In June 2015 I began writing my book; really fast in
spite the problems due to my damages brain. In spite of all the hard crisis we
managed to save our new fish farm and on 30th June it was finished, physically
and bureaucracy wise. We also managed to buy fish and the fishing season was
saved. My book was finished at the beginning of August and I am really grateful
to Danica Taljat (my nephew’s wife) who offered to proofread it free of charge.
We cooperated really well, so the book was ready for printing in Gaya d. o. o.
at the end of August. My youngest son Luka designed the book cover. I had to
keep reminding him of his promise and finally he found the inspiration and did
it well. In the morning of September 18th the books were delivered
to Tolmin Fishing Club, which was on the day of opening ceremony of the new
fish farm.
Of course the book was not the only thing on my mind.
On 6th June I started negotiating for a new credit in NKBM and the
Land Bank of Slovenia. Faronika should return the money to my daughter Tina
soon, and we had to buy the necessary fish farm equipment. The next day the manager
of the Land Bank of Slovenia came. First I showed him the new fish farm, and
then I told him why we needed the credit. I also mentioned the possibility of
cooperation in future. We agreed for a
150.000 eur credit for five years and deferral of the principal for two years.
The interests would be 1% lower than those with previous credits.
Thinking of those procedures today I find them funny.
When I invited Mr Slokar from the Land Bank of Slovenia (DSB), Dušan Jesenšek,
the manager of Faronika d. o. o., didn’t join us. In fact it was his task to
manage business affairs before and after the investment. Well, we know why I
had to manage them. It would be normal that Tolmin Fishing Club and I as its
president should do the investment. But we had to establish a new company and
appoint a new manager in order to get the money for the investment. In fact all
the other things went on as previously.
However, I was sure that as we had finished the
investment effectively and since then the manager Dušan Jesenšek would be able to manage it
normally. Very soon, at the beginning of August, a new problem appeared. The
manager of the Land Bank of Slovenia from Nova Gorica called me and told me
they couldn’t approve the credit since all our assets were mortgaged. I claimed
it wasn’t possible. We had built a new fish farm worth 2,5 million eur and
there should have been some mistake. The general manager did not give up. I
felt very uncomfortable, like many times before. Then I remembered that we all
gave it a mortgage, including the plot where we had built Faronika, when we got the investment loan from the
Austrian bank.
I spent another night sleepless. I was considering
different solutions, but no one was to my liking. I was afraid we couldn’t get
a credit and I couldn’t return the money to my daughter. Furthermore it would
be hard working in the new fish farm without a forklift and other equipment.
Early in the morning I went to the office to thoroughly check all contracts on
investment loans, and I found it was true what the bank manager claimed. When
negotiating a new credit with the Land Bank of Slovenia, the manager suggested
they would take over a loan from the Austrian bank, if they agreed. So I
checked that contract and if we were to do that, a compensation of 22.000 eur
should be paid.
So I soon phoned the Austrian bank. They didn’t agree
with my proposal, but they offered an additional credit instead, since the
situation normalized in their bank. We soon signed
an agreement for 120.000 eur loan and could return the money to my daughter and
buy some equipment on time.
***
On 18th September 2015 we had the opening of our new
fish farm. In the morning my books “From the Marble Trout to Faronika” were
delivered. At 5 p.m. the opening ceremony of the new fish farm was on. A few
days before our plan was like this: I, the president of Tolmin fishing family,
would be the first speaker, Dušan Jesenšek, the manager of Faronika d. o. o.,
would be the second, but the major speaker would be Mr Dejan Židan, the
minister of agriculture. I changed the order of speakers, placing the manager
of Faronika to the first place, me following. I need to say why I did that.
People in Ministry of Agriculture always feared that there would be a problem
in Brussels if there was even a hint that the Fishing Club had anything to do
with the investment. Therefore we had to establish a new company and be careful
not to mention the role of the Fishing Club. So I assumed it would be only
natural that the manager of the new company had the first speech.
About 100 people were invited to the opening ceremony,
most of them who were of great support at our project. After the speeches we
had a cultural programme, besides the weather was wonderful. I feel like mentioning that the minister of
agriculture in Check republic, who was visiting Slovenia at the time being, was
present at our ceremony, too. After the ceremony we were all supposed to go to
restaurant Labrca where degustation of our fish and more was prepared. My books were there ready
for the invitees. We also prepared symbolic presents for the important invitees,
like the minister of agriculture. Unfortunately he left soon after the
ceremony, because he had the meeting with the members of his party in Tolmin.
