One step ahead

“The economic crisis is like rain. Everybody gets wet, some more, some even more, but some also slip.” N.B. Antic

YDS was founded in 1927, when Mr Yakupoglu began trading leather in a town called Isparta in Turkey.

Trading in leather and raw components began to increase and a move to an industrial business centre, Ankara in 1971 led to the development of a footwear business YDS.

Having supplied the domestic Turkish Military and security forces with quality made boots, YDS continued to progress into a product design and development capability from 1990.

Since then YDS has become the biggest boot supplier of the Turkish Armed Forces and General Directorate of Security and have gained a solid reputation for maintaining quality standards.

Today the success of YDS, financially at £51 million annual turnover, spans beyond the borders of Turkey and leaves footprints all over the world.

The representative of YDS brand on the Serbian market is Advanced Products Group Ltd, with their central office in Belgrade, with whose founder and director we had the opportunity to talk to.

Nemanja B. Antic, the Director of Advanced Products Group Ltd. from Belgrade speaks for Profit Magazine.

1.Mr. Antic, where were you born, where did you grow up and educate?

I was born in Sarajevo in 1982. The greatest part of my childhood I spent exactly here, in Belgrade, where I finished primary school, Mathematical High School, The Faculty of Economics and served the army.

Further on, I finished MBA studies on The University of Sheffield in Great Britain. I am also a licensed broker of the Commission for Securities, an investment adviser and portfolio manager.

All this was a physically, mentally and financially extremely arduous ten year period of schooling and education.

2.How was your career going?

I am not old enough to talk about a long career, but after I finished my first faculty, I started working in a domestic fashion house, I used to work as a consultant, afterwards I moved to the Ministry of Economy and Privatization Agency where I had been working for several years on the privatization, auctions, tenders and liquidation...

Then I moved to the personal private sector and entrepreneurship and founded two companies for consulting and trade, as we already were in the second year of the world economic crisis, so it was necessary to eagerly handle with work and with life in general.

3.What does your company do?

Our company is engaged in the production and distribution of defense and protective clothing and equipment. We supply police and military forces, utilities, municipal authorities, government agencies, security firms in the country and the region.

Observing the defense and protective equipment markets, we noticed the significant possibilities for the supply improvement and product development both in Serbia and abroad.

So we wanted to enter this.

On this year’s Security Fair that we took part in and were highly visited by individuals and companies, government representatives and various ministries, we presented products by two prestigious brands, whose general representatives we are-Pentagon brand (manufacturer of tactical clothing and equipment from Europe) and YDS brand (the biggest European manufacturer of military, police boots and special purpose footwear). We also offered specialized belts with holsters by YM brand.

Combining knowledge, new information and applications and constant equipment testing, we maintain the permanent work of the firm support team.

In this way, we offer a superior solution to the requirements of modern security challenges to both domestic and foreign markets.

4.How did you organize your company business?

From the establishment till now, we have been constantly spreading and improving, as a company and as people. Today, we work as a firm with more subsidiary corporations. Those are our production and profit centers. In this way, we managed to dislocate the production across the borders, and to replace all possible profit here in Serbia and pay taxes to our citizens, which we find extremely important.

Besides that, our employees are people with special technical and tactical knowledge, with relevant experience from state developmental centers about the products, materials and raw materials we use. So we have real experts in sales and production, design and modeling products, as well as in finance.

Furthermore, there are several managers and people that have all the rights to sign contracts, close jobs, represent the company and negotiate with clients. This is how we managed to divide management tasks and reduce the burden of certain people within the company. For now, our strategy shows continuous results.

5.What kind of plans do you have for your company?

In terms of organization, we are planning one classical merger, better to say joining with another legal entity in the coming period.

We are going to unite two companies, we will merge with a bigger firm and keep our management, knowledge and key resources, and so we will strengthen our positions on the market, allow ourselves bigger jobs, more clients, more customers, better funding.

As a bigger company, we will have a better negotiating position in relation to the competition and we will have a better bargaining position with the state. We will have the opportunity to allocate more funds for marketing.

Also, with the fast development, constant money and knowledge investments, our workers’ experiences, reliance on a number of different industries - composite, textile, rubber, and plastics industry, we are planning to expand our product range, win some other dealerships, and develop some other solutions for products that are already on the market.

For the future, we are planning the opening of a few shops and retail facilities in Belgrade; that's the plan, and the desire of all of us. In this way, we would be recognizable in the market and we would reach some of our distant customers.

