12 pages of Dutch-Macedonian business news.

1. Dutch-Macedonian
Chamber of Commerce
c/o Netherlands Embassy
Aminta III 69-71
1000 Skopje
Republic of Macedonia
e: info@nlchamber.org.mk
w: www.nlchamber.org.mk
fb.com/nlchamber
twitter.com/nlchamber
linkedin.com/../nl-chamber
youtube.com/user/nlchamber
NL Chamber was established
in January
2012 as official
Dutch-Macedonian Chamber of
Commerce by 50 Macedonian
companies, according to the
Macedonian
Law on Chambers of
Commerce.
One third of these companies is
partly or fully Dutch owned.
Objective of NL Chamber is to
promote and support successful
business relations between Dutch
and Macedonian companies.
newsletter
MARCH 2014 4
photo: NL Chamber
events
Second Dies Natalis at Stobi Winery
Third General Assembly: 31 March 2014
TEDxBinnenhof: “Global Challenges, Dutch Solutions”
Conference: Dutch business experience in Macedonia
projects
Dutch attention for Macedonian dairy farming
network
Cross-border network
members
Zavar Company celebrates 25th anniversary
Dutch Van Puijenbroek Textiel opens VPTex Macedonia
Walking tree plantation at dawn
statistics
Online shopping
short
Urine fertilizer/New flight times Eindhoven-Skopje/Work at
home/Industrial property/Netherlands Enterprise Agency
Sponsors of
Foundation NL Chamber:
click to read earlier editions!
online reading pdf download
No. 3: issuu.com/.../nlchamber2013-03 bit.ly/NLC-03
No. 2: issuu.com/.../nlchamber2013-02 bit.ly/NLC-02
No. 1: issuu.com/.../nlchamber2013-01 bit.ly/NLC-01

2. 2
newsletter no. 4 / March 2014
On Thursday 16 January 2014
the celebration of the second
Dies Natalis of NL Chamber
took place at Stobi Winery in
Gradsko. “Meeting eachother
is essential for the work of NL
Chamber. A celebration is both
a pleasant and a very efficient
way to get up to date and de-velop
new actions,” says Bob
Smit, Executive Director.
Stobi Winery in Gradsko hosted the celebration of the second Dies Natalis, the anniver-sary
of NL Chamber.
events
Second Dies Natalis at Stobi Winery
photo, illustration: NL Chamber
The Board of NL Chamber has
decided to combine this year’s
General Assembly with the
TEDxBinnenhof conference,
organized by the Dutch government.
Therefore, the General
Assembly will take place at
Cineplexx 8, on the top floor
of the brand-new Skopje City
Mall.
vacancies and candidates
Board members Marcel Melles
and Marta Naumovska GrnaThe
third annual gathering of the General Assembly of NL Chamber will be combined
with the TEDxBinnenhof conference on Monday 31 March at Cineplexx Skopje.
events
Third General Assembly: 31 March 2014
rova have finished their first
mandate of two years. Both
have decided to go for re-elec-tion
for another two years. The
same goes for the members of
the Supervisory Board.
The official invitation has
already
been sent to the mem-bers.
There are no other nominations
for the mentioned po-sitions
and further details will
follow by email.
route description
Drive around Skopje City Mall
from Bul. Partizanska Odredi
to enter the free parking ga-rage
at the east side. From
the top parking level you have
direct
access to Cineplexx.
Next to NL Chamber members
and the Netherlands Embas-sy,
also the new Dutch inves-tor
Anthura and new member
BDO joined the celebration.
BDO is part of a global network
with its headquarters in Bel-gium
and offers accountancy,
tax advisory and bookkeeping
services to various Dutch com-panies
in Macedonia.
www.bdo.mk

