Since 1953 in Croatia...

In 1953, only 4 years after AIESEC International was founded, students of Economics and Business in Universities of Belgrade, Ljubljana and Zagreb recognized the opportunity that was presenting itself and founded Local Committees of AIESEC in their Universities. This made former Yugoslavia the first country of the «eastern block» to join this international student organization. In the 1960s and 1970s AIESEC in Yugoslavia has recorded a continuous growth in membership and exchanges and its image within the corporate sector was growing stronger by the year.

The culmination of the growth happened in 1985 when AIESEC in Yugoslavia, following the European Congress (ELCM – European Local Committee Meeting) held at the end of the year in Belgrade, won the award as being the top performing country that year, i.e. the country that had progressed the most in the stated period. In April 1990 AIESEC in Yugoslavia was given the honor of organizing ENALDS – European and North American Leadership Development Seminar which took place in Zadar, Croatia.

The last National Conference of AIESEC in Yugoslavia (58th National Conference) took place in April 1991 on Bjelolasica. The very next National Conference, held in December that same year, officially marked the end of AIESEC in Yugoslavia. In 1992 Republic of Croatia officially became a member country of AIESEC International.

Ms. Renata Firšt (maiden name: Ćurković), President of the Local Committee in Zagreb for the term 1991/1992 and National Committee President for the term 1992/1993, remembers that year very vividly:

«The New Beginning was the slogan of the first «official» year of existence of AIESEC in Croatia. The international recognition of our country as a member country of AIESEC International on the International Congress in Budapest meant a lot to over 300 Croatian AIESECers of the time, who had worked hard to acomplish that goal. The Croatian delegation on International Congress in Hungary was composed of the entire National Committee of that term (Renata Hrbud, Goran Duić, Daniel Nevidal and Renata Firšt) as well as of over 20 members of Local Committees from all over Croatia.

The friendships we have made at that time with AIESECers from Australia, Canada, Ireland and other countries, continue today. After International Congress in Hungary, we organized the 1st Croatian Motivation Seminar (Hrvatski Motivacijski Seminar – HMS) which was attended by a very dear guest – Stuart Spitteri, National Committee President of AIESEC in Australia. The Good Case Practice of foreigners visiting our newly established AIESEC country continued with another visit following the European Congress organized in The Czech Republic. This time the distinguished guest was Nick Rodrigue, National Committee Vice-President for Exchange of AIESEC in Canada, who till this day remembers the salted pilchards and rakija that the whole Canadian delegation was so exhilarated with in the Global Village of the European Congress.

After Nick, there were many other international guests who were all surprised at the positive energy and extraordinary atmosphere that accompanied each conference organized in Croatia as well as all our delegations that attended numerous international conferences. Each foreign trainee was greeted with enthusiasm and our trainees going abroad all left Croatia craving meeting new people, gaining professional experience and, most of all, meeting new cultures.»