable

scenes of the life of Jesus Christ on the wooden entrance doors.

They were made in the 13th century. Other very nice places in Split are:

The Riva, The Basement Halls and

The old Town of Split.The Bell Tower

DAY 11 – HARBOUR OF SPLIT

On this day we visited the Port of Split (LUKA d. d. Split). It has a port area from

33 000 m² and is a free zone port, what means that business activities are performed under special and fixed conditions.

We learned that it was founded in the 40‘s of the 20th century and until 2005 it was a company under the government. Today it is a firm of a Russian investor.

We could learn that the port is important for all countries of Europe and that it distributes the products on railway and road connections.

Our group during the visit.

DAY 12 – WAY BACKHOME

Early in the morning we had to check out of the

hotel and to take the bus to the airport.

The flight was via Cologne to Berlin. We arrived in Berlin at 1 o‘clock p.m.

So everything was fine and on 6 o‘clock

in the evening everyone of us was at home.

CONCLUSION It was a great time in Croatia with a lot of information about the people, the way of life and

the economy. We learned that Croatia has a good infrastructure, important sea routes and a lot of highly

motivated workers. In this respect it is worthwhile investing in this country, although corruption and the bureaucracy are problems that could delay the realization of investments.

The people in Croatia are very nice, helpful and friendly, perhaps even more than in Germany. They like to talk face to face to business partners and persons who are honest and direct.

For me it was a great chance to improve my knowledge of the Eastern European countries. Over and above that, I have become a fan of Croatia. I learned that there are a lot of people in the World that are wearing a little thing of Croatia. It‘s the cravat. The word means „Croatian“ in French ☺.

I am indebted to you for the opportunity of that journey and I hope this project will exist for a long time.

REFERENCES

www.ahk.hr(04/07/2014) www.een-deutschland.de(04/14/2014) from prasentations and conversations with employees and students/teachers from flyers Flyer „Step to Step“ from Zagreb http://www2.hgk.hr/en/about_cce.asp(04/14/2014) http://www.uni-koblenz.de/ist/ewis/images/maps/kroatien_xgross.jpg (04/07/2014) http://www.zov-zagreb.hr/deu/default.asp?cID=projekti&eID=projekti_13(04/23/2014)

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!

ZELIMO VAM UGODAN DAN!(I WISH YOU A VERY NICE DAY!)