Miodrag Kostić is the president and founder of the MK Group and one of the most successful businessmen in Southeast Europe.
He is leading the MK Group business system that he established in 1983, and which has been growing steadily for four decades. As the most prominent Serbian businessman, he has expanded operations beyond the borders of our country and is internationally renowned. The professional community recognises his exceptional expertise and dedication to the promotion of the Adria region’s economy. His business achievements in the fields of agriculture, tourism and renewable energy sources are especially well-known.
As a graduate economist, Miodrag Kostić started developing the company in the areas of trade, imports and exports. Since 2002, after purchasing three sugar mills in Vojvodina and restructuring them, he has become a regional leader in the sugar industry in Serbia and Southeast Europe. Since 2005, he has continued the expansion in the area of agriculture, focusing on farming and growing vegetables and fruit. After acquiring Carnex in 2011, he continued to invest in agriculture and, with a synergistic effect, this brand achieved a leading position in the market while increasing production and export levels. Business expansion in the field of tourism began in 2008 with the purchase of what is now known as the Grand Hotel on Kopaonik, and further strategic development followed with the acquisition of the Kempinski Hotel Adriatic in Croatia and Kempinski Palace Portorož in Slovenia. The investment into the first wind farm in Serbia – Kula – began in 2015 and became his pioneering venture into renewable energy sources. With continuous investments in green energy, he managed to position the MK Group as a leader in this area.
He is a member of many renowned national and international business associations. His rich experience, knowledge and successes have been crowned with numerous awards for the best businessman, businessman of the year, and for the successful management of the company, among which one of the most prestigious is the “Captain Miša Anastasijević” award. His MK Group has been repeatedly proclaimed the most successful company in Serbia and the region.
He is dedicated to philanthropy, focusing on children, youth and family. In 2023, he established a foundation bearing his name and donated to the Palace of Science, the first centre for research and the popularisation of science in our country and the greatest in the region.
The community has recognised the efforts of Miodrag Kostić to provide better opportunities for generations to come and a chance to progress. In 2012, he built the Youth House in Kraljevo, now the House for Mothers, of the SOS Children’s Villages Foundation. Over ten years of support through numerous activities have resulted in him becoming the first Serb to be presented with the “Badge of Honour” award by this international organisation. The following year , he handed over his family home in Novi Sad, as the Kostić Family Endowment, for permanent use to the National Association of Parents of Children with Cancer (NURDOR) and the “Institute for Health Care of Children and Youth of Vojvodina” for accommodating children with cancer and their parents. In 2018, he organised a humanitarian action “Magnet for Love”, which provided the Children’s Hospital in Novi Sad with an MRI machine and accompanying equipment. He holds the Golden Red Cross award of Serbia, as well as numerous awards for donating food to vulnerable populations. The MK Group is the winner of the VIRTUS Philanthropy Award 2020 for contribution at the national level, as Miodrag Kostić was among the first to respond to calls from regional governments and provide various forms of assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, the Serbian Association of Managers awarded him a Special Award for Outstanding Personal Achievement for the establishment of the endowment and the Palace of Science project.