Competitiveness and Investments Department

Dušan has been dealing with regulatory reforms in the field of public administration and economic development since 2001. He has cooperated with NALED in various roles, ever since the organization was established, currently as Economy and Good Governance Advisor. He took part in devising the concept and realizing NALED's Grey Book, the campaign Ask When, the Regulatory Index of Serbia and the Business Friendly Certification in South East Europe. Some of the reforms where he had one of the leading roles refer to the issues of real estate registration, construction permitting, abolishing para-fiscal charges, labor legislation, property taxation, land use and development fees, decentralization and strengthening the authorities and capacities of local governments. He is a member of multiple working groups established by the Government and line ministries, including the Joint Group for Improving Serbia's Position in the World Bank's Doing Business List. From 2018 to early 2019 he was a senior expert in business legislation for the Serbia Investment Climate project by IFC as part of the World Bank Group. Prior to this, he was a Business Policy and Economic Governance Director in USAID Business Enabling Project (USAID BEP), and later served as the Deputy Chief of Party for the same project. From 2002 to 2010 he led policy teams in USAID projects dealing with decentralization and local economic development. From 2001 he was Project Director in the Public Administration and Local Government Center (PALGO). He has a PhD degree in economics, a Magister degree in local economic development, and he graduated from the Faculty o Political Sciences in Belgrade. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy from Boston, USA, and Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences. His expert and scientific works have been published in Serbian, English and Spanish.

Marko is an economist with more than 10 years of experience in major domestic and international organizations, in domains of economic research, banking and academia. He has earned his PhD degree on the subject of ‘’Factors of regional competitiveness’’ at the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis in 2015, as well as the master’s degree on the subject of ‘’Role of corruption in FDI attraction – case of Central and East European countries’’ at the same university in 2010. He has joined NALED in 2021, in the role of Head of competitiveness unit, after having spent two years as senior economist in CEVES, and in parallel as a Serbian national consultant with UN Department of Social and Economic Affairs. Beforehand, Marko spent seven years in banking, of which two in role of the asset liability manager and five as macroeconomist in Addiko bank. Apart from this, Marko regularly holds lectures in macroeconomics and finance at some of masters programs of the University of Nice, as well as on programs of the Mokra Gora school of management. He has authored a significant number of studies, analyses and scientific articles in Serbia and abroad. Marko speaks English and French fluently.

Jasmina graduated from the Faculty of Law, University in Belgrade, the International Law department in 2001, after completing the I Belgrade Gymnasium. As part of the second generation of the Faculty of Law in Belgrade, in 2002 she specialized in European Union legislation within an international program organized in cooperation with the European University of Nancy. Early work engagement in the area of finance encouraged Jasmina to continue post-graduate studies at the Faculty of Law in the Commercial Law department, earning a Magister cum laude degree in 2005 with the thesis “Fusion of companies in Yugoslavia and the EU”. Crowning her knowledge and experience in various areas of law, she passed the national judicial exam in 2007 before the Ministry of Justice, and the bar exam in 2016 before the Belgrade Chamber of Lawyers. From 2013 to 2016 she engaged in research work for a PhD thesis in the field of commercial crimes. She attended English course in London in 2001. Parallel with professional development programs, she has been building a years-long career in the banking sector. From 2002 to 2010 she gained priceless work experience in as Legal Affairs Coordinator in Srpska Banka, moving to the position of Assistant Director in Jubmes bank in 2010, and later the Legal Affairs Director. She has been a member of NALED team since October 2017 dealing with policy reform (Law on Registration in the Real Estate and Utility Lines Cadaster, Law on Fees for Use of Public Goods, Insolvency Law, Company Law, Law on Public Procurement, Law on Litigation Procedure etc.), coordinating the activities regarding the World Bank's Doing Business report, being a part of working groups and projects (for elimination of stamps, urban and rural land consolidation, optimization of procedures, informal employment etc.) and coordinating the work of Property and Investment Alliance and BFC Club. 

Irena has eight years of experience in regulatory reform in the field of digitization, entrepreneurship and innovation gained by working on projects supported by international and bilateral donors (EU, GIZ, USAID), currently in the position of Head of the Unit for Digitization, Innovation and Entrepreneurship in NALED. She is the author of numerous analyzes in this domain, including the Gray Book of Innovations, Analyzes of the expansion of the system of simplified engagement of workers in temporary and casual jobs, Analyzes of the tax and non-tax burden of beginners in business, Guide for freelancers, etc. In her previous work, she actively contributed to the introduction of the first tax exemption for business beginners, the reform of the system of hiring seasonal workers and freelancers, the legal regulation and recognition of innovative entities in Serbia, as well as the conditions for the use of light electric vehicles and the testing of autonomous vehicles on roads. She is a regular member of the Government's working groups for drafting and amending regulations in the field of digitization, entrepreneurship, and innovation, and in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance and the Tax Administration, she coordinated the development of a software solution for simplified reporting of freelancers' income. So far, she has organized and held more than 50 trainings for public servants and entrepreneurs on the topic of tax breaks for small businesses and innovators, freelancer income reporting, smart cities, etc. She completed her basic studies in journalism at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade as a student of the generation, and after that she completed her multidisciplinary master's studies in Terrorism, Organized Crime and Security at the University of Belgrade. She is currently studying for a PhD in Political Science at the University of Aveiro in Portugal. She speaks English and Italian