3. 3
newsletter no. 4 / March 2014
photos: TEDxBinnenhof; illustrations: NL Chamber
“Global Challenges, Dutch So-lutions”
is the theme of this
edition of TEDxBinnenhof, a
series of talks on various inno-vative
ideas, organized by the
Dutch government.
ideas worth spreading
TEDxBinnenhof is licensed by
TED, a world-wide movement
showcasing talks to inspire en-trepreneurs
and policy makers
to improve the world under the
slogan Ideas worth spreading.
NL Chamber and the Nether-lands
Embassy have secured
live streaming of this extraor-dinary
event at Cineplexx 8, in
Skopje City Mall. Host of this
Live from The Hague and brought to you by NL Chamber and the Netherlands Embassy:
TEDxBinnenhof, hosted by Sashko Kocev. Plus an additional presentation of a mysterious
tool by the Dutch inventors, live in Skopje.
events
TEDxBinnenhof: “Global Challenges, Dutch Solutions”
City of the Future
latest technological
advancements
Bert Weckhuysen
www.uu.nl
PectCof
pectin from coffee pulp
for food and pharma
Rudi Dieleman
www.pectcof.com
WeHelpen
community mutual
support platform
Coen van de Steeg
www.wehelpen.nl
Plant-E
electricity from
living plants
Marjolein Helder
www.plant-e.com
Spinid
spinning disc technology
for micro reactors
Jeoffrey van den Berg
www.spinid.nl
Smart Polder
energy from
watermanagement
Barry Scholten
iftechnology.com
Stella
solar energy car
Juliette van der Lof
www.solarteameindhoven.
nl
Hydrea Thermpipe
sewerage heat exchanger
Heleen Herbert
www.heijmans.com
Blue Innovation
extracting nutritions
from live plants
Jeroen Rondeel
www.wetering.com
Makeshift
Chimney
self-made chimneys as
preventive medicine
Onno van Schayck
www.caphri.nl
Your Aruba
fully sustainable,
self-sufficient society
Mike Eman
prime minister Aruba
www.overheid.aw
SPEAKERS & TALKS
www.TEDxBinnenhof.com
event is the Macedonian actor
and showbusiness personality
Sashko Kocev.
mysterious tool
Additionally, two Dutch engi-neers
will come to Skopje to
present their mysterious, in-novative
tool to the audience.
iF product design award
Their story is one of great en-trepreneurship,
battle with
global brands, perseverance,
venture capital and the pres-tigious
German iF Product De-sign
Award 2014. Moreover,
one of the inventors has Bos-nian
roots!
The story of the mysterious
tool will be revealed prior to
the start of the live streaming,
together with Sashko Kocev.
NL Chamber members have al-ready
received an invitation.

4. 4
newsletter no. 4 / March 2014
The stories of Dutch entrepreneurs about their experiences with doing business in Macedonia
received great interest at business fora in Rotterdam and Venlo.
events
Conference: Dutch business experience in Macedonia
The Embassy of Macedonia in
the Netherlands and Invest
Macedonia organized two fora
on doing business in Macedo-nia.
Deputy Prime Minister
Zoran Stavreski addressed the
Dutch business community on
Monday 25 November at the
Chamber of Commerce in Rot-terdam
and Minister of Agricul-ture
Ljupco Dimovski travelled
to Greenport in Venlo to out-line
the agribusiness potential
of Macedonia on Tuesday 26
November.
276 stamps and signatures
Mark Lammers, Managing
Director
of Holmak HeatX BV
shared his experience
with the
take-over of a factory in Bitola:
“It took us 276 stamps and sig-natures,
but it was worth it.” At
the panel discussion Stavreski
pointed out that a take-over
of an existing company cannot
be compared to a greenfield
investment and that the latter
should not be confronted with
extensive bureaucracy.
photos: NL Chamber
Dutch entrepreneurs attending Doing Business in Macedonia
within time and budget
Winfried Rooswinkel was as
project manager at Van Puijenbroek
Textiel (also known as
HaVeP and VPTex) responsible
for the construction of a “quick
response” production facility
for workwear in Macedonia.
Rooswinkel explained about
significant differences in prin-ciples
of construction, but also
proudly stated that the building
was finished both within
the time frame and within the
budget.
Opening ceremony new factory
VPTex Macedonia:
page 8
Rooswinkel and Lammers
agribusiness
“I will speak as Minister of
Agriculture,
but I will think
as a Dutch entrepreneur,”
said economist Dimovski at
Greenport Venlo. Like Mark
Lammers in Rotterdam, also
Willeke Roes of conifer tree
nursery European Plants did
not hesitate to politely suggest
to the Macedonian government
to continue working on driving
back bureaucracy: “The
amount of papers you need to
get permits is quite enormous,
I must say.”
Visit plant nursery on page 9
Agriculture professionals exchanging experiences at Greenport Venlo

