Born in the small town of Ulice near Brčo, Tomislav Antunović embarked on a career as a private entrepreneur from the very beginning of his working life. For more than 40 years now, this career has been nothing short of successful, with his whole family joining him in his companies.

After he obtained his degree as traffic engineer, Mr.Tomislav Antunović founded a property development company at Ulice in 1968. As his business expanded, he set up companies in West Europe, first in Vienna and then later on in Munich. Years of business operations conducted in West Europe made him strong enough to become the first businessman to run his own company in oil business in the former Yugoslavia – in 1988 Mr. Antunović opened the Antunović Business Centre at Brčko with an adjacent petrol station. It was the first privately-owned petrol station in the former Yugoslavia.

Today, he owns and successfully runs several companies: two in Zagreb, two in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and companies in Vienna and Munich. The main objects of his companies are the trade in petroleum products, and hospitality industry.

The limited liability company, Antunović d.o.o., was set up in 1992 with its registered office in Zagreb. The main fields of company activity are: sale of oil and petroleum products at modern petrol stations at Sesvete and in Zagreb, oil and petroleum product wholesaling at the company fuel terminal – warehouse, sale and supply of heating oil, self-service shops, car repair shops, tire repairing, automatic car washes at petrol stations, road haulage of petroleum products by state-of-the art petrol tankers owned by the company, and the hotel and catering trade with services provided at the Antunović Hotels at Sesvete and Zagreb.

The new-build Antunović Centre was inaugurated in the summer of 2006. The Centre is located in western Zagreb. Its amenities include a high-class hotel with a banquet and conference hall featuring latest high-tech equipment, the Vertigo Bar located in a rotating cupola, a wellness centre, car-park, car wash and petrol station.

When Mr. Tomislav Antunović set out on his entrepreneurial marathon 40 years ago, there was nothing he could rely on but his energy, optimism, readiness to acquire new knowledge, as well as his creative drive and the support of his family. His life bears witness to the fact that a good businessman is also a skilful manager. Today, Mr.Tomislav Antunović chairs the Boards of the Antunović concern as successfully as he once launched his first ventures. The concern links a group of companies engaged in various lines of business to form a blooming family enterprise. The formula for his entrepreneurial flair can be reduced to his motto: be first and be inventive.

Ever since his groundbreaking beginnings as the first entrepreneur in the oil trade in the former Yugoslavia in the 1970s, he has continued to lead the way. Thus, he was the first to extend services provided at petrol stations to include groceries, and hotel and catering services. In the late 1980s, he won the title of the most successful businessman in the former Yugoslavia. He was also among the first investors to take the plunge and make investments in Bosnia-Herzegovina immediately upon the signing of the Dayton Accords.

His restless entrepreneurial spirit guarantees that Antunović TA d.o.o, as a strong and, by Croatian standards, big and dynamic company, will launch many new business ventures. The company founder gladly uses any opportunity to stress how deeply he is indebted to his family for their understanding and support. Much credit goes to his children who have been running the business operations for a number of years, leaving Mr. Tomislav Antunović enough time to dedicate himself to strategic planning and development co-ordination.

Mr. Tomislav Antunović has been involved in many social and political activities in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina on a voluntary basis, and has had a leading role in the economic and political life of the region. He never joined any party.

Today, he holds a number of offices, the most prominent being the President of the Association of Employers in Oil and Petroleum Product Trade – a section of the Croatian Employers' Association, President of the Brčko District Chamber of Commerce, a Board Member of the Foreign Trade Chamber of Bosnia –Herzegovina, a Board Member of the Chamber of Commerce of Bosnia-Herzegovina. He is also the President of the Association of Croats from Brčko, the Posavina Valley and Bosnia in Croatia. He regularly attends many professional and managerial conferences at the national and international level.

His business results and his contribution to society won him a number of awards and plaudits. Mr.Tomislav Antunović is particularly proud of the Manager's Gold Medallion he won as the businessman of the year in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1991 and 2001, First Prize for the most successful manager and entrepreneur in Croatia in 2000, the 2001 Gold Medallion for best BiH industrialist, the Life Achievement Award for the businessman of 2002 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the 2006 CROMA Life Achievement Award conferred by the Croatian Association of Managers.

There is nothing to describe Mr.Tomislav Antunović's life and career better that his own words:
"I've had much luck in my life. Now, at the age of 60 I still enjoy good health surrounded by my family – my wife, son and two daughters. I am particularly proud of my six grandchildren. I have always been an entrepreneur doing my own independent thinking, and was able to do in my life what I wanted and liked."

• Number of employees: 500
  
• New jobs: 185
  
• Total revenue in 2005: EUR 350 mil
  
• Total revenue Jan.-June 2006: EUR 190 mil
  
• Profit in 2005: EUR 4 mil
  
• Profit Jan.-June 2006: EUR 2 mil
  
• Export share in total revenue: 40%
  
• Net salary/wage: 5,150.00 kunas