Eminent Serbian economist and one of the most distinguished international experts, Professor Branko Milanović, and the founders and owners of Nelt Group, Nebojša Šaponjić and Ranko Sočanac, are awarded with this year’s Certificates of Excellence, awards traditionally presented by the Serbian Association of Economists (SAE) to the prominent figures of the Serbian economic and business circles.

“With this award, SAE has been striving to make a contribution, in line with its fundamental goals, to popularizing economic science and profession, as well as to affirming individuals and promoting the achievements made in the field of economics”, president of SAE, Aleksandar Vlahović, stated.

Professor Branko Milanović, this year’s winner of the Certificate of Excellence for outstanding contributions in the field of economic theory and policy, is one of the leading contemporary economists, renowned both in Serbia and internationally, specialized in studying economic inequalities and the globalization phenomenon. He earned his PhD in 1987 from the Faculty of Economics, University of Belgrade, with a thesis on economic inequality in Yugoslavia. For more than two decades, he worked as Lead Economist at the research department of the World Bank in Washington (1991–2013), then as Senior Advisor at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington (2003-2005) and as Lecturer at the University of Maryland, (2007-2013) and Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University (1997-2007). He was also Visiting Professor at the All Souls College, University of Oxford, and at the Carlos III University of Madrid (2010-2011).

He published numerous papers on methodology of measuring inequality and analysis of inequality, first in the transition countries and then also on global inequality and globalization. He has authored several important books, including “Worlds Apart – Measuring International and Global Inequality” (Odvojeni svetovi - merenje međunarodne i globalne nejednakosti) (2005), “The Haves and the Have-Nots: A Brief and Idiosyncratic History of Global Inequality” (Bogataši i siromasi - kratka i neobična istorija globalne nejednakosti) (2011) and “Global Inequality: A New Approach for the Age of Globalization” (Globalna nejednakost – Nov pristup za doba globalizacije) (2016). The last-mentioned book won several prestigious awards and was translated into as many as 16 languages. His latest book titled “Capitalism, Alone: The Future of the System That Rules the World” (Kapitalizam po sebi: budućnost sistema koji vlada svetom) was published in September 2019.

Together with Professor Mariana Mazzucato, Professor Milanović was awarded by the Tufts University with the Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought (2018).

Professor Milanović now teaches at eminent universities, such as the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY) and the International Inequalities Institute of the London School of Economics. He was appointed the honorary Maddison Chair at the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Groningen (2019).

Founders and owners of Nelt Group, Nebojša Šaponjić and Ranko Sočanac, are awarded with this year’s Certificate of Excellence for outstanding contributions in the field of business economics and management. They started their own private business in 1992, by establishing Nelt as a company specialized in commerce and wholesale. Over the last 28 years, Nelt has become a standard for distribution and logistics services in Serbia and the Western Balkans.

Nelt has been active for years in the region through its companies in North Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and Kosovo, and since 2010, it runs its business operations also in the markets of Africa, in Angola, Zambia and Mozambique, with distributive operations in Zimbabwe and Malawi. With more than 4,000 employees, 80 principals, more than 100 logistics customers and an annual turnover of EUR970 M, Nelt is now one of the most important private companies in Serbia.

Nelt Group now includes companies such as Neoplanta – Industrija mesa Novi Sad, Javna skladišta Srbije in Subotica – logistics provider, Banim Reklame in Kraljevo – production of marketing and promotional materials and Montenomaks CL – leading logistics operations company in Montenegro based in Danilovgrad.

Both men are renowned altruists and active members of the social community. They are members of the Privrednik Business Club.

This year, the formal award ceremony that is part of the traditional annual cocktail party organized by SAE is cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.