Bosnia and Herzegovina Program Updates

Speeches Shim

Businessowner Irma Zerdo, right, with employees Edin Islamović and Berina Zerdo, in front of Cvetak's display of herbal teas
The Assorted Profits of a Small Bosnian Tea Business

Zerdo is a musician by trade, with a music school degree, but she could not find a paying job in her line of work. She is not alone: Joblessness in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) for people in her age group is over 40 percent. So Zerdo knew she had to create her own destiny. She stayed true to what she loved and started a business based on nature.

Sanja Idrizovic (third from right) with participants of her psychological counseling workshop in Konjic, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Despite Barriers, a Psychologist Heals Hearts in Bosnia and Herzegovina

We all want to be happy, but when making other people happy is what brings you happiness, you can still face a lot of obstacles. Sanja Idrizović, from the town of Konjic in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), experienced this firsthand. She studied psychology so she could help people heal emotionally and psychologically in order to live healthier, happier lives.

Suad Beslic (R) spends every available moment with his workers in his factory in Zivinice, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
After Thriving Abroad for Years, Bosnian Returns Home to Create Jobs

Suad Beslic has returned from Germany to his home country of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) to start a local company that manufactures fire trucks for export to Germany and other global markets. With his return, he has brought back hope for young people in the small Bosnian town of Zivinice.

Dragana Stojinić in her workshop, where she crafts wooden handles for tools in Prijedor, BiH.
A Woman’s Unlikely Business Takes Hold in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Dragana Stojinić lives in a little village near Prijedor in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). To get to her house you have to walk or drive for miles down a long, unpaved country road. But this is hardly unusual. She is not the only woman living in the countryside of BiH.

Vesna Budnjar monitors the progress of drying mushrooms and rosehips in a drying chamber in Kalinovik, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
How a Bosnian Entrepreneur Overcame the Odds—and the Elements

Rising at the crack of dawn, getting to bed late at night, and in the hours in between, struggling to protect the only thing that fed her family and paid the bills—that is what Vesna Budnjar’s days used to look like.

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