There are many stories about young people from Bosnia and Herzegovina who are successful in various fields around the world.
Many left their homeland as children, fleeing the war, some were born and raised abroad, and a large number also graduated in BiH but decided to live abroad due to poor different problems they faced in BiH.
However, there are examples of young Bosnians and Herzegovinians who returned to their homeland from around the world and started businesses in which they are successful.
Senad Šantić spent his childhood in Sweden, after fleeing Mostar with his parents. Five years ago, he returned to his hometown and started a business that is today one of the most successful IT companies in the country. It is a company that develops web and mobile applications, mainly for the Swedish market, and currently employs 50 young people.
Leaving Sweden
“As a child, I started thinking about returning to Mostar. I loved spending time here during the summer and back in those years the idea came up that with the help of the internet I could practically work in one place and live in another. I had the idea to get a job in Sweden in a company, and then move to Bosnia and Herzegovina and do business here remotely. After several years of experience in Sweden, I finally decided to give it a try. I knew that I had to find and do something in order to have a quality life in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and at the same time to contribute to the development of our society. In November 2016, I packed my suitcases, got in my car with my father and came to Mostar to start a company I called ZenDev,” the young entrepreneur begins the story for Anadolu Agency (AA).
He admits that he made the decision easier knowing that the place where he works is not very important for the type of business he has chosen. He also knew that Bosnia and Herzegovina was a country in which the perspective for success was much worse than in Sweden.
“The company is a consultant company and the only question was whether I would be able to find quality people who would do the job at the level of what clients from Sweden expect. That was actually the only risk, but I soon realized that young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina are no less capable than their peers in Sweden or the US, where I also spent a year working. Entrepreneurship is risky in some way in all parts of the planet, but I had no dilemma”, continues Šantić.
Today, his company operates successfully and regularly pays all its obligations to the state.
He wants to expand his business
“In the beginning, there were difficulties, because I guess every beginning must be difficult. All in all, I am very satisfied. We hired 15 new people in March, we are growing fast and the demand for services is higher than ever. In the future, we intend to expand the consulting part of the business, and we have plans and we are already in the process of implementing a project within which we will make our software solutions, with ambitions to sell it one day. In this way, we will not only make ZenDev more stable, but also show the generations to come that it is possible to make products that will be used and recognized in the world in a small town and a small country”, points out Šantić.
The next step for his company will be to launch an incubator that will be helpful to young people to realize their business ideas.
“This will help them develop their business and open the possibility for them to place their products on foreign markets,” adds Šantić.
His brother Reno returned to Mostar before Senad, and their parents supported their intention to return to their homeland.
“They also plan to return as early as next year,” he says at the end of the conversation. (Anadolija)