Mr Židan helped us a lot with our project and that’s why I asked him to give a
speech. It was very disappointing for me and the rest of us when he left so
soon and didn’t join us in the evening. Nevertheless our pleasant socializing
lasted till late night and I had a lot of work signing my books for the
invitees. Dušan didn’t come near me for the whole evening and I noticed he was
avoiding me. It was month later when he came to my office asking me for the
book. Of course I was happy to give him one with a written dedication.
The next day, on Saturday, we had our new fish farm open
for public. In the afternoon there was the Marble Trout Festival and the 60th
anniversary of Primorska Association of Fishing Clubs. When I arrived to
Faronika in the morning, I couldn’t believe my eyes; there were numerous people
and I had troubles finding a parking place in front of the former hotel
Centroslavija. I estimated there were about 500 hundred people and that meant a
good promotion for Tolmin fishing family and our company Faronika d. o. o. Everyone
was served a drink and snacks made of our fish.
I won’t say a lot of what was going on in the
afternoon, since such happenings resemble each other. Many people were awarded
medals and diplomas. In short, I was sure my task was accomplished at that point.
***
Almost a year passed since I had a stroke and I could
work as the president of Tolmin fishing family quite normally though I had
problems talking and writing. I was particularly disturbed because I couldn’t
always say the words I wanted at the meetings. I also found it hard to
communicate with strangers, though I could speak many foreign languages before
my illness. So I was thinking of finishing my career in Tolmin Fishing Club. I
ran for the last turn only to build the farm, and now, when it's over and I'm
no longer a 100% president, it would be best to resign.
During my sick leave Andrej Costantini replaced me.
Soon after returning from hospital I asked my wife to call into the fishing
family office. She told the accountant to transfer my salary to Andrej every
month. Even when I was ready to go back to work I proposed Andrej to help me
with some jobs and we would get half a salary each. At that time I got to know
him better. He was hardworking but not determined enough in some matters. We
often talked, so one day I said to him; “I can’t work as the president of the Fishing
Club so well as before, and I accomplished a major project, so now I am ready
to resign. I would recommend you at assembly
of members to finish my mandate!”
I have no idea why he didn’t agree with my proposal. I
often tried to persuade him, but his response was always the same. He thought I
should finish it myself. When I realized he wouldn’t change his mind, I stopped
asking him and didn’t mention any of our talks to anybody. Thinking of the near
future, I realized I had another task. When we started the investment we were at
the loss of money, so our members lent their money. We managed to gather over
60.000 € this way. I was aware that we
were to return that money to our members; 20.000 eur in 2016 and about 45.000
eur in 2017. That was the main reason why I remained the president of the
fishing family; I wanted the task to be fulfilled correctly.
***
I often went to the new fish farm, sometimes even
early in the mornings at weekends. The graylings were still dying though the
temperature of water was lower. In November Dušan brought 60.000 young marble
trout, about 6 cm long. The fact that Faronika didn’t sell any fish to other
buyers disturbed me. We had to pay interest on loans, and the highest cost were
the salaries and fish food. I repeatedly warned the manager that it was high
time to start marketing and selling. I was very careful with the money myself.
Every month I called the meeting with the manager and the accountant in order
to check cash flow for three months in advance for both, the Fishing Club and
Faronika. We never came to illiquidity because I could react in time.
Towards the end of the year Andrej helped me prepare
the statistics for the previous fishing season. He was also preparing new
contracts for selling fishing permits for the next season. He also helped in
Faronika and thanks to him a small shop was open on 9th December 2015. I posted the news with some photos on
Facebook, and soon Roman Dolinšek, the president of Supervisory Board of Tolmin
fishing family, commented: “I’m afraid we won’t have enough fish to put into our
rivers!”
I thought he was just joking, so I replied we would
buy them in the fish farm. Later I realized that what he wrote was meant
seriously.
At Christmas my daughter’s family and my youngest son
came home. When we lived in Dar es Salaam we used to buy big fish from Indian
Ocean and they were delicious. So at that event we agreed to buy a big fish
from Faronika. I went to the fish farm and chose a 3 kg heavy fish from Rižana.
