Founder and CEO of Rimac Automobili, Mate Rimac, was awarded the 2017 Ernst & Young Enterpreneur of the Year Award at the awards ceremony on Tuesday evening (March 20).

The hi-tech company, founded in 2009 in the town of Sveta Nedjelja west of Zagreb, employs 350 people and makes electric cars and electric components for other car manufacturers.

Earlier this month Rimac had unveiled his company’s latest project, the Concept Two electric supercar, at the Geneva Motor Show. With a 1,900-horsepower engine and a host of modern technologies including face recognition locks and voice controls, the vehicle won headlines as the world’s fastest and most advanced electric car.

At the ceremony, Rimac said it was his goal from the very beginning to prove that success is possible, even though many people kept telling him building a car in Croatia was impossible and that he should give up on his idea as soon as possible, so that “fewer people sink with him.”

He said that another of his goals was to create top quality jobs in Croatia, and added that this year the company plans to hire more than 100 workers.