Dragan Šolak founded United Group in 2000. Having started his career in film production and distribution, his initial idea was to provide TV entertainment which had been the core of the cable TV industry until then. Shortly after the launch however Dragan realised the greater potential of the connectivity created by cable TV that was being driven by the development and mass adoption of internet. In 2003 the company became the first operator to launch fast broadband in Serbia. Whilst driving the expansion of United Group’s telecom business, Dragan also established its media arm creating a unique proposition for customers in the region through the combination of attractive media content and a superior telecom service.
To grow the business into a regional market leader, Dragan has partnered with prominent private equity funds including BC Partners, KKR, MidEuropa and SEEF. EBRD also invested in the company shortly after its establishment. Two decades of organic growth through innovation and providing high quality services have been complemented by value accretive M&A transactions. United Group has completed over 150 acquisitions across various telecoms and media markets since it was founded.
Under Dragan’s stewardship, the company has grown from a small cable TV operator in Central Serbia to become the largest telecom and media company in Southeast Europe, delivering broadband, mobile, and pay-TV services and operating large media outlets in a market of more than 40 million people across eight countries.
Entrepreneurship, innovation, sustainability and equality are the central values on which Dragan has built United Group. To drive this, he created an in-house research and development hub, United Cloud, which is the leading center for innovation in the region. The group is committed to reducing its environmental impact by investing in renewable energy production and by 2025 will supply 80% of all the energy that it uses from its own renewable sources. Women represent 50% of the top management of United Group.
Among many philanthropic initiatives in education, environment, arts and culture, and the other initiatives that United Group supports, the scholarship program “Professor Njegoš B. Šolak” has a special place in Dragan’s heart. Established in honor of his late father and financed mainly by the Šolak family, the program’s aim is to support exceptionally gifted young individuals in their academic and professional development.
A serial entrepreneur, Dragan has never been employed by a company that was not established by him. His first venture was a motion picture production and distribution company VANS, which he established in 1990 with a group of movie enthusiast friends. In 2022 he became the Lead Investor in Sport Republic, a London-based investment firm in the sports and entertainment industry. In January 2022, Sport Republic purchased UK Premier League football club, Southampton FC followed by the acquisition of Goztepe in Turkey in August 2022.
Dragan is a passionate golfer. The Šolak family acquired and fully renovated the historic Royal Bled golf course in Slovenia, now regularly featured as one of the 50 most beautiful golf courses in continental Europe. Dragan has been heavily involved in the development of the sport in the Balkan region and serves as Chairman of the Board of the international golf group, Eligo.