As ETL GLOBAL marks 10 years of empowering SMEs, attention turns to the firms and individuals contributing to the network’s continued international development. In this interview, we meet Blaž Šlemic and Neda Štemberger of Unija ETL, the Slovenia-based firm with a strong presence across the West Balkans, as they reflect on their professional paths, the evolution of their organisation, and their role in advancing ETL GLOBAL’s growth across the region.
Early influences and beginnings
Blaž Šlemic was raised in Slovenia’s capital, Ljubljana, in a household influenced by his parents’ careers in finance. From his earliest memories, business-related topics were part of everyday life, with conversations at home often referring to ongoing projects, professional situations, and how organisations operate in practice. “That environment taught me that success is not just about results, but about consistency, integrity, and meaningful relationships,” he says, pointing to values that were established well before his own career began.
Neda Štemberger was born in Šempeter pri Gorici and raised in Vrtojba, on the Slovenian-Italian border, in a setting very different from the capital. “My childhood surroundings were much calmer and more closely connected, with a strong influence from neighboring Italy, reflected in people’s temperament, cuisine, habits, and lifestyle,” she says. Neda traces her interest in finance back to her grandfather, who worked in banking and insurance. “From him, I inherited a passion for numbers and finance,” she admits, an interest that would later guide both her academic choices and professional path.
Their paths first intersected at the University of Ljubljana’s School of Economics and Business, where both pursued degrees that would shape their professional futures. Blaž completed a Bachelor’s degree in Entrepreneurship, motivated by a desire to understand how businesses function and grow. “I wanted to learn how strategic decisions are made, and how value is created,” he reflects. Neda’s path led her to the Professional Degree Programme of Business Administration, where she specialised in Corporate Finance, a choice that gave her what she describes as “a strong analytical foundation and a structured way of thinking.” That rigour would prove formative, influencing not only how she approached problems but how she understood the relationship between numbers and the organisations behind them, an understanding she would put into practice across a range of industries.
Professional paths and key turning points
Blaž’s professional career developed entirely within the financial sector. He began in corporate and retail banking, working closely with both SME clients and large companies, gaining hands-on experience in corporate lending, project financing, and advisory work. Over time, his responsibilities expanded into senior management roles, including leading corporate banking teams and overseeing complex financing and restructuring cases. Alongside his banking roles, he also held supervisory positions in the insurance sector, further broadening his perspective on governance, risk management, and financial stability. Over time, his focus shifted increasingly from execution toward leadership and value creation. “Sustainable success is rooted in people and relationships, not just numbers,” he explains, looking back to the earlier years of his career.
Neda’s professional path developed consistently within accounting and operational finance. From the outset of her career, she worked in accounting roles in Ljubljana-based companies operating across a wide range of industries, from food retail to high-end fashion, which gave her early exposure to different organisational structures and reporting needs. A particularly formative phase followed at the Institute of Chemistry Slovenia, where she worked in the accounting department while also engaging closely with planning and analysis functions. That period consolidated her focus on precision and consistency in financial work, particularly in environments where accuracy and structure were non-negotiable.
Unija: building a regional platform in the West Balkans
After several years developing their careers in different roles, both Blaž and Neda continued their professional paths at Unija. Founded in 2003 by Miran Pikovnik, Unija was established with the aim of building a professional accounting and advisory firm grounded in technical quality, structured processes, and client trust. While its origins lie in Slovenia, the firm expanded steadily over time, developing into a regional organisation active in Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and North Macedonia.
This development formed the setting in which both Blaž and Neda took on roles of increasing responsibility within the firm. For Blaž, joining Unija marked a transition from banking into a senior corporate leadership role, where his background in finance, advisory work, and restructuring was applied to the organisation’s financial management and strategic development as CFO. By that point, Neda had already built a long-standing internal career within Unija, progressing from accounting and departmental management into her current role as Country Manager for Slovenia, with responsibility for overseeing local operations, teams, and professional standards. Reflecting on this progression, she notes that it is a path she continues to pursue “with great satisfaction and passion.”
