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The British Croatian Chamber of Commerce
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The British Croatian Chamber of Commerce

The British Croatian Chamber of Commerce is a bilateral, non-profit, members organisation dedicated to promoting and supporting business relations between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Croatia with headquarters in London.

The Mission

The British Croatian Chamber of Commerce promotes and nurtures thriving business relations between Croatia and the UK in order to expand business networks and commercial opportunities. With more than 20 years of experience we offer a friendly, relaxed and helpful forum for people and firms operating in and between the two countries, as well as those looking to expand globally from a British or Croatian base.

We connect likeminded individuals with common interests and goals. To this end, we organise events that address current issues, business and technology trends relevant to our networks on a bilateral and global scale.

Beyond our always evolving agenda of market-wide activities, we also strive to make relevant introductions on a more ad hoc basis.

Some of areas we cover are; start-ups, technology and innovation, financial services, capital markets, tourism, real-estate, property, sustainable infrastructure, trade relations, business development, visa regime and domicile rules. The Chamber opens doors and can facilitate professional and informal conversations in these and other areas.

Partnerships

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We are proud to be the founding member of Global Tech Connect (GTC), a professional organisation uniting UK-based international start-up programmes and bilateral organisations to better support tech companies from their national ecosystems – those looking to enter, learn from or scale in the UK.


By sharing knowledge, experience and expertise GTC strengthens ties between countries, expands start-up networks, increases opportunities for entrepreneurs, and fosters international economic growth.

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British Croatian Chamber of Commerce is a supporter and contributor to All-Party Parliamentary Group for Trade & Export. Founded in September 2020, the APPG for Trade & Export Promotion brings together the experience of parliamentarians from all political persuasions supported by business, unions, consumers, academics, NGOs and civil society.

They are working to promote an inclusive, sustainable approach to global trade involving all aspects of the trade agenda.

Board Members

Stephen Ashurst

Stephen is a software (fintech) consultant, author and entrepreneur. Stephen’s business experience is in the UK and Croatia and worldwide and he advises private banks, wealth managers, Govts and start-ups on fintech, blockchain, AI and platform technology.

Stephen is the author of Blockchain Applied (Routledge 2021) and a contributor to the legal textbook on artificial intelligence, AI and the Law (Edward Elgar 2022)

Damir Cimer

Damir is a technology entrepreneur, strategist, and manager, with a background in public and international finance and government affairs.

Prior to his position as a COO of ScribeStar, the digital platform for capital markets based in London, he spent four years at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development at the Adviser on the Board of Directors.

Before joining EBRD he held leading positions at the Croatian Treasury and the Croatian Vice-Prime Minister Cabinet where he led a cross-ministerial team of experts working on wide reaching national reforms.

For years he has been actively supporting and consulting public and private sector stakeholders, cooperating with OECD, in South East Europe and Caucuses on establishing institutional and legislative systems for Public Private Partnerships and Concessions.

Lindsay Forbes

Lindsay is a former Director at European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. In the course of a 22 year career, he spent the early part undertaking debt and equity projects in Croatia and maintaining relationships with the Croatian Government.

He was a member of the Board of Pliva dd from 1996 until 2001. He has worked in most of the EBRDs countries of operation, and from 2012 until 2016 was resident in Moscow.

He has been a member of over a dozen Boards, including listed, unlisted corporates, utilities, banks and equity funds.

Michèle Small

Michèle is an experienced international banker; with over 20 years in the fields of development finance. She is currently an independent consultant specialising in all aspects of real estate investment and financing in emerging markets.

She has held senior roles at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Michèle was Director, Head of the EBRD North American Representative Office, based in Washington DC. In this role, she managed the EBRD’s key relationships with its North American shareholders and was responsible for corporate business development as well as mobilisation of private finance and impact investing initiatives in North America.

Michèle was also Director and Senior Banker of the Property and Tourism team at EBRD. In this role, she structured and led the underwriting and implementation of a wide range of real estate transactions (debt, mezzanine, and equity) across the EBRD region. As part of this role, she was responsible for business development in Croatia and worked on several projects across Croatia including the Croatia Tourism Privatisation Framework. She also published a chapter on financing for property development in Professional Property briefings; CROATIA Jan 2006

She is an experienced Non-Executive Director and served on various supervisory boards of companies in the real estate sector.

Prior to joining EBRD, Michele worked as a senior risk officer at Bank of Boston (now part of the Bank of America Group).

A UK national, Michèle holds an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the Cass Business School in London.

Vlaho Kojakovic

Vlaho is Director of the Property and Tourism Team at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development where he has been working for the past 10 years.

He is a seasoned banker and a real estate executive with more than 20 years of experience in the sector.

Before joining EBRD, Vlaho worked as Development Director with the Trigranit Development Corporation, the biggest real estate developer in Central and Eastern Europe. He started his career in investment banking with BNP Paribas in London.

Vlaho holds an MBA from Imperial College, University of London, and an executive education from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

EBRD operates in 38 economies in Central and Eastern Europe and North Africa and has invested over €125 billion in more than 5000 projects up to date.