Tribal flock of these fish are the Adriatic river trout according to mitohondrian
DNK. We get eggs from them for Koper Fishing Club. They are really beautiful,
rather wider than longer. On my way home I stopped at the local shop Kmetijska
zadruga in Tolmin and showed the fish to the office workers. They we thrilled
about it, and when it became jumping it was really funny!
On Christmas day my wife prepared the fish in the
oven, like she used to do in Africa. I had to cut off its head and tail, if I
wanted to put it diagonally on to a baking dish. Our lunch was delicious and we
became nostalgic thinking of our days in Africa.
We agreed to prepare a meal from some fish, rainbow
trout, from Faronika one of the following days. Since I knew Pele was on duty
on Sunday, I went to the fish farm early in the morning to buy some rainbow trout.
When I arrived, Dušan was there and I found it strange to find him there on
Sunday. He didn’t even greet me, he just ran off to his office. I noticed that
Pele didn’t look fine either. He opened one of the pools for me and what I saw
was horrible. On the surface of water the raibow trouts were lying dead.
I understood why Pele was so miserable. On the same
Sunday, 5th December 2005, they called me from the fish farm in Zalog, where
one ton of graylings died and Pele was on duty there as well. It was time of
heavy raining and at the entrance of fish farm there were many tree branches
and leaves, so consequently there was not enough water flow through the fish
farm. The fish didn’t get enough oxygen.
Isolated marble trouts and breeding graylings were rarer in the pools so
they remained alive. The one and two year old grayling were very dense in the
three swimming pools, so they lacked oxygen and died. At that time, the
Steering Committee made a survey and considered that Pele did not arrive on
time and so he was punished. I am sorry for that decision even nowadays!
It seemed impossible that something like that could
happen in the new fish farm. It must have been the fault of the builders; they
must have left something in the swimming pool pipeline. The water had already
been cleaned before it came from the fish farm in Zalog which is 1100 meters
away. In the reservoir in Faronika the
water is once again purified before it flows through the pipeline into 14
pools. So what happened?
Dušan called all the workers and they began taking
fish from the pools and cleaned them. At the same time he called other fish
farms in Slovenia, asking if they would sell fresh rainbow trout at a reduced
price. I was present for some hours and estimated that about 200 kg fish had
died. In fact the number was even higher, it was 450 kg. The water was just
leaking from the pipeline to the pool, although it was fully turned on. When
the fish were taken from the pool the water suddenly broke out. We noticed parts
of a big marble trout in the pool! So that was the reason of the clogged
pipeline! That marble trout came from a tribal flock in Zalog. It had to jump
in front of the net into the long pipeline, and when it came into the reservoir
in Faronika, it had to jump over the net once more and from the chambers into
the pipeline for that pool. In the pool there is a curved pipeline where it
must have stopped. After some hours the water pressure tore it and so it could
come to the pool in pieces. It’s incredible!
Just before lunch I brought home some of those fish
and I didn’t tell anyone what had happened for a long time. I was afraid that
there might be another serious accident. I hoped it wouldn’t, because I am
usually an optimist. Anyway, the year was over and I thought that the main
problems were over.
***
At the beginning of each year a business report for
assembly of members had to be done. The last fishing season was not too good
because we sold too little fishing permits. Of course that depended on the
weather and the water status, which is normal in our branch. We had a loss of
14,400 eur in our Fishing Club, while we had a 19,200 eur profit the year
before. I didn’t like those facts, as I was aware that we were constantly on
the verge of liquidity. Last February we had no problem paying off the credit
to our members so in the past year I wanted to prepare a deposit of at least €
40,000, but I failed. Nevertheless we somehow managed to return all members'
loans worth € 45,000. Soon after that I wrote a kind thank you letter to all
our member creditors mentioning that I was counting on them if we would need
their help any time in the future. I told my secretary that it was urgent to
send those letters as soon as possible. I was afraid that liquidity would be
difficult to be obtained until mid-May, when money from tourist fishing permits
starts coming.
Our secretary is very good with the clients, but
unfortunately she is not efficient completing the tasks on time. For 17 years I
kept warning her about the minutes, letters, etc., but I was not able to influence
on her. Like many times before the thank you letters were not sent on time, so
I had to tell her she needn’t have bordered, as it was too late anyway. A
letter like that is sensible to be send soon after repayment
of obligations, or never.
