First generation of students of Podravka's Management Academy - POMAK - receive their diplomas

Diplomas were awarded at the Graduate School of Economics and Business in Zagreb to the first generation of students of Podravka’s Management Academy – POMAK, which is the only management academy in Croatia founded by a company. Darko Marinac, president of Podravka’s Management Board, presented the POMAK diplomas to the students, while Darko Tipurić, vice-dean of the Graduate School of Economics and Business in Zagreb, handed the FBA diplomas. FBA is the basic module of POMAK conducted in cooperation with the Graduate School of Economics and Business in Zagreb.

Forty-six students graduated from POMAK. The course consists of two basic modules: FBA (Fundamentals of Business Administration) conducted in cooperation with the Graduate School of Economics and Business in Zagreb, and LIDER. The Fundamentals of Business Administration (FBA) deals with “hard” managerial contents and consists of 200 hours of lectures and workshops on topics covering areas of general, financial, marketing, strategic and global management. The lecturers are full professors of the Graduate School of Economics and Business in Zagreb, as well as foreign lecturers from business schools, lecturers from Leeds Metropolitan University, MBA programmes, and others.

LIDER deals with "soft" managerial knowledge and skills, and consists of 200 hours of workshops and exercises in the field of leadership, motivation, rewards, communication, negotiations, teamwork and other skills focusing on people management. The LIDER presenters are renowned psychologists and communicologists, supported by other lecturers specialised in specific topics.

According to data of the National Competitiveness Council, Croatia does not invest enough in education – only 4% of GDP – while the average for OECD countries is 5%. The educational structure of the population is not satisfactory – about 7% of the population have college qualifications, and 12% have completed graduate and postgraduate studies. In Croatia, 40% of companies organise education and training for their employees, while 20% of companies organise management training. The needs for additional training are twice as great as what is actually implemented.

It is necessary to adjust the educational programmes to the development of knowledge and skills which will be needed in the future, which implies encouraging cooperation among educational institutions, business entities and international institutions to promote the acquisition of modern educational working principles. In spite of the lack of incentives for certain types of investment in education, Podravka, in order to build its long-term competitiveness and assume greater social responsibility, decided to establish its own management academy (POMAK), as well as the Prof Zlata Bartl Foundation, as a nonprofit organisation to support students.