Oliver has worked for many years as an economic development specialist at a senior management level on European projects through the CIM Integrated Experts program. All of these projects were located within local economic development agencies / Chambers of Commerce and Industry and focused on an analysis of potential business development issues and opportunities. In addition to the agency-driven understanding of economics, Oliver has practical first-hand knowledge of the private sector - as Country Manager for a trading company, he was responsible for the expansion of the business logistics, purchasing and sales for distribution and retail activities. Oliver is highly experienced in business accompaniment for potential business expansions thanks to the broad-ranging experience with the German Chambers of Industry and Commerce in Singapore, Czech Republic and Australia. Previous to NALED’s engagement, Oliver was employed as a Regional Director General of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry office in the county of Altenkirchen, the third largest county industrial base in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, with 8,000 companies.

Ana has many years of experience in regulatory reform in the field of digitization with a special focus on reform within the public sector. For over five years, she has been managing the projects and activities of NALED in the field of digitization and eGovernment. She significantly contributed to the implementation of several reforms in the field of public administration, such as the introduction of counters in municipalities and cities throughout Serbia for registration on the eGovernment Portal, the introduction of the local eGovernment index, but also reforms related to the improvement of the economic environment, such as optimization and digitization the procedure for calculating the tax on the transfer of absolute rights in the procedure of buying and selling used vehicles and amending the Law on Business Companies in the part where companies are required to register on the e-Government Portal. In her previous work, she participated in over 20 working groups of the Government of the Republic of Serbia for the amendment of regulations in the field of digitalization. She completed her undergraduate and master's studies at the Faculty of Political Sciences. She speaks English and French.

Nikola is a law graduate who has been employed by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia since December 2014. He spent three years at the Center for Support to Investment and Public Private Partnership as an expert associate for public private partnership. After that, he worked at the Economic Matters Centre for a year as an advisor in the field of labor law and state aid. For the last two years, he has been engaged in the Innovation Department as an independent advisor for innovations, where he provided information on funding, regulations and participated in activities for the development of the innovation ecosystem in Serbia. He completed his undergraduate studies at the Faculty of Law, University of Novi Sad in 2011. After that, he successfully completed two masters - European Law at the Faculty of Law of the Union University in Belgrade in 2015 and Public Procurement Management at the University of Tor Vergata in Rome in 2014 as an EBRD scholarship holder. From March 2021, he was hired by NALED as the coordinator for regulatory reform. He is fluent in English and German, and speaks basic French and Portuguese. He is currently in the second year of doctoral studies at the Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade, majoring in administrative law.

Jelena graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of East Sarajevo. During her student days, she was active in the NGO sector through membership and active work in a youth organization. She gained her first work experience in the profession while doing an internship at the Kastratović Law Office in Belgrade. After a two-year internship, she got a job at the "Branko Ćopić" elementary school in Belgrade, in the position of lawyer-secretary, where she performed all the legal tasks necessary for the functioning of this institution. She also worked as a lawyer-secretary at the Institute for the Education of Children and Youth in Belgrade, where, in addition to managing the general affairs department, she conducted public procurement procedures, drew up contracts, kept staff and personnel records of employees and all other necessary legal tasks. Jelena is engaged in the Unit for Property and Investments as an Associate for Regulatory Reform.  

Nevena completed Bachelor studies at the Faculty of Political Science, University of Belgrade, within the department of Politicology. She gained her first work experience in the municipality of Cukarica, in the Property, Legal and Housing Affairs department, being engaged as an intern. She spent two and a half years at the civil society organization Crta - Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability, working on improvement of the transparency, openness and participation of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia through the Open Parliament Initiative. She is an alumni of Crta's Academy for Democracy and OSCE Dialogue Academy for Young Women. She was a short-term observer at the Croatian president elections and at the elections for councilors for the Assembly of the City of Belgrade. She speaks English. Nevena joined the NALED team in June 2021 as an associate within the Entrepreneurship and Investments department.

Iilja graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Belgrade and earned a degree in political science for international affairs. During his studies, he started volunteering and doing internships in the non-governmental sector in Serbia. He had the opportunity to participate in the Winter School "Sustainability of Political Systems in Eurasia", organized by the Moscow State University "Lomonosov", and as part of a regional program he also stayed at the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Zagreb. He interned at the Youth Initiative for Human Rights and the Center for Geostrategic Research and Terrorism. Ilija joined the NALED team as an intern engaged in analytical and assistance tasks in the domain of digitization within the Department for Regulatory Reform. 

Jovana graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences, majoring in international relations. During her studies, she was a member of the School of Sustainable Development and Ecology" - CEDEM and a member of the BIMUN (Belgrade International Model United Nations) conference in the Economic and Social Committee. Jovana peaks 3 languages ​​perfectly: English, French and Italian. She wants to develop her work experience and knowledge in a progressive and innovative system that contributes to the improvement of the business environment in Serbia. She joined the NALED team as an Intern for Regulatory Reform.