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Prejšnji mesec se je zaključilo usposabljanje z naslovom »Spodbujanje podjetništva med mladimi v BiH«. Glavni namen usposabljanja je bilo informirati mlade podjetnike iz BiH o start-up podjetništvu, predstaviti tovrstno podporno okolje v Sloveniji in spodbuditi mlade, da razvijajo svoje podjetniške ideje.
V sodelovanju z iniciativo Start up: Slovenija je bilo v Slovenijo povabljenih več kot 20 mladih, ki so skupaj na tekmovanje z naslovom Podim Challenge prijavili devet različnih podjetniških idej. Pripraviti so morali kratko predstavitev svoje ideje, nato pa so kar pet izmed njih izbrali in jih vključili v poseben katalog konference, ki je bil na voljo vsem investitorjem, ki iščejo zanimive projekte. Tako so mladi v času dvodnevne konference srečali številne investitorje, imeli možnost predstaviti svoje ideje in se hkrati tudi učiti iz nasvetov in vprašanj.

Projekt je del programskih aktivnosti CEP, ki jih financira Ministrstvo za zunanje zadeve iz sredstev za mednarodno razvojno sodelovanje in je bil izveden v sodelovanju z Veleposlaništvom Velike Britanije v Sloveniji.

1. Prosimo, če se lahko predstavite in na kratko predstavite svojo idejo.
Moje ime je Loren Keserović in sem študent prvega letnika na Univerzi v Sarajevu, na Poslovno-ekonomski fakulteti. Poleg tega sem tudi projektni vodja v nevladni organizaciji Giro di Sarajevo, ki spodbuja urbano kolesarjenje in poziva vlado k izgradnji potrebne kolesarske infrastrukture v Sarajevu. Zraven vseh dejavnosti sam veliko časa preživim na kolesu, saj treniram za tekmovanja kot član kolesarskega kluba GIRO.
Moja poslovna ideja je nastala na podlagi različnih vidikov moje vpletenosti v svet kolesarstva in mi je omogočila, da uvidim naraščajočo potrebo po posebni vrsti koles na trgu. Ta tip kolesa je popolna rešitev za težave s prometnimi zastoji in pomanjkanje parkirnih mest v mestih. Govorimo o kolesu, ki je zelo lahek, zložljiv in omogoča električno pomoč pedalom. To vrsto kolesa je prav zaradi majhnosti, ko ga zložimo, možno kombinirati tudi z drugimi prevoznimi sredstvi za daljša potovanja. Ideja je vzpostaviti zložljivo električno kolo, ki bi se proizvajalo v Bosni in Hercegovini in bi ga lahko prodajali v EU in kasneje tudi v ostalih državah, ki bi potrebovale takšno vrsto izdelka.
 
2. Kako ste prišli na idejo, da bi razvili nekaj svojega, namesto da bi samo našli službo?
Obstaja citat, ki mi je resnično všeč in pravi: »Težko je reči ali se bojevnik rodiš ali te bojevnika naredijo okoliščine«. Sam menim, da sem se rodil s poslovnim duhom, ki pa je bil izostren prav zaradi okoliščin. V srednji šoli sem med poletnimi počitnicami delal v kolesarski trgovini v Sarajevu in to je bila zame zelo pomembna izkušnja iz dveh razlogov. Prvi razlog je, da sem tam delal zelo dolgo in težko za nizko plačo in sem ugotovil, da če vložim enako truda v nekaj zase, za svoje podjetje, lahko dosežem veliko več in na podlagi tega zgradim svoje sanje in ne sanje nekoga drugega; in drugi razlog je, da sem v pogovoru s strankami izvedel, da obstoječa kolesa ne rešujejo problemov in potreb, ki jih imajo stranke. Za tem sem se vpisal na fakulteto pri čemer sem ugotovil, da ne bom dobil veliko dragocenega znanja in da je univerzitetna diploma neuporabna, če je ne kombiniraš z nečim iz 'realnega' sveta, kot je na primer start-up podjetje. Na koncu koncev pa je resnično najboljša stvar v življenju, da najdeš stvar nad katero si navdušen in zatem način, kako od tega služiti in ne obratno in tako sem spoznal da so moja 'stvar' kolesa.

3. Ali ste se že kdaj prej udeležili kakšnega podjetniškega programa?Tako je, že prej sem se udeležil nekaj podjetniških programov v svoji državi. Najpomembnejši je Bizoo start-up pospeševalnik, ki ga vodi zelo uspešen podjetnik, od katerega smo se lahko resnično veliko naučili.