6.According to your opinion, what is the current situation in the Serbian market like, when speaking of your products?

At the moment, we have several footwear programs for military and police forces, and footwear for security companies and special purposes (firefighters, motorists and hunting equipment, etc). Jackets, overalls, uniforms and clothes with various characteristics, which correspond to modern requirements of thermoregulation, waterproofing, resistance to various chemicals and impacts, belts and holsters for various purposes, ballistic solutions, tactical equipment and accessories for different purposes: protectors, slings, gloves, bags ...

In our business sector, the situation is versatile from the aspect of the size of firms which work and what they offer, and this is a great chance, since there are buyers for products of high quality and buyers for products made of cheaper materials and raw materials. Personally, I think there is place for all those firms and manufacturers.

But my biggest concern is the non-applicability of international trends in some industries which we cover in our country - often we cannot sell a great product from the USA or EU, because we still have not used that product here, so we are ahead of the market, but below the profit.

7.Did the economic crisis affect your business in Serbia and how?

Indeed, it is like rain. Everybody gets wet, some more, some even more, but some also slip. We are affected by the crisis, because we have reduced opportunities to finance our current and long-term operations, which is basic for continuous business.

Purchasing power of our clients are either gone or reduced, and new entities which could compensate for the effects of the crisis and disappearance of some companies from the market scene are not formed yet. We regularly follow government statistics and look forward to any newly established company in the country.

Since we work with state and local governments, municipalities, state agencies, all of their budgets have been considerably reduced, either because of us or due to the MMF, as well as due to various savings in the state budget, and consequently the goods and services that our country now buys are less than before, and this affected the private sector and our business. Sure, it affected all businesses in the country, and due to this, we do not feel superior at all.

It is important to note that we are entering the business year 2013 with a lot of business plans and objectives.

8.Can you compare the Serbian market with neighboring markets, as well as with those in Europe?

It's like wrestling with a grizzly bear. You have no claws, no teeth, and no ground for that. But you have to.

We are a population of just 7 million people, and in such a small market it is more difficult to implement greater market strategy, because as soon as you move to another country, another strategy must be made, applied and customized, better to say adapted to local conditions in the market.

In this sense, it is difficult to compare Serbia with European companies that make their business plans and budgets on a much larger market, as it is Europe, Russia and America.

Although, I have to admit that one part of our company is engaged in detailed research of international, major markets, by examining the habits of their customers that are our potential customers.

Our business wish is to increase exports of products and services out of Serbia and help the country as much as we can.

9.Which are, in your opinion, the greatest problems that your company is facing and how do you manage to cope with them?

If the goods are imported, then the customs procedure takes longer to translate documents, to tax them, often at different clearance rates for the same item; short working hours of customs service, where we often have to meet their wishes in various aspects.

If we produce goods, then we need to meet certain local standards, which have no market application, but exist for themselves. Like an oasis, that does not exist anywhere but you need to put it somewhere.

Product placement is a bit more difficult now in crisis, our customers are still buying, but they do it less and choose products of low quality, because the price is lower, thus saving for themselves.

Then, we have a problem in charging; we are always in a dispute with our debtors, even in court, to protect our interests according to the contract. National legislation protects the debtor illegally, and the state itself is the biggest debtor to us. We regularly pay VAT, taxes, tax for the profit that we make in the company, the tax on dividends...

All this is surpassed by a rounded business processes and systems, where we have the ability to endure certain losses, and debts, the fall in demand...We won all this due to the quality and hard work. Of course, we were lucky.

Also, in order to cope with this, we invested a lot of our own money in the company's business and exposed to business risk, but that is the business life sometimes. You only get what you give.

10.Does, in your opinion, our country have enough understanding for small and medium enterprises? What could possibly be changed and improved?

Can I get one more page?

Small and medium enterprises in Serbia, in most cases, exist to be taxed by the state, by various fiscal, immoral, abnormal and paranormal tributes. Various firm taxis, tolls, subscriptions, cash registers and bags, triple taxation are all constant problems of small and medium enterprises.

The impossibility of hiring new employees at more favorable conditions in the SME sector does not give us much room for staff development. The average salary in the public sector is higher than in the private one, which is totally unfair, and in some sense pointless, at least for the reason that the private sector almost entirely funds the state, through the above mentioned, “politics”.

