From Zero to Hero

In 1992, Tomaic Commerce Ltd. did not exist, except in the vision of one person, Mr. Vladimir Tomaic. He began processing milk and producing hard cheese in his back yard with the support of his wife and children. His total capital was $250 and the first batch of milk processed 73 liters.

Tomaic Commerce is located in Krasno, a small rural town in Croatia's Lika region that suffers from unemployment. As with many startups, Mr. Tomaic was facing a number of problems, including finding a market for his product and collecting payments. At the same time, he needed to organize and improve raw milk supply.

Over the course of several years, USAID provided Mr. Tomaic with technical assistance that included organizing the dairy farmers in the area to form the Agricultural Cooperative "Velebitska Degenija".

USAID also helped create market linkages with buyers on the Croatian coast, assisted them to create new products and product lines and with promotion of their products at specialty food fairs.

Tomaic Commerce is an exceptional example of how hard work, combined with skill, expertise and assistance from USAID is creating jobs, growing markets and improving lives.

Approximately 450 people from the Krasno region are benefiting from Tomaic's vision and 87 farmers are supplying milk to Tomaic Commerce.

Business growth led to the construction of a new processing facility. Built in 2003, the factory today fully employs 14 people processing an average of 1,942 liters of milk each day and producing seven different product lines.

In the first eight months of this year, Mr. Tomaic processed 462,000 liters of milk, almost more than it processed during the entire year in 2004 (485,000 liters).

In addition, 33% of all farmers supplying raw material to Tomaic increased the quality of their milk from first, second and third class category to extra class category milk with the help of USAID technical assistance.

Story provided by: Development Alternatives Inc.

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