Video: Matic Konc on TV SLO 2023's Podjetno naprej

The interview was originally published in June 2023 in the Podjetno naprej programme on TV Slovenia

Video transcription:

The spruce resin business began more than 30 years ago and is now carried on by the second generation of the family. Their entrepreneurship is founded on values such as patience, humility and social responsibility.

Ivo Konc created his first spruce resin ointment 33 years ago to ease back problems. The sales became so successful that he left his job as a professor of physical education and founded his own company.¸Since 2010, his son Matic Konc has successfully continued his father's mission. Today, his company Smrekovit offers eleven different products made from spruce resin, all the result of many years of research and development. For years, he has relied on word-of-mouth; most of his products are sold in pharmacies, specialist shops and online, as well as in the shop at the company headquarters and in the nearby Smrekomat. Great emphasis is placed on sustainable solutions. The products are entirely natural, plant-based and packaged in recyclable materials.

Presenter: Your real idea is spruce resin. What is so special about it?

Matic: Spruce resin is a natural substance that really fascinates me because it has a very wide range of uses that I don't know of in any other natural substance.

Presenter: You can also say that as a professional, because after graduating from the Faculty of Sport you went on to complete a degree in Laboratory Biomedicine at the Faculty of Pharmacy. Does your academic knowledge come in handy in product design and development?

Matic: Very much so. The practical chemistry knowledge I acquired at the Faculty of Pharmacy enabled me to develop several new products. I had tried to make them before, but without that knowledge it was not possible.

Presenter: You say you get ideas for products by inspiration. But what inspires you?

Matic: I'm inspired by the mission of the company and then the ideas are constantly maturing in my head.

Presenter: These ideas can take years to mature, can't they?

Matic: That’s right – that is exactly how Smrekovit 365 was developed. The idea was born already during my studies at the Faculty of Sport. I was thinking about how to improve the ointment, how to make a different product. I bought possible ingredients, did experiments, but it didn't work out the way I wanted it to, probably because resin is an extremely fickle substance to work with. Later I met my wife, started a family and everything came to a standstill. The experiments stopped and the ingredients expired. It was only during my studies at the Faculty of Pharmacy that I picked it up again, also with the help of my new chemical knowledge. I started experimenting again and managed to make the product I wanted, but it was still not quite to my taste because it was not 100% natural, there were certain synthetic substances. It was only after I finished college that I really took the plunge and made a product that was natural and I was happy with the result.

Presenter: Your business grows slowly, organically, empirically, while remaining humble and patient. But are you ever tempted to expand your business, to grow your company, to hire more people and earn more money as a result?

Matic: No, that is not really my philosophy. I don’t have the ambition for constant expansion. I want to grow organically – to see the results first and then develop further. I am not in favour of rapid growth, which would only bring many other problems.

Presenter: The original idea for the spruce ointment came from your father 33 years ago, when he was looking for a solution to a problem of his own. He had a back problem and with this ointment he supposedly even avoided spinal surgery. How did he come up with this idea?

Matic: This is true. My father had very serious back problems, so he was exempted from military service in the then Yugoslav People's Army, as well as from the practical part of the exams at the Faculty of Sport. It was through a folk healer from Radovljica, known as Prežlja, that he came to resin. The lady prepared the resin in a special, traditional way and made it into compresses. Then an orthopaedic surgeon told my father that the only way to avoid disability before the age of 30 was to have an operation, but he didn't go for it, he continued with natural things, especially resin, and that's how he made his first ointment in 1989. It was very effective, so it spread very quickly.

Presenter: Just as your business has grown slowly, so has the transfer of leadership from your father to you. How did you feel this entrepreneurial drive? Because while you were still studying at the sports faculty, or after you finished your studies, you were lecturing or teaching sports education at a secondary medical school.

Matic: I was also drawn to other career fields. My father was always supportive and never pressured me to take over the company, even though he probably wanted me to. Every parent probably wants their children to take over a successful business, but he never put that pressure on me. It was only after he wanted me to do the website, even though I had no knowledge of that kind and I was starting from scratch, that it awakened my design flair and I am very excited about that. Towards the end of my studies, the desire to maybe take up this mission started to form.

Presenter: Then you also left your teaching job, started a business and are now passing it on to your five sons in the same way your father passed it on to you, so you are trying to involve them in the business somehow, without any pressure, and hope that maybe they will carry on your business one day. I also find it interesting that your business is driven by faith, that you do not rely only on yourself, on your colleagues. How does faith help you to run your business?

Matic: In both life and business I believe it is essential to remain humble – nothing depends on us, nothing is under our control except our actions. I entrust everything else to God, both in life and in business. I try to let go.

Presenter: You collect spruce resin in forests. How do you do this without damaging the trees?

Matic: We only scrape resin off trees that have already been injured - by wildlife, falling rocks, logging. We can return to the same spot to collect resin only after ten years. This really does not damage the trees.

Presenter: So you then use this resin in your own laboratory to develop new products - there are 11 of them - and the work is mostly done by hand. How do you make production easier?

Matic: It can't be done by hand, especially in the first stages when working with raw resin, because resin is a very fickle substance - sticky, it doesn't melt in many solvents. We are always trying to find new ways, to automate those things that can be done, but above all, the first criterion in all things is, of course, saving time.

Presenter: For example, you have hired an external contractor to ship your parcels, and you have set up a spruce chamber where you sell your products. How are the sales made? You sell 40 000 products a year.

Matic: We sell about 40,000 products a year. Half of them go through specialised shops and pharmacies, the other half directly from our own outlets – the Smrekomat, our office in Naklo, our office in Ljubljana – as well as by phone and through our website.

Presenter: Sustainability is very important to you as a company. How sustainable are you?

Matic: We do indeed attach great importance to sustainability. For example, ointments are in glass containers with a wooden lid, creams are in aluminium tubes, all paper packaging and brochures are made from 100% recycled paper with FSC certification, and we have recently invested in a solar power plant with a heat storage tank that covers practically all the electricity we use in the company on sunny days.

Presenter: You also develop a social sense. You say that you give your ointment to those who cannot buy it. Is there ever any abuse of such trust?

Matic: I don't think abuse is happening. We usually ask for some proof of this, but sometimes we take their word for it, so I do not think that abuses occur, but if they do, it is the person who commits the abuse who is counted.

Presenter: Financial discipline is also part of social responsibility. What is it like in the market at the moment? Why do you think it is so important?

Matic: Financial discipline is very important to me, because if there is a lack of discipline, it drags down the entire chain. Our company has an A1++ rating, if I am not mistaken, because we really do pay our bills before the currency, and that seems to me to be part of our social responsibility.

Presenter: Is luck also important for a successful business, what would you say?

Matic: I think it is more about God's providence than luck. But luck is definitely on the side of the brave, and fear is never a good counsellor.

Presenter: Thank you very much for this conversation and let us move forward with confidence.

Matic: Thank you.