Fojnica's "MS&WOOD" to open 100 new jobs by end of 2015

Bosnia and Herzegovina's furniture industry MASTERS&WOOD ("Majstori i Drvo") will employ 100 new workers by the end of this year at its furniture factory in Fojnica, it was announced from this company, reports the Bosnian news agency Patria.

Last year, through an initiative by this company, a Secondary Wood Processing School was founded in Fojnica. On this occasion, the factory in Fojnica was visited today by students of this school together with its director Merima Sijarić, as well as the Mayor of Fojnica Municipality Salkan Merdžanić, and students and professors from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Sarajevo, led by the head of the Department for Mechanical Wood Processing, Prof. Dr. Izet Horman.

On that occasion, the company's director Muhamed Pilav awarded two scholarships each to students and pupils. The scholarships were awarded to students Sanita Fejzić and Emir Polutan, and pupils Amer Spahić and Haris Ibrić.

- We have managed to meet strict quality standards on world markets, so we are currently in a phase of expanding capacity, which also includes new hiring. For now, we are forced to finance retraining for the workers we need ourselves. This can be an example of cooperation between business and the local community for the purpose of development, precisely in underdeveloped areas. All these young people will have jobs in this factory when they finish their education. The best students as engineers, very good ones as technicians, and the rest as carpenters. We produce furniture that, under the label "Made in B&H", is almost entirely exported worldwide - said Pilav.

He emphasized that in this way they want to send a message that the future of our development is in our hands, and that we must invest in the generations to come.

- That is why it is important to educate young people for the labor market and jobs in the real sector, not for employment bureaus - said Director Pilav.

Last year, MASTERS&WOOD produced and placed on foreign markets through the world's largest sales chains over 300,000 chairs, tables and other furniture.

MS&WOOD employs over 200 workers. The furniture produced in Fojnica is exported to 42 countries, on all continents of the world, and is on sale from Japan, through EU countries, to the United States of America. One of the most significant partners of this Bosnia and Herzegovina furniture industry is the world's largest furniture manufacturer and retail chain, Sweden's IKEA.