EY Slovenia awarded the 2021 EY Family Business Award of Excellence to Intra lighting. After three decades of success – they produce 200 thousands light fixtures annually and create more than EUR 30 million of turnover – the company is being passed onto the second generation of family, who continue to build the company's international reputation.
"It is a great honour to receive this award, especially since there are no silver and bronze medals in the game of entrepreneurship, there is only gold. Either you win the contract you invested in, or you don't. The award will definitely encourage and motivate us even further," commented Marino Furlan, founder and president of Intra lighting.
The company has a clearly defined purpose, which also gives them a competitive edge: "We do not design light fixtures, we design light." They are a successful manufacturer of architectural lighting fixtures, which are sold in 68 countries all across the world. The entire Intra lighting Group employs more than 380 people, 220 of which work for the mother company in Šempeter pri Gorici.
The company was founded around 30 years ago by Marino and Marjetka Furlan and now important roles within the company are being passed to the next generation. Their son Anej is Chief Development Officer and their daughter Nika managers marketing projects. Both also became co-owners of the company two years ago.
Bringing light to some of the largest multinational companies
This is how the independent EY Family Business Award of Excellence committee explained their choice: "Intra lighting’s innovative spirit is coded into the company's DNA and their search for improved lighting solutions is always focused on the clients' needs. They understand the latest trends and merge them with the highest standards of quality, resulting in increasing investments into cutting-edge lighting technologies, automatization and robotization. Their close collaboration with architects, lighting designers, engineers and interior designers all over the world has brough them several prestigious design awards. Their light fixtures are shining in the offices of some of the largest multinational companies, such as Adidas, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Volvo, and Rolex. Intra lighting combines its R&D potential with consideration for sustainability, which is summed up in their philosophy: ‘Light where it is needed, when it is needed and as much as is needed.’” The independent committee members were prof. dr. Boštjan Antončič, head of the entrepreneurship chair at the Ljubljana School of Economics and Business, mag. Edita Krajnović, director of the Mediade company, and it was presided by Matjaž Čadež, founder of Halcom and MBILLS companies.
After 30 years, family business companies remain the backbone of Slovenian economy
“Intra lighting, whose innovations are bringing light to their home office in Šempeter as well as to Google’s office in the USA, is celebrating three decades of success. It is no coincidence that the force behind this success is an entrepreneurial family in collaboration with an incredible team of people. This year especially, on the 30th anniversary of Slovenian independence, we should be very proud of such family businesses whose beginnings in many cases go back to the early years of Slovenia,” says Mojca Emeršič, leader of Family Business at EY Slovenia. For six years in a row, EY Slovenia has been awarding outstanding Slovenian family businesses with EY Family Business Award of Excellence. Last year’s Slovenian award-winner is Lotrič Metrology, and previous winners include Vivapen, Lumar IG, KLS Ljubno and Roto.
EY Family Business Award of Excellence puts Slovenian companies on the same level as all other winners all over the world. Learn more about this year’s winners from other countries.
About EY Family Business
EY Slovenia has actively supported family businesses for several years. It has made it its mission to bring to light good stories and examples of good practice in Slovenian family business companies by publishing EY Family Business Slovenia Books. This fall you can look forward to the 8th edition of the book with 10 new stories of Slovenian family companies. The entire collection of previous books is available here.
EY Slovenia offers family businesses their support with questions of succession related to organizational, tax, legal and other aspects and helps them with development and (international) growth. Their services are target-focuses and adjusted to individual company and the specific demands of the industry, and always consider the needs of all generations of the family. Local activities of EY Slovenia connect and highlight Slovenian family companies on the local and global scale – for example with the EY Family Business Award of Excellence.
