Luckily it seems to me that there are more and more successful business people that promote working and living in Croatia. It is a bit strange to read about it from a person who does not actually work in Croatia. If you have visited the about us section, you´ve probably learned that my family and I currently live in Austria. This is another story, but important thing is that we are thinking for years about the best possible ways to move back to Croatia. Investing in something on the coast sounded like a fantastic idea. It was a dream come true. Having a solid ground and place where you could always come back to. If you can also earn something out of it, even better. That is how “Why not Istria?” villa was born.

Tourism, tourism, tourism

One could say that our idea was very boring. One more villa on the Adriatic Sea? Wow, how inventive. I have to say that I somehow agree. I always wanted to invest in a startup, but then again, Croatian strongest industry is tourism. We have a beautiful coast, land and real estate should normally never lose from its original value, especially if you managed to get a good price for them. People will also always travel, luckily even during Corona times. Return on investment is maybe not that fast but is constant over time. One thing is certain, we always believed in Croatia.

Who do you trust?

Coming back to our initial subject of working and living in Croatia. What I already said at the beginning, and what I am especially proud of, is the fact that successful business people started to promote Croatia. Why I am proud of that? Well, business people are the ones who face the biggest challenges on their way to success. They could have the best idea, the best products, but if their government and laws are not being supportive, they will bring the business elsewhere. It was never easier to open a company in another European country, especially if you are one of the EU members. But if they, after all their career challenges still recommend Croatia, there has to be something under the surface.

The same goes for tourism. A marketing agency can very easily create a beautiful promotional video about the beauty of one country. You will watch this fascinating video, but for sure you will not be fully convinced that you want to visit that country. On the other hand, if you hear from one global traveler that a certain place is beautiful, there is nothing else you need. The decision has been made because this person has seen many different places, and his opinion is stronger than 100 promotional videos.

Influencers with the background

One of the persons that started this trend of inviting people to Croatia, in this case, digital nomads, is the entrepreneur from the Netherlands, Jan de Jong. He was also the one who replaced his Netherlands address with the Croatian one. Since coming to Croatia, he is intensively working on the initiative to ease the process for strangers to work from Croatia. “There are 50.000 digital nomads on the island Bali just as we speak. Why Croatia could not be as attractive to them. Look at around you, who would not want to work here?” are just some of his words.

Another foreigner who is in love with Croatia is Paul Bradbury. A successful blogger who runs The Total Croatia News portal. He is so in love in Croatia that he is trying to change all negative and illogical things that he witnesses in everyday life. In his articles, he is not afraid to write about corrupt politicians or some crazy laws. In the end, no one can blame or be angry with him for anything. Everyone knows how much he actually enjoys Croatia, how much he appreciates this easy-going lifestyle and beauties of the country.

Working and living in Croatia by Mate Rimac

The cherry on the top is Mate Rimac. He is the founder of Rimac Automobili, a company that produces electric hypercars. His road to success is very fascinating. It all started in his parents´ garage when he put an electric engine in an old 1984 BMW after its gas engine blew up. Today he produces electric cars with, wait for it, more than 1.900 HPs, 1.914 to be perfectly precise. That is not all, Rimac Automobili also develops technology for other brands like Hyundai and Porsche.

Based on his interviews, the road to success was everything but easy. A constant struggle with complex bureaucracy, lack of interest by the Croatian government, lack of qualified manpower, are some of the challenges he had to overcome. He also had many offers to move his business to another country, where probably certain things could be easier.

Despite all that he stayed in Croatia. Not just that, he managed also to bring many foreign experts. As it looks now, we will be hearing a lot more from him in the future.

The first step? Nice vacation

If you ask me, the opinion of these people counts. They have seen everything, they have been everywhere, but they are here, in Croatia, and they invite you to come. If not immediately to work, but to spend some nice holidays. Once you come and fall in love in this beautiful country, who knows what could be next.