New EU grant support for our client!
Among the many businesses supported in the past by our consulting team and the Challenge Fund is Casa Mushrooms d.o.o. from Banja Luka. The € 18,300 grant supported their idea of cultivating shiitake mushroom, an exotic edible and medicinal mushroom, which is highly sought after in the European Union market and can be grown in our region.
“Casa Mushrooms was founded in 2014 as the daughter of our main company, which has existed for 18 years. We are engaged in the purchase, processing, and production of mushrooms. Out of 500t of raw material, 50t of dry mushrooms are exported annually, generating an income of about 10 million KM. However, the purchase and processing of wild mushrooms carry a lot of risks because they depend on the weather conditions, so we came up with the idea to start production of mushrooms in controlled conditions”, explains Milan Zorić, owner of the company. The project, he says, came with partners from the Netherlands, with a 49% ownership stake, in the meantime, the ownership structure would change and the plan is to fully transform into domestic ownership by the end of the year.
“With this project, we have planned a weekly production of 5 tons, or 250 tons a year. It was envisaged that the whole quantity would be exported, but we are also considering the possibility of cooperation with domestic producers of spice mixtures, in which minced shiitake could go. It is a very high quality and medicinal mushroom that may be of interest to our market to a certain extent, ”Zoric says. He proudly points out that they have invested significant funds in the procurement of a special chamber for disinsection and microbiology, that is, disinfection of CO2-based products, which does not lose the status of organic. This company has also fulfilled the requirements for obtaining all the certificates required by the picky foreign market, all with the aim of getting the end customer a quality product.
They are very grateful to the Challenge Fund for their support. “Every financial aid is significant, but it is even more significant when one recognizes you and sets you apart from the masses of others. It is always a compliment and an additional incentive, ”Zoric said.