Mr Costantini and I often talked about the problem of
selling fish from Faronika. What we sold in our small shop was too little. In
January he mentioned it would be wise to start selling fresh fish in the local
shop of the agriculture cooperative of Tolmin. Let me mention at this point
that he knows all the sales procedures. As I found his proposal very wise, I
soon phoned the manager of The Agriculture Cooperative. He invited me to come
to his office to discuss the matter. We both agreed the idea was good; the only
drawback was that he had to get a certificate in their Executive Committee,
which would last a few days. I told him that Mr Costantini would come to
arrange all the procedures concerning the sale.
I was pleased we would finally sell our fish in local
shops, so I went to the manager of Faronika to tell him the good news. I
thought he would be happy to accept a little help from Andrej and me, but when
I told him the news, he angrily replied: “Well, I am the manager, so why should
Mr Costantini help me!”
Well, I soon realized he was bothered by a manager's
syndrome, so I said:” God help, of course you are the manager; we only want to
help you. Finally it will be your decision about the contract and the price; I
just think Costantini knows all the selling procedures better than you. Call
the manager of The Agriculture Cooperative and discuss the major matters with
him.”
He remained silent for some time, and then he asked:
“Have you paid that fish from Rižana on Christmas?”
“Of course I have, you know that I pay all fish I take
in Faronika. I paid it to Robi. First he insisted I’d take it free, as I am the
president of The Fishing Club, but I insisted and paid for it according to the
price list. Well, I suggested paying twice as much as rainbow trout costs. And
so we agreed it was a fair deal.”
Dušan replied
immediately: »That fish was more expensive. You should have paid the price of
the marble trout, which is 35 € a kilo!”
“Good god!” I found it silly to continue talking to
him. It didn’t even come to his mind that I was his boss and that his remarks
were inappropriate.
Later I phoned both, the manager of The Agriculture
Cooperative and Costantini, to tell them how to deal with Dušan to prevent
misunderstandings. Let me remark, that there is still no contract between
Faronika and Kmetijska zadruga at that point.
On 2nd February 2016 first fish from
Faronika were sold in the local shops of The Agriculture Cooperative Tolmin.
***
When the reports for the assembly of members were
ready, I sent them and the invitations for the meeting to the members of the
Management Board and the Chairman of the Supervisory Board. The meeting was a
great disappointment for me. After overcoming all the challenges and finishing
the fish farm successfully, I had to listen to critics of hum much money we had
spent and how the fishing season was bad. I wanted to convince the members that
we needed time to see the results (the marble trout and grayling should be
growing for two years, whereas we would be able to put these fish into rivers),
but it was all in vain.
The plan of putting rainbow trout into rivers proved
to be problematic. The plan was prepared by Dušan, the master of our Fishing
Club, and approved by the Management Committee under my leadership. In the
coming fishing season, 13,300 kg of rainbow trout was to be put into rivers,
which was 700 kg less than allowed by the Ministries of Agriculture and Environment.
It was my fault not to be too careful. I knew Dušan tended to plan less rainbow
trout than it was allowed but he planned more sprouts of marble trout and grayling. On the
other hand I wanted more fish to be put into rivers, so the fishing would be
better than the previous year. I was looking forward of putting rainbow trout
from our new fish farm into rivers during the whole season. If I demanded to
rise the putting of rainbow trout into rivers, the problem would not appear at
all.
Some members and the Chairman of the Supervisory Board
were furious that we hadn’t planned the maximum possible number of rainbow
trout to be put into rivers. It was in vain trying to reassure them that we
could soon change the plan. Our misunderstanding was the topic of conversations
among the members for long time. In February of that year we had had three
meetings and I can’t remember when exactly I got my nerves off and I left in the
middle of the session. While leaving I angrily remarked: “I don’t have to stand
that nonsense anymore!”
Having arrived home I sat in the garage, lit my cigar,
poured some cognac and thought: “I can’t stand that anymore, I’m going to
resign. I am 73 and I can’t listen to such stupid discussions.”
Since I was 28, when I first became a manager, I have
always had similar functions. When I was to resign, I always cold headedly
thought about it, revising arguments for and against, and I was never as upset
as that day. Some days later, when I calmed down, I decided not to resign.
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