POSLOVNA ŽENA Natalia Zielinska

Guest Natalija ZielinskaHosted by Marijana MatkovićMay 3, 2026

Natalija Zielinska

About this episode

What you'll hear in this conversation

Natalija Zielinska arrived in Croatia from Poland not just for love, but with a deliberate professional ambition: to help the country effectively use EU funds. She had studied Croatian and regional policies of former Yugoslavia long before settling in Ogulin, bringing a unique perspective honed in a country known for its adept use of European structural instruments. Her experience spans from an early internship in Croatia's Ministry of Regional Development to leading an EU fund consulting firm, and now assisting foreign companies entering the Croatian market. Her story offers a rare side-by-side comparison of administrative realities — the structured clarity of Poland against the interpretive complexities of Croatia. She details the unexpected challenges faced even by seasoned Polish experts attempting to navigate the local regulatory landscape. This conversation reveals the unseen friction points in cross-border business and the crucial lessons in adapting expertise to a new environment, even when the underlying principles seem familiar.

Insights from the conversation

What to take from this episode

Zielinska's move to Croatia, often assumed to be purely romantic, was preceded by years of academic focus on Croatian language and regional EU policy. The specific path to a new market often begins with deep, long-term personal curiosity and study, not a sudden strategic pivot.

While at university, Zielinska shifted from literature to focus on the political and economic processes of the post-Yugoslav transition, eventually specializing in Croatia. Specializing in a specific region, driven by interest in its real-world processes, provides a depth of understanding that generic academic knowledge cannot.

Zielinska was the first foreign student to study political science in Croatian at the University of Zagreb, leading to an internship at the Ministry of Regional Development. Early, direct immersion in a new country's language and institutions, even through an academic path, provides an invaluable insider's view of core processes like EU fund programming.

Her Polish partners, highly successful in EU consulting in Poland, abandoned their Croatian venture after six months, realizing their extensive knowledge was not directly transferable. Expertise in one market, even a similar one, does not automatically translate; the specific legal framework and administrative culture of a new country demand a fresh learning curve.

Zielinska was shocked by how laws and regulations in Croatia are open to interpretation, unlike the clear, unified rules across all operational programs in Poland. When a country's administrative rules are subject to varied interpretation by intermediary bodies, it creates inherent risk for applicants and consultants.

In Poland, dedicated information points for EU funds operate extended hours, offering direct support, whereas in Croatia, Q&A is sparse, and workshop answers are not binding. A lack of accessible, binding administrative guidance forces consultants and applicants to assume the risk of interpretation.

Croatia uses different rulebooks and varying thresholds for non-public procurement across different operational programs, leading to diametrically opposed implementation procedures. The absence of unified rules and a common system for application and implementation creates unnecessary complexity that actively hinders the effective use of funds.

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ScenariosBusiness challenges CardsEducational cards TimelineTopic evolution