By the time Unija entered its next phase of growth, it had already established itself as a mature organisation, shaped by long-term leadership, internal development, and a structure capable of supporting increasingly complex client needs.
Blaž Šlemic and Neda Štemberger at the 2025 ETL GLOBAL UK & Ireland Congress in Birmingham.
Joining ETL GLOBAL
Operating across borders had long been part of Unija’s reality, with the firm active across several countries in the West Balkan region. As its work increasingly intersected with markets beyond that footprint, the question became how this experience could be extended through broader geographic connectivity, without altering Unija’s core way of working. For Blaž, who led this strategic decision for the company, this meant exploring partnerships capable of expanding reach while remaining aligned in values and approach. It was in this context that he first came into contact with ETL GLOBAL. Reflecting on those early exchanges, he points to the character of the relationship itself. “It felt like a collaborative, strategic, and people-focused partnership,” he explains.
For Neda, the appeal of the partnership laid in how it could strengthen everyday work without distancing it from clients or local realities. As country manager of Unija in Slovenia, she was closely attuned to how cooperation across countries would translate into concrete processes, decision-making, and professional standards. What she found most compelling was precisely the balance the network offered. “The combination of strong local expertise and international reach is what makes the partnership attractive,” she says, pointing to a model that allows teams to collaborate across borders while remaining firmly grounded in their own accounting and advisory practice.
When the partnership was formalised in 2024, Unija, now operating as Unija ETL, became part of ETL GLOBAL, marking a new phase in its international positioning. At the same time, Blaž assumed the role of Master Partner for the West Balkans, with responsibility for expanding Unija ETL’s presence across the countries in which the firm operates. In this capacity, his work focuses on strategic deal execution, deal structuring, organisational development, and cross-border collaboration, supporting the continued strengthening of the network across the region.
For both Blaž and Neda, the decision to move forward with ETL GLOBAL rested on the same underlying consideration: whether the partnership would reinforce people, professional standards, and long-term cooperation, not just scale. Seen in this light, joining ETL GLOBAL did not represent a break with the past, but a continuation of how Unija ETL had already chosen to grow.
Looking ahead
Both Blaž and Neda describe an industry undergoing a gradual but profound transformation. Digitalisation and artificial intelligence are no longer peripheral tools, but part of everyday professional reality, while regulatory requirements continue to increase in scope and complexity. In this context, the traditional boundaries of accounting and advisory work are shifting. As Neda notes, the profession is moving decisively beyond purely technical execution. “Accountants are increasingly acting as business partners,” she says.
Despite these changes, both are clear that the core of the profession has not been replaced by technology. What has become more important, rather than less, is the quality of the relationship between advisor and client. Blaž stresses that, even in a more complex and automated environment, clients choose partners they trust and feel understood by. In their view, advisory work today sits at the intersection of technical expertise and human relationships, where tools may evolve quickly, but trust, clarity, and professional responsibility remain the foundations on which cooperation is built.
As Blaž looks to the future of the profession, his focus on trust and responsibility naturally leads him back to the path that shaped his leadership. In closing, he acknowledges the role of Miran Pikovnik, founder of Unija ETL, and the confidence he placed in him at a decisive moment for the firm. When Blaž was entrusted with identifying the right strategic partner for Unija’s future, the responsibility went far beyond a professional task. “That trust was never just an assignment,” he reflects. “It was a commitment to protect what we had built together: our people, our culture, and the values we refuse to compromise.”
He also expresses his gratitude to ETL GLOBAL for believing not only in Unija ETL’s performance, but in its teams, leadership, and vision. “ETL GLOBAL believed in us as an organisation, but also in our people and the way we lead,” he says. What makes the partnership distinctive, he reflects, is that it is rooted in alignment and mutual respect, with a shared commitment to building for the long term. “This was never about convenience,” Blaž adds. “It was about shared principles and the courage to build something that lasts.” In the end, he notes, “the strongest organisations are built on trust, and the most meaningful growth is measured in the people who grow with it.”
