From the magazine HRVATSKI! 2/2024: Special topics – Posebne teme
CROADUCT
The bridge to Croatia
Most prema Hrvatskoj
The interview with Karolina and Marijana can be found here in the blog in English. Compare the Croatian and English versions of this interview by opening the magazine HRVATSKI 2/2024 on the page 55.
Karolina and Marijana are second-generation German-Croats. Born and raised in Germany, they have always had close ties to Croatia, their parents’ homeland. From the very beginning they have lived with two cultures and languages. Karolina lives in Berlin and Rab, Marijana commutes between Rovinj and Stuttgart. In 2023 they founded CROADUCT and want to “build bridges” for everyone who wants to become part of Croatia, the pearl by the sea. On the following pages you can read what CROADUCT is, how it was founded and what motivates Karolina and Marijana.
What does CROADUCT mean?
Karolina: The name is made up of the English (international) Croatia and Viaduct, from Latin via “way” and ductus “leadership, direction”, i.e. “transfer”. With our network, we see ourselves as bridge builders for everyone who is or would like to be active between two countries.
Marijana: CROADUCT offers all German speakers who want to build a professional and private life in Croatia a regular, interactive exchange platform with experts in order to work on concrete solutions for their own projects. The results flow into our knowledge platform. We started with the so-called octo-rounds with 8 participants plus experts, which take place online. In the future, online and offline events with key note speakers will also take place.
What does CROADUCT mean to you personally?
Karolina: Our network is intended to bring together people who would like to live well and happily in both countries. To ensure that this succeeds as best as possible, we want to use our expert knowledge from the network to clarify where the differences lie and what should be paid attention to, both culturally and with regard to official and legal aspects.
Marijana: We want to motivate people with a Croatian or ex-Yugoslav background to find the courage to return to Croatia. Whether completely or only partially, everyone decides for themselves. I first approached the classic purchase of a property cautiously, then became an entrepreneur because this turned out to be the best form of existence for me between two countries. The longer I am active in Croatia, the more attractive it becomes for me. Because, contrary to the widespread prejudice of many people, the general conditions for entrepreneurs are really good – and, above all, cheaper. This significantly reduces the risk of taking risks. I often wonder why more people from the “diaspora” don’t take the step. Seen in this way, for me personally, CROADUCT is also a COMEBACK initiative for our diaspora to fulfill their longing and at the same time connect with like-minded “Germans” in Croatia.
Where is your headquarters and why did you choose this location?
Our locations in Croatia are Rab and Rovinj, so we founded in Rijeka, almost halfway there.
Karolina: I live in Berlin because it is the most diverse city in Germany. Rab is home and a retreat by the sea. “Sunce, more i tisina” have played a very important role for me since childhood.
Marijana: I spend every free minute in Rovinj because for me it feels like “paradise on earth” – despite all the downsides, be it bureaucracy, politics, the exploding real estate market or the slightly different understanding of “reliability”. Otherwise, I’m constantly on the move between Stuttgart and Rovinj.
How did it all start?
Karolina:At the beginning of October 2022, an article about “Croatia as a booming travel destination” was published by Spiegel Online. In it, “Stuttgart native with Croatian roots, Marijana Lovrinić, reported on her experiences as a landlady in Rovinj.” When I read the article, I recognized many elements from my life and sought contact with Marijana. When we met, we quickly felt a connection based on our similar experiences.
Marijana: We both grew up in southern Germany, studied and worked there. We both have our homes in Croatia and Germany and feel equally at home. We have known the peculiarities of both countries since our childhood and have mastered the interaction with two cultures. In particular, we know how we can combine our knowledge and values from Germany with the charm of Croatia and use them “elastically”.
Karolina: We also have some things in common professionally. We are active in the IT environment and have worked in both large companies and startups, including in marketing, communication and partner management. We usually act as an interface between different specialist disciplines, so our focus is on building relationships, networked work and the routine use of new technologies such as online conferences.
Marijana: Since 2023, we have been building bridges with croadduct.hr for everyone who wants to make this beautiful country by the sea their first or second home.
Why did you found CROADUCT? What motivated you to do this?
Karolina: There are around a million Croats and people of Croatian descent in Germany and many are still connected to their homeland. For many people there is an underlying longing for their family roots. We wanted to enable exchange between private individuals and experts so that new contacts and networks can emerge from which everyone can benefit.
Marijana: Whenever I meet German-Croats, I feel a connection. It was the same with Karolina, we were immediately on the same wavelength and immediately understood what moved us. I’m also noticing that more and more people are thinking about returning, as was the case in the Explora program with Korado Korlević, in which one of the audience questions was “How to return to Croatia?” (Explora program from January 30, 2024, min 43:13, YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WfLrIT1nwQ).
What is special about your business idea? What makes your CROADUCT project particularly good? How does your business model work?
Karolina: We are bridge builders for everyone who wants to live and work in both countries. In our exchange rounds, we take on the “moderator” role and ensure that, depending on the topic, at least one expert is there. The English term “facilitator” describes it best.
Marijana: In our octo-rounds we offer compact knowledge on specific topics that serve as initial guidance. So far, the feedback from participants has been very positive, who rated our rounds as informative, clear and compact, which saves searching for information and running around between consultants and authorities. One participant’s original comment was “I could have saved a lot of effort and time.”
In the future, we would like to combine the exchange of knowledge with beautiful shared experiences with events, group trips such as “Discover your roots” and retreats or workations and bundle the knowledge we have collected in an academy.
Being a member of CROADUCT – what does that mean?
Karolina: At Croaduct you can find interesting people with a Croatian background or a new interest in this country. Most grew up at least bilingual and with two cultures or now live with both countries in their hearts.
Marijana: Croaduct is a curated network that members can access. i.e. only contacts with whom we or other members have already had positive experiences are recommended. Otherwise, members have access to the entire compact knowledge according to the “one-stop shop” principle.
What problems have you encountered so far or what are your biggest challenges?
Karolina: It quickly became clear that many people thought about living in Croatia in the summer instead of just being there on vacation, but then they hesitated. There are various regulars’ tables as a source of information, but on site. The group of people is very diverse in terms of age, profession and living situation and is spread across several countries. Without online meetings, it is difficult to get everyone talking to each other. We had hoped that with our octo-rounds we would be able to close this gap and answer many questions together in the group to help us make decisions.
Marijana: Unfortunately, we discovered that the Octo rounds are very time-consuming to prepare and the commitment of the participants is lower when they take place online. Building up the reach also takes longer than planned. Therefore, in the future we will make the compact knowledge on the most important topics available in our Academy as recorded webinars on demand and offer our octo-rounds as onsite events and retreats or workation holidays.
What would you like to say to our readers at the end?
Karolina:Follow your heart, don’t wait for retirement to live in the place you long for. Read my book “Half two”, then you will understand my appeal. My father, who was born on the island of Rab, had always counted down the years in Germany until he would finally live by the sea again. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen again.
Marijana:Dare and come back. Running away doesn’t help, there is enough work – especially with the combination of “German reliability” and “Croatian resourcefulness (snalažljivost) we are better. To quote Korado Korlević again from his broadcast: “Go out, gain experience, learn from other people’s mistakes, then come back and start your own company with which you will be even better and more competitive” (Quote from Korado Korlević from the Explora broadcast on January 30, 2024, min 43:13, YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WfLrIT1nwQ).
