GZS honours five outstanding business executives

The award was conferred on ex-Kolektor chairman Radovan Bolko, REM chairman Igor Kastelic, Roto Slovenija chairman Nuša Pavlinjek Slavinec, Atlantic Droga Kolinska chairman Enzo Smrekar and Dušan Rauter, the chairman of Bintegra.

Having dedicated his entire career to industrial multinational Kolektor, Radovan Bolko started working for the company while it was still relatively small and little known.

He held various senior posts before taking over as chairman, the post he held for eight years until last April, GZS said in a press release.

Under his leadership, the company with more than 5,000 workers has managed to double sales from EUR 450 million in 2014 to a planned EUR 1 billion in 2022.

The director of REM, which specialises in complex modular prefabricated buildings and engineering, Igor Kastelic has led the company since 2003.

Their products and services are the result of in-house development as well as intensive networking with domestic and foreign partners and researchers.

REM has 200 workers and generates 70% of its sales abroad, mostly in Germany and Austria, while its value added rose annually by 14% over the last three years.

The only woman recipient this year, Nuša Pavlinjek Slavinec is the director of the family plastic products manufacturer Roto Slovenija and Roto Eco.

Roto's portfolio features over 2,000 products, most in the water and construction segment (35%), followed by garden (20%), agriculture (13%) and sports (8%).

The company, whose focus is on green, sustainable and digital production, is present in 65 countries, while its value added has increased by 21% annually over the past three years, making innovation-oriented Roto one of the fastest growing in the industry.

Enzo Smrekar became the chairman of food processing company Atlantic Droga Kolinska in 2016, eight years after joining its board of managers, and also serves as one of Atlantic Grupa's vice presidents.

The company generates 38% of its revenue in Slovenia, followed by the EU and SE Europe, and its value added per employee in 2020 was just over EUR 96,000.

Over the past three years, Atlantic Droga Kolinska has spent 3.5% of annual sales on investment to reduce the use of natural resources, increase productivity and generally modernise production processes.

Smrekar is also a sport official. He is for instance on the presidency of the International Ski Federation and serves as the head of the Slovenian Ski Federation.

Dušan Rauter has meanwhile co-founded IT solutions provider Bintegra, and has led it since 2010. Bintegra has a team of five researchers and develops IT solutions primarily with its own development resources.

Focussing mostly on the domestic market, it aims to become one of the most recognised IT solution providers in Slovenia in the field of business systems integration and digital transformation using Digital Experience Platforms tools.

The awards were conferred for the 54th time. They are given to business executives who generate surpluses in a sustainable manner.

This year's winners included, 355 businessmen and 30 businesswomen have so far received the GZS award.