Maja Borovina Frankić: A Bridge Between Croatia and Foreign Investors

Maja Borovina Frankić has a strategic goal: to present Croatia to foreign investors and connect the national and regional business landscape. She is putting that goal into practice with the skill of a seasoned strategist, successfully bringing together all the elements of a first-class business gathering.

HOW DO YOU VIEW THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MASTER BUSINESS FORUM TODAY COMPARED WITH YOUR INITIAL VISION?
When I launched the Master Business Forum, I did not want to organise just another conference. I wanted to create a platform that connects people, ideas and capital while contributing to long-term economic development. From the very beginning, the goal was not simply to organise an event, but to build a business ecosystem that would position Croatia and the region among Europe’s relevant business meeting points. Attending some of the world’s most prominent international business events showed me that the greatest changes do not happen within closed systems, but in places where people from different industries, backgrounds, and perspectives come together. That is why, from day one, I have maintained that MBF is not just another event. MBF is a platform built on trust, a sense of community, and the creation of long-term value. In the age of artificial intelligence, information is no longer a competitive advantage. It is becoming accessible to everyone. What cannot be automated is trust, reputation, and meaningful relationships between people. This is precisely why I believe the business events of the future will be as valuable as their ability to bring the right people together. If we can accelerate the building of trust between people who have the potential to shape the economy together, we can also accelerate the development of society. That was MBF’s mission from day one, and I believe it will continue to define its development in the years ahead.

WHAT HAS SURPRISED YOU MOST AFTER THE FORUM’S PREVIOUS EDITIONS?
What surprised me most was just how much people genuinely value authentic, face-to-face encounters. We live in an age of content, events, and information overload. As a result, earning someone’s time and attention has become extremely difficult. People are very selective about where they invest their time, energy, and trust, and they choose to place that trust in us. The support MBF received exceeded all my expectations. People recognised the sincerity behind the project and were willing to help without calculating what they might gain in return. It reminded me that keeping one’s word, trust, and a shared goal still carry enormous value. That is why I often think of Jim Collins’ line from Good to Great: ‘Great vision without great people is irrelevant.’ MBF would never have become what it is today without the people who believed in its idea from the very beginning. Ultimately, an economy is not just made up of companies. It is made up of people and the relationships they build.

CAN YOU DESCRIBE HOW THE EVENT ITSELF WAS CONCEIVED?
When we started, many people assumed that our event was exclusively about the construction industry – hence its original name, Masters of Building Fair. However, from the outset, the term ‘Building’ referred to those who build the economy and to a strong entrepreneurial drive. I was already thinking several steps ahead: creating an event in beautiful Rovinj that would be recognised by people from other European and more distant markets, particularly potential investors. Why shouldn’t we have a renowned event here that appeals to prospective international partners? We do not always need to travel to trade fairs abroad – they can come to Rovinj. From the beginning, it was also clear to me that we needed to think on a regional, and indeed European, scale. Today, through the Master Business Forum, that is exactly what is happening.

WHEN DID YOU BEGIN WORKING SERIOUSLY ON THE ORGANISATION?
We started in January 2023. From the very beginning, I was aware that engaging external partners for every segment of the organisation – established companies with proven expertise in their respective fields – would also strengthen our own organisational capacity. It is certainly a more expensive approach, but it is the only way to deliver high-profile events of this scale. I analysed exactly who and what I needed. I knew what I wanted and took the necessary steps to achieve it; when you have business experience, you know how to recognise quality.

WHO MADE UP YOUR TEAM AT THE BEGINNING?
The first person who was fully committed to the project alongside me from the very beginning was Matea Jerić Ćurković of President Group, owner of the renowned Perfecta Travel agency. She immediately understood my vision, supported me, and co-managed the project with me. We also engaged the event management and marketing agency Alert, led by Lana Bedeković Rosandić and her team, because I wanted their experience to bring a higher level of elegance and entertainment to the event, as well as a sense of warmth rather than creating a purely business-like, rigid environment. We were also joined by Jerko Trogrlić’s Vajt agency and Zvona Catering as our premium catering partner. I initially thought we would be able to manage everything ourselves with the support of external partners, but even the few of us working in-house had more than enough on our hands.

WHO ATTENDS A GATHERING LIKE THIS?
From day one, I knew I wanted an event that would bring everyone involved in the investment and supply chain under one roof. Given the size of the market, I also knew that we needed to bring all relevant stakeholders together, both vertically and horizontally – from public bodies and institutions to the real economy, in other words, everyone who forms part of that chain. This includes different types of investors, both private and public, followed by all the other stakeholders in the chain: architects, construction companies, manufacturers and suppliers of materials, tools and equipment, financial and insurance services, consultants across a range of fields – economic, legal, technical, energy and technology – as well as the IT sector. At first glance, it may seem unusual to see a construction company, an IT company and someone involved in food retail or jewellery sitting at the same table, but they are in fact closely interconnected. What links them is that they are key players in their respective industries and, in one way or another, part of the investment chain.

IS QUALITY OR THE NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS MORE IMPORTANT TO YOU?
When we first announced the inaugural edition, I knew that if my goal had been to attract five thousand people, I could have set the registration fee at twenty euros and filled the venue. But our goal was never to attract casual visitors – the point is for every person who walks through the door to matter. If we are talking about business, you want to attend a gathering where there is a strong likelihood that every conversation will be productive. People and companies come because they want the event to have a positive impact on their business. Numbers alone can create a false impression of how relevant an event really is. From the outset, through our pricing and everything else we do, we have positioned ourselves as an event for serious participants who want to be among their peers. Quality is extremely important to us, and our focus is exclusively on decision-makers.

BEFORE THE MASTER BUSINESS FORUM, YOU ALSO DEVELOPED THE BUILDING. HR PLATFORM. HOW DOES IT FIT INTO THE BIGGER PICTURE?
Building.hr was the first step in my journey. While working in various roles at my family company, Spegra, I was responsible for procurement at one point and realised how much time I was losing simply trying to find out who did what in the market. There was far less information available online at the time, and much of what did exist was inaccurate, so I concluded that we needed a system in which every company could register with accurate information – an automated, manipulation-free system enabling the ideal matching of supply and demand exclusively for the B2B sector. We developed the platform and launched it on the market in 2022, receiving a very positive response in its first year. Building.hr is a digital tool, a kind of digital epicentre for investment and supply chain, and it was the logical introduction to the next step: establishing the event now known as the Master Business Forum. By combining a digital database with a physical gathering, we created a platform for pursuing our business interests in this market and across the region, while also providing a one-stop destination for foreign investors interested in our market.