Interview of Gorana Gligorovic Angebrant cofounder of DivaGo – Serbia

DivaGo a beautiful fashion brand from Serbia making amazing cloths for women

Tell us about yourself 
My name is Gorana. My mother gave me that name after my father. His name is Goran, it was a great love between two of them. Unfortunately, their love ended shortly after my birth.
I was born in Serbia, a country in central-east Europe, I have been living here all my life. People in my country are known as stubborn and defiant, most of our history we spent in war, always fighting for various different reasons. During my lifetime, the country I was born in has changed its name 4 times. I am 46 years old.
How did the idea for your business come about?
All my life I made drawings. I have started when I was just 4 years old, trying to draw the Christmas tree. I was stubborn and I tried more than 200 times in one day before I succeed. When I grow up I graduated from the University of Art, but never had chance to work in my field of education. I found myself in marketing business, working as an Account manager for various global brands.

My friend Vasa Fekete and I were discussing one day about problem that we have with a dress that you wear in one occasion and after that, it loses its charm. We started to think about the idea to design such dress that can change its appearance and could be worn more than once.

 What was your key driving force to become an entrepreneur?
I love to be an entrepreneur! I really love it. It gives me an opportunity to overcome my boundaries. Every day you have different struggles, but when you win the fight, you feel stronger. I am a very passionate person and I don’t see myself working for a brand or job I don’t believe in.

 How did you come up with the name for your company?
Company name is DivaGo. It means diva in motion – you can feel like diva during your everyday activities. But this name is also consisting of first two letters of our names “Go” stands for Gorana, and „Va” for Vasa.

How did you raise funding for your venture?
My business partner and I have invested our own money, earned from the previous jobs.

How do you build a successful customer base?
Our first client base came from social media only! We were very active in communicating with ladies, not only in our network. We were very supportive for other women entrepreneurs in different area of business so our network became wider.

How did you get involved with fashion business?
As a woman, fashion plays an important part in my life. But I don’t see myself as fashion designer. I believe that there are a lot of educated fashion designers who work their job really great. I could better describe myself as business-oriented person.

How do you advertise your business?
We have two channels for our advertising: first one is based on internet and social media – we use this as a communication tool for different kind of promotions. Second one is corporate marketing – we are active in small business support and women entrepreneurship.

To what do you attribute your success?
Our first collection was produced and ready for sale on the same day when Covid lockdown was pronounced in Serbia. We had to wait for two months before we launched our dresses. After the launch, we had few very bad sales months. Then, suddenly, our videos started to share all over the internet and the sales increased. Our success was probably pushed by the overall Covid situation, and the end of isolation.

For my personal success, I have to thank my Mum who taught me to fight for myself and never to be satisfied with the ordinary.

 What do you look for in an employee?

The most important thing to us is that they fit into our corporate culture!
The most important thing to us is that they fit into our corporate culture! Passion is the most important thing! Every member of my team has to be passionate about his job.

What made you choose your current location?
We are stated in Serbia and plan to produce only locally. New business opportunities we offer for our suppliers make them stronger and we are very happy to be involved in their growth.

Do you work locally or internationally?
During the last year of our business we have focused on the local market. We are now working on concurring the other markets. It is not an easy job, but it is a challenge we are looking forward to.

What’s your company’s goals?
Our goal is to encourage and support different approaches in representing self appearance. Every person is unique and, as such, beautiful. Trends change, but what we carry inside us is ours and unrepeatable.

We want to give the women the opportunity to create their own style that is consistent with their inner feeling. We believe outward appearance should not be an obstacle but a source of confidence.

What is unique about your business?
In Serbia, we are the only brand that designs convertible clothes.

What are your responsibilities as the business owner?
I am focused on new business opportunities, as well as a communication strategy. Those are the most inspiring areas for me. Good thing is that my business partner Vasa and I don’t share the same inspiration source. She likes to work on different positions than me, so we are perfectly compatible.

What made you choose this type of business?

Fashion business gives you the opportunity to be creative and to really enjoy your work. At the same time your creativity can make happy someone else, in our case those are women.

Does your company help the community where it is located?
We share our knowledge with business beginners. We also support women entrepreneurs in many ways.

Have you ever turned down a client?

I would not be honest if I say no! You have to be able to see mistakes as a part of the business. What showed as good practice for us is that, if you admit that you made a mistake, a client sees you as a human being, and more likely he will accept your apology. Of course, the apology is not the only thing we offer. We always show that we care for our ladies, so they become a part of our brand family.

If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?

Before you start, research every aspect of your business idea. It will take hours and days, sometimes months. Search the internet, talk to the people, collect information… Once you start with realization, don’t give up when obstacles start to hit you. Believe in your idea and remember the passion you had in the beginning. You will succeed!

Thank you Danijela Golić & Bianca Tudor for the connect.