We do not get any tax deduction on profits and I do not need to tell you how difficult it is to get these. So, we have no incentive bonus on the way to profit, which is the most difficult one in the SME sector.

The extremely difficult establishment of small businesses, dozens of same application forms but with another trademark, written in Latin or Cyrillic, various extracts from SBRA, tax authorities, bank, and everything is paid and verified multiple times in multiple places.

There is almost no help from the state in terms of financing projects of small and medium enterprises. Banks have turned their backs because the state does not give any guarantees for that part of the economy, so the banks will not take the risk.

So, there are too many fields to improve in SME sector.

11. What are the new products this year that you offer to your customers? Is Serbian market open enough for new products?

This year the product range of YSD brand was a total hit in our complete assortment, since it is the largest European manufacturer of military, police, technical and tactical boots. In this way, we offered the local market a serious variety of boots with the highest quality, superior design, and affordable prices.

YDS uses the latest and most advanced technology in the production of its boots and shoes, which are: Gore-Tex waterproof leather that keeps you dry, Cordura - especially resistant and durable fabric, Coolmax reduces sweating, slip-resistant Vibram soles, both on the water and oil, L-protection for increased comfort, double density DDR leather for better comfort.

With YDS, other brands, and our products we are trying to stay on the market.

Domestic market is open as much as you are able to understand it, realize the odds, survive on it one year after another and, at the very end, if you manage to survive, and if you find someone else who survived and still wants to buy from you, you have to totally fascinate him with your products or service. In this sense, the market goal is available, but sometimes it is so impossible, that the market success is measured by the pure luck.

12. How do you place your products on the market?

Like when you do a white crossword puzzle. So, in each and every way, from the tender sale of products through public procurement that we regularly monitor, provided that they meet all the criteria and conditions, we apply for the tender contact with references. Further on, to the sale of our products, goods and services to other businesses, for example security firms (which are developing and waiting the new law about the protection and safety), and whom we enabled to find the full equipment at one place. I think we did a lot for that sector.

For the individuals, we allowed the replacement of products, just in case they got a wrong number or a different color.

We use the push and pull strategy, all possible marketing and sales techniques, but at the end, our quality and reliability are our best recommendations.

13. The social responsibility is an integral part of any company, which is facing the modern business. In which way is your company socially responsible?

Brands that we represent, YDS above all, apply the latest technology and have all the required ISO standards in the manufacture of its products, and in this way we promote social responsibility since we represent such brands.

We often participate in charity events and tournaments, even as donors.

We employ both young and elderly people, pregnant women; we do not make any exceptions.

We pay taxes.

We are one socially responsible company. J

14. If you were able, would you change anything in your career and what would that be?

Huh... This reasoning backwards is always the hardest question... In principle, concerning my education, I was supposed to study electrical engineering or medicine. And in business, maybe I entered the real private sector too early. Finally, the tight skin is hard to get out. Maybe it is best to turn towards things that you can do.

15. Do you think that you sometimes make a wrong decision in your business? How do you handle such situations? Do you have a counselor?

Of course, not just sometimes, but very often, and we solve it either by trying one more time to fix my mistake, or if it does not work, by including someone better than me in the company to help, since I am just a director here, I am not the best, the smartest, and we all know it.

I use counseling and do not hesitate to ask for help; and most of our counselors really help me.

16. To what extent, in your opinion, is the manager job stressful? In what way do you manage to overcome daily stress?

In Belgrade it is enough not to be employed and to have business stress.

Employees have stress because they have heard that it exists if you are employed, and managers do not discuss it much.

Personally, I do not feel the big business stress, and it is because we have excellent staff in our company, who take on themselves all the stress and work that I would not know how to do with or without stress.

That is the way I fight with it.

17. How do you spend your free time?

In most cases, with my wife Sara and my two daughters Natalija and Tijana.

Spending time with them in a family atmosphere is priceless, walking along the river and around the buildings where we live, some family outings.

Going to the seaside or shorter relaxing weekends, only if you manage to relax with young children.

Otherwise, these are the books, various literature, Nordic, professional and historical...

Childhood friends, those from high school, college, work...

And, of course, sport: swimming, basketball, football….

18. What are real life values for you?

If values of life are in question, then these are the ones that are formed not during the popular ten or twenty years, but for the entire life cycle, including: healthy spirit, healthy family, stable relations with the environment, sustainable behavior and life. To be one step ahead is a life value.