RITAM POSLA Igor Čičak

Guest Igor ČičakHosted by Lidija KiseljakMay 3, 2026

Igor Čičak

About this episode

What you'll hear in this conversation

Igor Čičak spent years in corporate banking, but by 2011, he sensed the world he inhabited had grown "too regulated, too rigid" for what he wanted to achieve. He stepped out, built a consulting firm, launched a clinical trials company with his wife, and eventually embarked on the challenging path of founding a private equity fund. His firm, Proektus Capital Partners, now manages €94 million across 19 institutional investors, primarily consolidating fragmented sectors like private healthcare and dental services. This conversation traces Čičak’s shift from the corporate world to the entrepreneurial path, revealing the strategic thinking behind building a fund from scratch and the often-overlooked role private capital plays in shaping critical industries. You’ll hear what it takes to convince major institutions to back a new fund and why Čičak believes private healthcare, far from merely competing, also drives improvements in public systems.

Insights from the conversation

What to take from this episode

In 2011, Čičak left a career in foreign and domestic banks, describing the corporate world as "too regulated, too rigid" for what he wanted to achieve. The drive to build something new often begins with a rejection of existing structures, not just an embrace of a new idea.

Raising the first fund, ASEF, to €94 million was a multi-year process. The most difficult part of establishing a private equity fund isn't finding projects, but convincing institutional investors to back the *team*—its founders, references, and prior experience working together—emphasizing that trust in management is the primary asset.

Proektus Capital Partners secured commitments from 19 institutional investors, half Croatian, half foreign. These investors, including pension funds, insurance companies, and development banks, require the fund's management to invest their own capital alongside them, creating "the highest level of responsibility" by aligning incentives completely.

Croatia has historically lacked private equity funds, particularly for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). While larger companies found investment, a significant gap existed for smaller to mid-sized businesses, highlighting a market opportunity where private equity can play a crucial role in consolidating and scaling fragmented sectors.

Proektus Capital Partners' first investment was in Kindle Sport, a specialized retailer of bicycles and e-bikes. While the fund later focused heavily on healthcare, this initial investment shows that even a sector-focused fund can begin with an opportunistic acquisition, using it as a platform for further consolidation and growth.

Čičak identified the healthcare sector as "extremely fragmented" and ripe for private equity investment. The strategy isn't just about capital injection, but active consolidation—forming Aviva Medical Group and Adria Dental Group—to create larger, more efficient systems out of many smaller, independent practices.

Private healthcare, Čičak argues, is not merely a competitor to public systems. It acts as a driver for improving public standards, offers new services, and creates savings by reducing the load on public resources, making crucial medical services more accessible overall.

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