Emil Tedeschi (born 6 April 1967) is a

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

n entrepreneur, founder, and majority owner of the

Atlantic Grupa Atlantic Grupa d.d. is a Croatian multinational company whose business operations include the production, development, sales and distribution of consumer goods with simultaneous market presence in over 40 countries around the world.Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, and his great-grandfather came to the island of Korčula as a merchant. Tesdeschi's father, Svetozar Emil Tedeschi, was a lawyer who worked in managerial positions in a couple of companies, but at the end of the 1980s he moved to

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

where he started a trading company for small-border trade with an Italian partner. Mother Đurđica was a judge on Korčula and a judge of the Municipal Court in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

, and today, in retirement, she is known as a fashion connoisseur. He holds a degree in Economics and Management from ZSEM (

Zagreb School of Economics and Management Zagreb ( ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slovenia at an ...

) and he studied in Università per i Stranieri di Perugia, Italy and INSEAD Fontainebleau, France. Today he is a Clinical Professor of Entrepreneurship and Strategy, as well as an Advisory Board Member of ZSEM.

Career

Tedeschi started working in his father's company in

in 1989. Then, he moved to Meteor Holding, a pulp and paper trading company in London. At 22, he became the director of the Milan branch. In 1991, he founded

Atlantic Trade The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of Slavery in Africa, enslaved African people to the Americas. European slave ships regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Pass ...

independently, starting with six employees from the Zagreb branch of Meteor Holding. The company initially grew by selling Wrigley chewing gum and Ferrero chocolate bars. Atlantic Trade expanded through strategic acquisitions, including

Cedevita Cedevita d.o.o. is a Croatian company which produces a wide range of teas, instant drinks, and dietetic products. A notable owner of the company was the Croatian pharmaceutical company Pliva d.d. Since 2001 Cedevita has been part of the Atlan ...

and Neva from Pliva and later the Slovenian company

Droga Kolinska Droga Kolinska is a Slovenian food processing company from Slovenia, majority owned by Croatian Atlantic Grupa. History Droga Kolinska came into existence with the merger of the companies Droga d.d. from Portorož and Kolinska d.d. from Ljubljan ...

for 382 million euros in 2010. This purchase was funded by the company's own money, bank loans, and mezzanine financing from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Tedeschi's business has 5,400 employees and generates over 900 million euros in revenue annually. Additionally, he owns the private chain of pharmacies, Farmacia. He was named manager of the year in 2002 by the Croatian Association of Managers (CROMA), and in 2005 by the business magazine Privredni vjesnik. In 2006, he was chosen by the expert jury of Kapital Network as a businessman of the year. From 2005 to 2007, he was the president of the Croatian Association of Employers and a member of the Economic and Social Council. He is also a member of the Trilateral Commission. He is the honorary consul of Ireland in the Republic of Croatia, and a member of the Harvard Kennedy School Dean's Council, the INSEAD Alumni Association, the Programme Council of the ZSEM, the Business Council at the Faculty of Economics in

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

, as well as the Council of the University of Rijeka. Also, Tedeschi is a chairman of the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award jury in Croatia. In 2010, he received the award "Večernjak pečat" as the businessman of the year in the region of Southeast Europe, and the state decoration of the Order of Danica Hrvatska with the image of Blaž Lorković for special services to the economy. From 2010 to 2015, he was a member of the Economic Council of the President of the Republic. In 2011, he was awarded the honorary "Heart of Sarajevo" for his long-term support of the Sarajevo Film Festival.

Personal life

Tedeschi is married to Maja Tedeschi. They have two children. He is the owner of the basketball club Cedevita Junior and the president of the basketball club Cedevita Olimpija in Ljubljana.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tedeschi, Emil Living people 1967 births Croatian businesspeople