Ms. Zlata Bartl led the Podravka team which many years ago in 1958 invented Vegeta, a product now sold on all the continents of the world. In honour of Ms. Zlata Bartl, Podravka has established a foundation bearing her name, whose goal is to stimulate and finance the scientific work and research activities of graduate and postgraduate students who are citizens of the Republic of Croatia.

At a meeting held on 18 October, the Management of Podravka d.d. passed a Decision on the Establishment of the “Zlata Bartl” Foundation which will stimulate and finance the creative and innovative scientific research of graduate and postgraduate students who are citizens of the Republic of Croatia. Ms. Bartl led the Podravka team which long ago in 1958 created Vegeta, the most famous Podravka brand which is today sold on all the continents of the world.

Zlata Bartl was born in February 1920 in Dolac in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1938, after she had completed primary school and grammar school in Sarajevo, she enrolled in the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb. She completed her studies in 1942, becoming a qualified teacher of chemistry, physics, maths, meteorology and mineralogy. Besides her native language, Ms. Bartl also speaks English, German, Italian and French. She began working as a teacher in Sarajevo, and in 1955 she found a job in Podravka. In 1958 she led a team of experts in whose laboratories Vegeta was developed. Vegeta achieved huge success, not only in the Croatian market, but also in foreign markets. Ms. Bartl is the winner of many acknowledgements and awards, but she says modestly: “My greatest recognition and satisfaction is that a good product like Vegeta, with all the effort put in by the commercial, technical control, and other services, has become a great product.”

The decision on establishing a foundation bearing Ms. Zlata Bartl’s name was signed by the President of the Podravka Management Board, Darko Marinac, during a working visit by the delegation of the Government of the Republic of Croatia, led by Prime Minister, Mr. Ivica Račan. The base capital of the Foundation will be made up of funds to the amount of HRK 400,000.00 invested by Podravka, while other funds will be collected in the form of donations by legal and natural persons and through other activities, in conformity with the provisions of the Law on Foundations and Endowments.

After signing the Decision on the Establishment of the “Zlata Bartl” Foundation, the Prime Minister, Ivica Račan and the President of the Podravka Management Board, Darko Marinac, paid a visit to Ms. Zlata Bartl in her home in Koprivnica.