5. 5
newsletter no. 4 / March 2014
Following the efforts to mo-bilize
Dutch expertise to im-prove
the Macedonian dairy
farming practice, the Dutch
professional magazine for the
cattle
breeding sector Veeteelt
published
a three-page arti-cle
in the edition of November
2013. Already in May last year
NL Chamber guided the jour-nalist
Bert Hartman and pho-
Three pages on Macedonian dairy sector in Dutch cattle breeding magazine.
projects
Dutch attention for Macedonian dairy farming
tographer Ron Stoop on a field trip to Bitola, were they met with
Zlatko Najdovski,
general manager of Bimilk.
The magazine Veeteelt is available online at ISSUU:
http://issuu.com/crv-publishers/docs/veeteelt_nov2_2013 photos: NL Chamber
NL Chamber joined the Netherlands Embassy on a networking trip to Pristina and Tirana.
network
Cross-border network
On 29 October NL Chamber
joined the Netherlands Embas-sy
on a networking trip to their
colleagues in Pristina. At the
embassy in Pristina also the
Dutch company Zinkunie was
present.
Dutch Zinkunie in Prizren
Zinkunie is a wholesale com-pany
in zinc, copper and stain-less
steel articles with its
headquarters in Boxtel, near
Eindhoven. The company has
invested in total 9 million EUR
in a plant near Prizren for gal-vanizing
various products with
zinc. Recently Zinkunie also
opened an office in Skopje.
Tirana
In Tirana Mr Gilles Bauwens,
a Belgian diplomat stationed
at the Netherlands Embassy,
provided detailed insight in
the Albanian business climate
for foreign investors. Biznis Al-bania
organized a seminar on
Dutch private sector develop-ment
instruments. www.zinkunie.com

6. 6
newsletter no. 4 / March 2014
Sponsors of Foundation NL Chamber
www.boekestijntransport.com
www.pivaraskopje.com.mk
www.nlembassy.org.mk

7. 7
newsletter no. 4 / March 2014
Modern dance, stainless steel
vessels and pipes as percus-sion
instruments and cuff links
as gifts: the celebration of the
25th anniversary contained all
characteristics of both Zavar
and its general manager.
process equipment and
interior design articles
Zavar Company was founded
in 1988 as a company for
welded stainless steel process
equipment. Being a mechani-cal
engineer with a strong pas-sion
for fashion and design,
Marta Naumovska Grnarova
(40) widened the scope of
work to interior design articles
under the label Zavar Design
in 2003, before assuming the
With an inspiring performance at Skopje Design Week, Zavar Company marked its 25th
anniversary as well as the 10th anniversary of interior design label Zavar Design.
members
Zavar Company celebrates 25th anniversary
photos: NL Chamber, Olgica Gjorgieva, Skopje Design Week, Zavar Company
Marta Naumovska Grnarova
general management of the
company in 2005.
Skopje Design Week
The celebration took place at
Kurshumli An, a sixteenth cen-tury
inn from the Ottoman era,
during Skopje Design Week.
Naumovska Grnarova is Pro-gramme
Director of this annual
design event and also member
of the Board of NL Chamber.
golden formula
“An engineering background
combined with an open, crea-tive
mind is a golden formula
for prosperous business development,”
says Bob Smit, Executive
Director of NL Chamber.
“Marta is continuously travelling
all over the world, par-ticipating
in trade fairs and
master classes, gaining fresh
inspiration and creating new
opportunities. We are grateful
to have her in our team!”
Dance and drums performance
Stainless steel design radiators
www.zavar.com.mk
www.zavardesign.com
www.facebook.com/...
www.youtube.com/...