4. Kje ste izvedeli za naše usposabljanje? Kaj je pritegnilo vašo pozornost?
Za usposabljanje sem izvedel preko oglasa in takoj sem prepoznal odlično priložnost, da spoznam različne ljudi in razširim svojo poslovno mrežo, kar pa je najpomembnejša stvar za uspešno poslovanje.

5. Kaj je bilo za vas najbolj uporabno in koristno na usposabljanju?
Kot sem že omenil v prejšnjem odgovoru je bilo najbolj uporabno in koristno spoznati ljudi, ki so takšni kot jaz in želijo delati nekaj drugačnega, da ne bodo zgolj še ena opeka v zidu. Prav tako pa verjamem, da lahko drug drugemu pomagamo pri uresničevanju naših ciljev.

6. Ali ste pred obiskom našega usposabljanja kdaj pomislili, da bi iskali investitorja v tujini? V Veliki Britaniji?
Že pred usposabljanjem sem razmišljal o iskanju investitorja v tujini, vendar je bilo to bolj podobno misiji nemogoče, saj živim v državi ki je veliko tujcev ne najde niti na zemljevidu in s tem projektom se mi je ponudila priložnost, da se srečam in govorim z nekaterimi od njih.
 
7. Kakšno podporo bi trenutno najbolj potrebovali?
Moj projekt je trenutno v fazi prototipa in do sedaj sem razvoj financiral z lastnimi prihranki. Da bi ustvaril nekaj prototipov bi stalo več, kot lahko sam zagotovim in za kritje teh stroškov bom moral najti investitorje. Po tej fazi, pa moj projekt, tako kot skoraj vsi drugi projekti iz BiH potrebujejo podporo pri promociji v ciljnih državah.

The training “Empowering BIH’s Young Entrepreneurs” concluded last month. The main purpose of the training was to inform young entrepreneurs from Bosnia and Hercegovina on start-up entrepreneurs, to present them a supportive environment in Slovenia and to encourage young people to develop their business ideas.

In cooperation with the initiative Start up: Slovenia, more than 20 young people have been invited to Slovenia to attend the Podim conference. They have signed up nine different business ideas at the competition Podim Challenge and one of them was also Loren, our guest today. We have asked him how he felt in Slovenia and how useful his visit was. Namely, the idea was that all participants meet various investors during the two-day conference and get the opportunity to present their ideas and learn from tips and questions from the mentors.

The project was part of CEP program activities funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Slovenia, from the funds for international development cooperation and with cooperation of British Embassy in Slovenia.

1. Please, introduce yourself and explain your idea shortly.

My name is Loren Keserović and I am a first year student at the University of Sarajevo, School of Business and Economics. I am also a project manager at

the NGO Giro di Sarajevo, which promotes urban cycling and calls on the government to build necessary cycling infrastructure in Sarajevo. Apart from these activities, I also spend a lot of time riding my bicycle and training for cross-country and road racing competitions as a member of cycling team GIRO. My business idea arose from my involvement in the world of cycling from different aspects and which enabled me to recognize a rising need for specific type of bicycles on the market. This type of bicycle is a perfect solution for the problem of stressful traffic jams and lack of parking spots in the cities. We are talking about the bicycle that is very light, folding and which provides electric pedal assist. This type of bicycle can be combined with other means of transportation for longer trips thanks to its small size when folded. The idea is to establish a folding electric bicycles manufacturing in Bosnia and Herzegovina and to sell them in EU and later in the rest of the countries that need this type of product.

2. How did you come across idea that you would develop something on your own, not trying to just ‘find a job’?

There is one quote I really like and it says: “It’s hard to say if warriors are born, or made by circumstances.” I believe that I was born with entrepreneurial spirit which was sharpened by the circumstances. During my high school education and summer vacations I worked in one bicycle shop here in Sarajevo and that was really important experience for me for two reasons. The first reason is that I was working there pretty long and hard for a low salary and I found out that if I put the same effort in doing something for myself, for my own company, I could accomplish much more and build my own dream, not someone else’s; and the second reason is that through the conversations with our customers I found out about their real needs and the problems that existing bicycles don’t solve. Then I enrolled to the faculty of economics and I found that I am not really going to get a lot of valuable knowledge there and that university degree is simply useless if you don’t combine it with something that is from the “real” world, such as a start-up company. And at the end of the day, the best thing in life is to find a thing you are passionate about and then find a way how to make money out of it, not the other way around, and I realised that my “thing” are bicycles.

