A World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF) office was opened in the northwestern Croatian town of Zabok in the Krapina Zagorje County, on Monday, making the County part of the world's financial and business network aimed at facilitating access to capital for startups and scaleups.

The WBAF is an international organisation which aims to help new companies finance their business endeavours.

Last year, some 340,000 business angels in Europe invested some €9.8 billion in startups, said the head of the WBAF, Baybars Altuntas.

Today, innovation is important. The challenge for entrepreneurs in the 21st century is to find investors, but they need the know-how, mentoring, and networking. Money can be found in a number of sources, but only business angels can provide the rest, he said.

Among those attending the opening was the Macedonian minister in charge of investments, Zoran Sapuric.

We expect this to boost economic cooperation in the region, including between Macedonia and Croatia, bearing in mind that our relations are excellent in every sense, he said.

Croatian Deputy Parliament Speaker, Sinisa Hajdas-Doncic said support institutions today were formal and informal social networks which operate in contemporary economy through innovation, investment and integration, and Krapina-Zagorje County has now provided one of those networks.

Sapuric, the Kosovo Innovation and Entrepreneurship Minister, Besim Beqaj, Ghanaian Business Development Minister Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, and Hajdas-Doncic took part in a panel on global cooperation in facilitating access to international financing for startups and scaleups.

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