8. 8
newsletter no. 4 / March 2014
Dutch producer of workwear and protective wear invested 2 million EUR in an own pro-duction
facility near Skopje, Macedonia.
members
Dutch Van Puijenbroek Textiel opens VPTex Macedonia
Minister of Transport Mile Janakieski and Commissioner Eduard van
Puijenbroek cut the ribbon
www.vptex.com
www.havep.com
www.facebook.com/vptex...
www.facebook.com/havep
www.twitter.com/havepw...
www.youtube.com/user/...
photos: MIA/Darko Popov, Van Puijenbroek Textiel BV, NL Chamber
Dutch Van Puijenbroek Tex-tiel,
established in 1865 in
Goirle near Tilburg, started
with outsourcing
the produc-tion
of industrial and protec-tive
workwear to factories
in Resen
and Stenje in 1968
when Macedonia
was still part
of Yugoslavia.
44 years later, on 26 October
2012 Van Puijenbroek
Textiel
laid the foundation stone for
its own factory, an investment
of 2 million EUR. The con-struction
site is conveniently
located between Skopje and
the international airport, in the
village of Kadino.
Less than a year later, on 16
October 2013, VPTex Macedo-nia
was officially opened by
Eduard van Puijenbroek, com-missioner
and former director
of the Dutch family company
and Minister of Transport Mile
Janakieski.
quick response
“The facility offers us a quick
response production unit in
addition to our long-term out-sourcing
partners,” explains
Rob Kwaspen, director at Van
Puijenbroek Textiel. “Additionally,
our own factory allows
us to enter the regional mar-ket,
providing local industries
with high quality workwear.”
third production line
Meanwhile, VPTex Macedonia
started operating the second
production line. Kwaspen: “We
now employ 90 people in one
shift. We are very satisfied
with the results and have de-cided
to add a third production
line with another 30 employees
this quarter, instead of in
2015. This also means that we
have to advance the extension
of the building.”
More pictures: bit.ly/VPTexMK
Opening dance
Directors Huub Zegveld and Rob
Kwaspen

9. 9
newsletter no. 4 / March 2014
The Dutch company European Plants runs a 400 ha. conifer tree nursery near Tetovo.
members
Walking tree plantation at dawn
Sculptured conifer trees with frost at dawn
Own production of boxpallets for export of trees
photos: NL Chamber
07h30 was the scheduled time
for a visit on 5 December to
European Plants in the village
of Preljubishte, near Tetovo.
The fog created a fairy-tale
scenery and hid the surrounding
mountains, peaking from
1,200 meters in the east to
2,700 meters in the west.
4 years investment
A five-kilometer walk with
owner Joost Michels along nu-merous
plots with different va-rieties
of conifer trees unveiled
the enormous scale of the in-vestment:
“It takes 4 years
before a tree is big enough to
be sold. That means 4 years
of investments before the first
returns appear.”
new market opportunities
Until 2007 Michels worked 600
ha of land in the Netherlands.
“Since these plots were really
located all over the country, I
drove 5,000 km per week.” This
practical issue and the trend
of the market development
made Michels think of alterna-tives.
“I noticed that conifer
trees were hardly available on
the Balkans and in South-east
Europe.
Since I also saw major
new market opportunities for
Istanbul, I started searching
for land to start a large-scale
tree nursery in the region.”
Through an acquaintance in
the textile industry Michels
came to Macedonia, where he
bought a concession on 400
ha. of a former state-owned
tree nursery near Tetovo.
daily management
About the start of his Macedo-nian
business Michels is very
straightforward: “I made a big
mistake by thinking that the
new venture would flourish
while the Dutch business needed
my full attention. In two
years time there was very little
progress. Since 2011 I have
taken on the daily management
of the Macedonian tree
nursery.” From that moment
Michels is a regular passenger
on the Wizzair flight between
Skopje and Eindhoven, often
going home for just the week-end.
300 truckloads
From Macedonia Michels has
indeed conquered new mar-kets:
“Until April 2014 we will
export 300 truckloads of coni-www.
europeanplants.com
fer trees to retailers in Croatia,
Romania, Hungary and even
Turkmenistan.” From accession
to the European Union
Michels expects significant
advantages:
“The administra-tive
procedures in Macedonia
are really
suffocating. Proce-dures
for obtaining various li-cences
and especially customs
formalities should really gain
in speed and efficiency, resulting
in serious cost savings.”

