“Creation of every single job represents a one-of-a-kind business success that is even more important than the profit itself,” says Dalibor Zlatković, owner of Alfanova, a company from Lapovo. EU PRO’s first call for proposals, to which this company applied and got the funding approved, contributed greatly to this success.

Alfanova manufactures paper products and, thanks to the funding obtained from EU PRO, it managed to procure equipment that turned its paper towel production into an automated process, resulting in higher production volumes and improved its business results.

The value of Alfanova’s project stood at 102,467 euros (of which EU PRO secured 67,667 euros).

At Alfanova, they say the money allowed them to create new jobs and hire workers with slightly higher qualifications, who know their way around automated processes. They used to have 84 workers, and, thanks to the investment, the company hired another six people.

“We significantly sped up the production process and, what’s more important, we now have a product of much higher quality, one that is competitive in the European market and allows us to market it there with more confidence,” Zlatković said.

This has also allowed Alfanova to enter new markets and reach more consumers. Zlatković noted that the company is always working on developing new products and improving the existing ones. The company is export-oriented and currently exports some 60% of its output, mostly to countries in the region; at the end of 2020, Alfanova entered the Czechoslovakian market, too. At Alfanova, each year brings enhanced production capacity and more employees.

The company has a relatively young workforce, with most of its employees in their forties.

The owner said, however, that finding new employees is not easy, noting that once they find them, they make effort to keep them, above all by offering them good working conditions and harmonious relations between people.

He pointed out that the pandemic initially surprised them and made them halt their business plans, adding that they soon figured out that they should not wait for the pandemic to be over to move forward.

“Work is more than implementing plans; it also means responding to new circumstances and finding your way through them. The pandemic caused these entirely new circumstances which no one could have predicted only a year ago. That is exactly how and why creative entrepreneurs found new ways to do business, provide professional development to their employees, and even offer new products and services. Even though we manufacture conventional paper products, we started exploring new options and products to respond the demands of modern times,“ he added.

Social responsibility

As part of socially responsible activities, the company donated products to the COVID Hospital of the Clinical Center Kragujevac, the Institute of Oncology and Radiology of Serbia, as well as the High School in Lapovo. They decided to donate to the Institute of Oncology precisely because it is one of the few areas in which they have not participated and helped so far.

“The company is neither machines, nor buildings, nor profit, but people. And people live in communities and we are collectively responsible for them, “Zlatkovic said.