Ease of Doing Business Index: the best environment is Sveta Nedelja

The best local environment for entrepreneurship is Sveta Nedelja, according to the Voice of Entrepreneurs Association Ease of Doing Business index, a survey conducted by the Voice of Entrepreneurs Association among Croatian entrepreneurs, mainly its members.

As the Voice of Entrepreneurs Association announced on Tuesday, Luka Medvidović and Boris Podobnik surveyed entrepreneurs, most of whom are members of the association, in order to rank cities and municipalities according to how they treat the private sector, especially small and medium sized enterprises.

They asked, among other things, whether the local community services are engaged in any work in which they directly compete unfairly with entrepreneurs, whether they are satisfied with the speed of obtaining various permits such as urban, construction, use permits, then whether there is an industrial zone in their midst, whether the self-government encourages exports, innovations and education for the real sector and whether it provides support.

Furthermore, entrepreneurs were asked whether they notice corruption and nepotism among employees, what percentage of employees in their estimation are employed through connections, as well as whether those who have received bribes are punished. There were also questions about surtaxes, digitization of local self-governments, transparency of tenders, frequency of inspections, etc.

The ratings were from 0 to 5, and according to the survey, the best environment for entrepreneurship is Sveta Nedelja, with a rating of 3.6. It is followed by Primošten with 3.44, Umag with 3.33, Kastav with 3.25, Viškovo with 3.23, Samobor with 3.08, Križevci and Bjelovar with 2.98 each, Koprivnica with 2.92, and the top ten evaluated concluded with Ivanec with 2.53.

Among the largest Croatian cities, Zagreb is in 38th place on the list, with a score of 1.71, Split is 46th with 1.39, Rijeka holds the 27th position with 2.05, and Osijek is in 33rd place with a rating of 1.92.

“The survey showed a clear picture of the attitude of mayors and heads of municipalities towards entrepreneurs, i.e. whether they treat them like a mother or a stepmother,” said Boris Podobnik, a member of the Economic Council and Supervisory Board of the Voice of Entrepreneurs Association.

Source: HRT