10. 10
newsletter no. 4 / March 2014
statistics
Online shopping
illustration: Blauw Research
The online shopping market
in the Netherlands is growing
steadily. For 2013 a total turn-over
of 10.5 billion EUR is ex-pected
with the largest shares
in travel, telecom and clothing.
source: Thuiswinkel.org

11. 11
newsletter no. 4 / March 2014
photos: Barry Verduijn / SH+E, Ton Kastermans / Boerderij, NL Chamber
short
Urine fertilizer
The Amsterdam waterworks
Waternet opened a facility for
the production of fertilizer from
sewage water and pure urine.
Urine - and therewith also
sewage water - is rich of phos-phate.
Biological methods to
avoid phosphates ending up
in the surface water lead to
deposition of the mineral stru-vite
on pipes and equipment.
The new facility allows for con-trolled
crystalization and separation
of struvite with which
the recovery of phosphate into
fertilizer is complete.
Waternet also uses pure urine,
collected from mobile toilets at
large festivals and events.
Since Dutch law regards this
recycled phosphate still as
waste instead of fertilizer, an
adapted law is expected to be-come
effective per 2014 to en-able
international trade.
source: www.waternet.nl
Duckweed as feed
Dutch calf breeder Evert Kroes
from Uddel established a
closed circuit farm. Urine, thin
manure fragment, CO2 and
body heat of the calfs is used
to produce duckweed in a basin
in a glasshouse on top of the
stable. Thick manure fragment
is fermented to biogas to pro-duce
electricity, sufficient for
the farm plus 200 households.
After harvest of the duckweed,
the water is used for growing
algae.
Duckweed is a replacement for
soja as feed for the calves.
Algae are fed to the calves with
the water, leading to increased
animal health and lower use of
antibiotics.
see: youtu.be/IWyrIIkyWFg
New flight times
Eindhoven-Skopje
Budget carrier Wizzair, con-necting
Skopje to Eindhoven
will change the flight times per
1 April 2014 and add a third
weekly flight.
The new schedule
shows the
following times on Tuesdays,
Thursdays and Saturdays:
EIN 08h45 SKP 11h30
SKP 05h30 EIN 08h20
Work at home
The share of employees that
work at home is about a third
in the Netherlands. Working at
home amounts for an average
of six hours per week. In 2005
this share was a quarter. One
out of every five employees
can “regularly” decide upon
his/her own working hours.
source: www.cbs.nl
Industrial property
The Agency for Foreign In-vestments
and Export Promo-tion,
Invest Macedonia has
published
a “brownfield data-base”.
This database lists over
400 objects of industrial real
estate, available for sale, rent
or lease to foreign investors.
www.wizzair.com
Netherlands
Enterprise Agency
The Dutch governmental
agency that executes all
entrepreneurial
stimulation
and support programmes, NL
Agency, merged with the agriculture
subsidies service. The
new organization is now called
Netherlands Enterprise Agency
(in Dutch: Rijksdienst
voor
Ondernemend Nederland or
RVO).
Amongst others, RVO exe-cutes
the Match Making Facil-ity
(MMF) and the Dutch Good
Growth Fund (DGGF, succes-sor
of the well-known PSI pro-gramme).
www.investinmacedonia.com
Prinses Beatrixlaan 2
PO Box 93114
2509 AC THE HAGUE
The Netherlands
t: +31 88 0424242
MMF - MatchMaking Facility
w: www.rvo.nl/mmf
DGGF - Dutch Good Growth Fund
w: www.rvo.nl/dggf
Netherlands Embassy
Mr Jane Kjuka
Economy and Trade Officer
t: +389 2 3109250
e: jane.kjuka@minbuza.nl
Netherlands Enterprise Agency
Ministry of Economic Affairs