3. Did you attend any entrepreneurship programs before?
I did attended some entrepreneurship programs in my country. The most important one is Bizoo start-up accelerator, which is lead by one successful entrepreneur, and we can really learn a lot from him.

4. Where did you learn about our course? What got your attention?
I found about this course through the advert and I recognized a great opportunity for meeting people and spreading my business network, which is one of the most important things for running a successful business.

5. What was most useful and beneficial for you attending the course?

As I mentioned in the last answer, the most useful for me was meeting the people who are just like me and who want to do something different, not to be just another brick in the wall and I believe that we can help each other to accomplish our goals.

6. Have you before attending our course ever considered looking for investor abroad? In the UK?

I considered looking for investor abroad even before this course, but it was almost like mission impossible since I live in a country that many people from abroad cannot even find on the map and this project offered me that possibility to meet and talk to some of them.

7. What kind of support would you now most need?
My bicycle project is at the prototyping stage now and so far, I financed the development with my savings. To build a couple of prototypes is going to cost a bit more than I can provide by myself and in order to cover those costs I will have to find small investment. After that stage, my project just as almost all the others from Bosnia needs support in promotion in target countries.

On the second panel, " Western Balkans: Development aid – aid for countries and/or economy?", which was organized by the Centre for European Perspective in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Mitja Štrukelj, Director General for International Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid at Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Franci But from the office of Minister for foreign Affairs, Gašper Jež, Director of the Centre for International Cooperation and Development and dr. Boštjan Udovič from the Faculty of Social Sciences, participated. The panel was moderated by dr. Gorazd Justinek, Executive Director of the Centre for European Perspective.

Centre for European Perspective (CEP) is for the first time organising a generic pre-deployment training within the network of European Security and Defence College (ESDC).

Participants from Canada, Denmark, France, Greece and Norway are taking part in a four day training between 26 and 29 May in Brussels. The training will provide civilian experts with the basic knowledge and soft skills required for deployment to an international crisis management mission, irrespective of the specific functions they fulfil in the field. At the end of the training, participants will have acquired knowledge about conflict prevention and crisis management, EU structures in charge of Common Security and Defence Policy, security sector reform, cross cutting issues related to mission work (inter-cultural issues, gender affairs, code of conduct, etc.) as well as risk assessment and security issues.

CEP has been for the last 5 years very active in the field of civilian crisis management trainings within the Europe’s New Training Initiative for Civilian Crisis Management (ENTRi) and is expanding its work with the cooperation with the European Security and Defence College (ESDC), which was established in 2005 with the aim of providing strategic-level education in European Security and Defence Policy, now Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP).

USPOSABLJANJE ZA STROKOVANJAKE, KI SE BODO PRIDRUŽILI SVOP MISIJAM EVROPSKE UNIJE

Center za evropsko prihodnost (CEP) prvič organizira generično pred-napotitveno usposabljanje pod okriljem Evropske akademije za varnost in obrambo (European Security and Defence College - ESDC).

Udeleženci iz Kanade, Danske, Francije, Grčije in Norveške sodelujejo na štiri dnevnem usposabljanju, ki se odvija med 26. in 29. majem v Bruslju. Na usposabljanju bodo udeleženci pridobili osnovna znanja in veščine, ki jih potrebujejo za sodelovanje na mednarodnih misijah civilnega kriznega upravljanja, ne glede na njihove funkcije in položaje, ki jih bodo opravljali v misiji. Ob koncu usposabljanja bodo udeleženci podrobneje poznali krizno upravljanje in upravljanje za preprečevanje konfliktov, EU strukture, ki usmerjajo skupno varnostno in obrambno politiko (SVOP), spoznali reforme varnostnega sektorja, razumeli številna horizontalna vprašanja (medkulturno sodelovanje, enakost spolov, kodeks ravnanja – Code of conduct), kot tudi analizo rizika in različna varnostna tveganja. 

CEP je bil zadnjih pet let zelo aktiven na področju usposabljanja civilnih strokovnjakov, ki odhajajo ali že delujejo v civilnih misijah, in sicer v okviru konzorcija ENTRi (Europe’s New Training Initiative for Civilian Crisis Management), ki ga v večini financira Evropska komisija. Z izvedbo generičnega pred-napotitvenega usposabljanja si CEP širi krog sodelovanja z ESDC, ki je bil leta 2005 ustanovljen z namenom zagotavljanja izobraževanja strateške ravni evropske varnostne in obrambne politike (EVOP), ki se sedaj imenuje skupna varnostna in obrambna politika (SVOP).