Dino Žuđelović returned to BiH: I believe it is worth investing in this country!

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Dino Žuđelović was born in Sarajevo in 1985. During the war, as a young boy, he fled to France. His story restores faith in the return of young and successful people from abroad to their homeland. Žuđelović today lives and works in Sarajevo, where he returned with his wife and three children after nearly two decades of life abroad.

"Before the war, I lived in Dobrinja, I was seven years old when the war started. I remember seeing from the window that my friends were leaving. In the first few months, we fled Sarajevo. My father and I lived in Paris for the first period, and then we went to the south of France. Dad quickly found a job, and I immediately continued with my education. I didn't know a word of French, but I adapted quickly. I remember I was good at math, and when I later mastered the language in four to five months, everything became easier. After a year we returned to the Paris region, where I spent most of my childhood," begins his story Žuđelović.

In 2005, he moved to Southampton in the United Kingdom, where he continued his higher education. There he completed his studies in marketing, and earned a master's degree in management and finance. 

"I worked for several years in sales, where I had the opportunity to collaborate with well-known global brands. Over time, I gained experience in energy consulting and was no longer dependent on the location
of work, so we made the decision to try and return to Bosnia," Dino recounts. 

"Life in Bosnia and Herzegovina has many advantages when it comes to working conditions, but also challenges. I understand people who live abroad, think about returning, but still cannot make such a decision due to various circumstances," Dino continues.

"People living abroad have a desire to return, but it is difficult to create the preconditions for return. When I returned, we got used to life in the country in about a year. We realized it made sense, that we wanted to stay and live here. Then I thought about how to invest money, in a business that has a combination of ideas and tangible assets. I wanted to understand what makes sense to do in Bosnia. I researched foreign markets. 

I met people, talked, and looked for some good business solutions," adds Dino.

The advantage of our country is the cost of labor and proximity to the European Union; there are opportunities for business development where a high degree of automation has not yet been developed, i.e., where there is a need for human hands. However, there are challenges in business development.

"In Bosnia and Herzegovina, there are many things you cannot expect, at least when it comes to the way business is managed. And that is why an important thing was to make a decision to find a business partner, who had more experience. The conditions were that this person already successfully runs another company, that they understand how the system works, that I have a sense of honesty in that person. Of course, when you find all that, it is important to you that this person is ready for cooperation. The path led me to my partner Adi, and somehow the idea developed that through this process we would have a final product, under the brand 'Industriala'. We defined our direction towards the development of industrial design products, which would be high-end, thus oriented towards higher-value products and therefore towards the international market," Dino recounts.

Today they are working on preparing a showroom for the promotion of closed-type products. They have good feedback on the furniture prototype. The company "Industrial" has also been recognized through the USAID project
"Diaspora Invest". 

"We want to do everything gradually, so there are no mistakes. You need to work with more risk, develop an original product. Let's make our product something that leaves an impression. To be different, unique in
design. I have not regretted returning. I hope we will be successful in developing this idea. Wherever you are in the world, everyone's priority is to have a job and be able to support their family," Dino concludes.