12. 12
newsletter no. 4 / March 2014
Selection of trade fairs in the
Netherlands and Macedonia.
NB: All blue text is clickable!
The Netherlands
Major trade fairs take place at:
Jaarbeurs, Utrecht
99,000 sqm, 13 halls
www.jaarbeurs.nl
RAI, Amsterdam
87,000 sqm, 11 halls
www.rai.nl
Ahoy, Rotterdam
30,000 sqm, 6 halls
www.ahoy.nl
Regional locations for trade
fairs:
Brabanthallen, ‘s-Hertogenb.
29,500 sqm, 6 halls
IJsselhallen, Zwolle
17,000 sqm, 4 halls
MECC, Maastricht
29,500 sqm, 4 halls
Most fairs in the Netherlands
have entrance fees and offer
discounts for early registration
online.
Please do not hesitate to
contact NL Chamber when
you plan to visit a fair in the
Netherlands.
Macedonia
Major trade fairs take place at:
Skopje Fair, Skopje
16.000 sqm, 6 halls
www.skopjefair.com.mk
photo impressions of the fairs:
www.fb.com/SkopjeFair/
Entrance tickets can only be
purchased at the spot; online
registration is not possible.
Please do not hesitate to con-tact
NL Chamber when you
plan to visit a fair in Macedo-nia.
The Netherlands
11-14.03.2014 ESEF, Jaarbeurs - Utrecht
engineering and subcontracting
18-20.03.2014 StocExpo, Ahoy - Rotterdam
180 exhibitors; pums, valves, pipes, tanks and related
25-27.03.2014 Zorg & ICT, Jaarbeurs - Utrecht
180 exhibitors; ICT for health care sector
25-28.03.2014 Intertraffic, RAI - Amsterdam
762 exhibitors: traffic, parking, safety and infrastruct.
28-30.03.2014 Second Home International, Jaarbeurs - Utrecht
156 exhibitors; Sale of recreational private real estate
02-03.04.2014 Empack, Brabanthallen - ‘s-Hertogenbosch
packaging materials, machines, coding, labelling etc.
02-03.04.2014 Event, Jaarbeurs - Utrecht
124 exhibitors; event management
09-10.04.2014 Overheid & ICT, Jaarbeurs - Utrecht
100 exhibitors; ICT for the public sector
14-17.04.2014 Automotive Trade Show, Jaarbeurs - Utrecht
entire automotive sector
20-21.05.2014 World Private Label / PLMA, RAI - Amsterdam
european private label producers in food and non-food
3,800 exhibitors, 68 countries, 42 regional pavilions
20-22.05.2014 VIV Europe, Jaarbeurs - Utrecht
547 exhibitors; animal husbandry and processing
04-06.06.2014 Vakbeurs Gebouwbeheer, Jaarbeurs - Utrecht
200 exhibitors; management of business premises
10-12.06.2014 GreenTech, RAI - Amsterdam
200 exhibitors in horticulture and floriculture industry
30.09.2014- World of Technology&Science, Jaarbeurs - Utrecht
03.10.2014 Industrial Dairy Show, Jaarbeurs - Utrecht
Macropak, Jaarbeurs - Utrecht
Industrial Processing, Jaarbeurs - Utrecht
338 exhibitors; automation, electronics, laboratory;
dairy industry technology; packaging
07-09.10.2014 Energie, Brabanthallen - ‘s-Hertogenbosch
energy, solar, passive building, sustainability.
02-04.12.2014 Healt & Natural Ingredients, RAI - Amsterdam
230 exhibitors; health ingredients, natural ingredients
Macedonia
Note: All mentioned fairs in Macedonia are organized by the same or-ganizer
and at the same place. At this moment the respective pages on
the organizer’s website do not include any further details.
25-30.03.2014 Mebel
furniture, interior, woodworking supplies and
machinery
10-12.04.2014 Days of Education
universities and major employers
10-12.04.2014 Skopje Travel Market
congress tourism, agrotourism, rural tourism,
wine tourism etc.
24-27.09.2014 AgroFood Fair
food and beverages
14-18.10.2014 Tehnoma Fair
metallurgy, electronics, non-metals, security
Selection of upcoming trade fairs.
short
Calendar of Trade Fairs