Her Beginnings
Boža Kovač holds a university degree in economics. Her career was shaped by 15 years of development work and leading the Economic Affairs Department of the Municipality of Jesenice. From the very beginning, she was involved the local community processes and, through various non-formal trainings and collaborations, gained expertise in new approaches and financial instruments for implementing local development plans.
With her persistence, determination, and a strong support team, she contributed to the first European projects in the field of regenerating old industrial centers and systematically introducing rural development and entrepreneurship programs.
Her Competences
Since 2007, Boža has been leading the K&Z Development Consulting, where she is professionally responsible for preparing feasibility studies and attracting European and other financial resources for public investments. Boža is a top expert in planning financing structures and assessing the eligibility of investment projects.
Her expertise covers public finance, budget planning, and the functioning of public utility services — particularly in the environmental, climate‑energy, and social‑welfare sectors.
Her References
Boža has successfully completed more than 300 investment projects. Collaborating with clients and teams of engineers, she has gained valuable technical knowledge that she applies to even the most demanding, including inter‑municipal initiatives, climate‑neutral city investment plans, energy community plants, and innovative mobility financing models.
She always considers the perspectives of investors, future service operators, and the citizens, ensuring that investment documents are always well‑thought‑out, practical, and meticulously prepared.
Her Beginnings
Slavka Zupan holds a master’s degree in economics and bachelor’s degrees in geography and sociology.
Over the first 15 years of her career, she refined her expertise in leading roles related to local economic development and EU funds within municipal administration, the Ministry of Finance, and a regional development agency. In 2007, together with her business partner Boža Kovač, she founded K&Z Development Consulting L.t.d.
Her Competences
Slavka has contributed to over 200 projects across Slovenia, as well as in Croatia, Serbia, North Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and recently Ukraine.
She leads strategic planning within the company, bringing rich practical experience in participatory planning and programming at the local, regional, national, and cross‑border levels. Her competences include preparing socio‑economic analyses, action plans, and partnership project applications for diverse financing sources.
She is well-acquainted with the infrastructure, social needs, and development context of municipalities, historical towns, protected areas, and tourist destinations within the Alpine region.
Her Challenges
In recent years, Slavka has focused on sustainable transformation of territories in the context of climate, demographic, and technological changes. As a geographer and practitioner, she understands the complexity of territorial development, the roles of various stakeholders, and the need for innovative, cross‑sectoral, multi‑level, and inter‑municipal approaches, which makes new processes a significant challenge.
Committed to sustainability, creative thinking, and a bottom‑up, endogenous approach, she is goal‑oriented and demonstrates excellent interpersonal skills.
