Ivana Bakica - Operations Finance Supervisor

Ivana Bakica started her career at Porto Montenegro as an intern. She quickly proved her worth through the quality of her work and after only a year was appointed as an Operations Finance Coordinator. She has proven to be a dedicated, diligent and professional member of the team.

How challenging is it to run finances of the operations department in Porto Montenegro?

The operations department is active 24/7, made up of over 70 employees who are engaged in various teams (technical, landscaping, housekeeping, security, reception, homeowner experience team, rentals team, Sports Club, PMYC, concierge, electrical engineers and museum team), hence the financial operational needs flow with their dynamics of works and needs. We are responsible for all activities, reporting and budget monitoring, through direct communication with legal and accounting teams. Working in Operations Finance department is extremely diverse, it involves preparation of various statistics on a daily basis, through issuing and sending invoices to Homeowners, further processing of payments, budgeting, evaluation of small investments profitability and the creations of annual financial statements for the Condominium Association. It is dynamic, intense work that requires full dedication, concentration and many “double checks”.

Given that the financial and operations departments are the “life line” in the company, what would you say are the essentials in day to day cycle in your department?

Most operational work is the maintenance of the whole project. Therefore, it is imperative that it’s done as conveniently and as fast as possible, with a high level of professionalism. It’s incredibly dynamic, with many details to be included, as well as controlling of all revenues and expenditures. One of the curious things about operations department is the necessity of its financial team to be aware of a variety of non-financial matters - I need to know every detail of each team in our department so that I can understand their specific financial needs. For example, I know how the common areas are warmed up, which light bulbs and how many pieces were replaced and where. I am familiar with every tiny detail of technical rooms in the buildings, how many palms trees there are in the village and how they are treated, what techniques are used to clean the stone, understand the function of elevator safety cables etc. Only this way I am able to understand all expenses of all teams within operations department.

You started as an intern within the company and then took a leap upwards in your career - how do you feel about your current career path?

My career path has been an intense and fast one - after only one year of working for Porto Montenegro I was offered a great responsibility to take over the Finance Operations department. Currently, I cover the position of Operations Finance Supervisor and I'm very happy to have started my career with a company that gives its workers the chance to take responsibility and prove their abilities.

Do you think that continuous work on both formal and informal education, which is something that Adriatic Marinas encourages its workers to do, is the advice for any young people starting their career?

I think that every ambitious person is motivated by the engagement in a company that devotes such attention to continuous education. Various types of education are involved here - from setting up specific procedures that are available for each new employee and that facilitate their orientation within the company, through highly qualified and experienced managers who are great mentors, and represent the perfect example on how to motivate their workers for further training, to the organisation of formal education as to gain more skills. Specifically, I have attended several leadership training courses, I completed 2 weeks of business English training in Malta and I am currently attending a Russian language course organized by the company.