Diaspora Experts Knowledge Sharing Programme: Technology

Uvaženi predstavnici kompanija članica ABSL-a i sektora globalnih poslovnih servisa,

Zadovoljstvo nam je podijeliti sa Vama informaciju da će se u sklopu saradnje ABSL-a i USAID projekta „Diaspora invest“ 26.09.2024. godine održati radionica u sklopu Diaspora Experts Knowledge Sharing programa.

Cjelodnevnu radionicu će voditi gospodin Adnan Behmen na temu Technology: How to implement true and long-lasting digitalization/automation for your clients (within company or your customers)

Datum: 26.09.2024
Vrijeme: 09:00 – 16:00
Lokacija: SYS Edukacijski Centar, Zmaja od Bosne 12c

Učešće možete potvrditi do 19.09.2024.godine

Više o mentoru i programu:

Adnan Behmen je Senior IT direktor u kompaniji Procter & Gamble, gdje vodi i usmjerava visokoperformantne timove koji transformiraju poslovanje kroz tehnološke inovacije i implementacije. Sa preko 25 godina iskustva u IT sektoru, Adnan ima dokazanu historiju implementacije složenih, velikih i globalnih projekata koji omogućavaju rast, efikasnost i sigurnost P&G-a. Osim toga, njegova misija je koristiti svoje znanje iz SAP-a, unapređenja procesa, upravljanja projektima i IT sigurnosti kako bi pokretao digitalnu transformaciju i inovacije u P&G-u i šire.

Registrujte se putem linka: https://forms.office.com/e/DtWwrqLQ8J

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Make your story stand out: Participate in the ABSL BiH Country Report 2024

Dear members of the global business services sector,

We invite you to participate in the ABSL BiH Country Report 2024!

The previous editions of the ABSL BiH Country Report were a huge success, showcasing Bosnia and Herzegovina at EXPO 2020 Dubai and the World Economic Forum in Davos. Now, we invite YOU to be part of the 2024 edition!

Join us in highlighting the strengths and opportunities within the Bosnian market. Contribute your insights and expertise, and gain unparalleled exposure as a thought leader in the global business services industry.

Interested in participating? Contact us at info@absl.ba , to secure your spot and make your mark in this influential publication.

Let’s collaborate to drive our collective success and put Bosnia and Herzegovinas business-services sector on the global business map!

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Diaspora Experts Knowledge Sharing Programme: Talent and Performance Management with Vernisa Rejhan

Dear representatives of ABSL member companies and the global business services sector,

We are pleased to inform you that as part of the collaboration between ABSL and the USAID project “Diaspora Invest,” a workshop will be held on August 21, 2024, as part of the Diaspora Experts Knowledge Sharing program.

The full-day workshop will be led by Ms. Vernisa Rejhan on the topic of Talent and Performance Management.

Date: August 21, 2024
Time: 09:00 – 16:00
Location: HTEC Sarajevo, Maglajska 1

You can confirm your participation by August 19, 2024 by using the following link

More about the mentor and program:

Vernisa Rejhan has over 13 years of experience in coaching, training, and project management. She is currently the Talent and Performance Manager at Softhouse Consulting, a leading provider of software development and IT consulting services. Vernisa is a certified Scrum Master and a passionate advocate of lean and agile principles and practices, which she applies to deliver value to clients and teams across various domains and industries.

Her mission is to enable and empower people and organizations to achieve their goals and maximize their potential by providing them with the tools, techniques, and support needed to improve their processes, performance, and culture. She has successfully led and supported strategic and tactical initiatives and projects in areas such as operations, administration, and IT, resulting in increased efficiency, quality, and customer satisfaction. Vernisa is actively involved in various social and professional networks and forums, such as the Foundation for the Future of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Leaders Tribe, where she shares her knowledge and insights with other leaders and learners.

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Support for BPO companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina

ABSL Bosnia and Herzegovina is delighted to announce that for the very first time companies within the BPO sector have been given the opportunity to receive financial support from the government!

Within the support program for small businesses in Sarajevo Canton for 2021, two public calls were published in order to support training and new employment in the sectors of BPO and IT.

The total available funds for the two public calls amount to 640.000BAM500.000BAM are planned to support IT entrepreneurship while 140.000BAM are going to support employment in the field of administrative export-oriented services – the BPO sector.

The maximum amount of funds that can be awarded to one company through these calls is 70.000BAM (IT sector) or 35.000 (BPO sector). In the case of both open calls, companies are expected to employ a certain number of new employees, for a minimum period of one year. Incentive per new employee equals to 10.000BAM or 7.0000BAM, depending on the sector in question.

Criteria for applying to these public calls, the method for application evaluation and the application forms can be found on the website of the Ministry of Economy of Sarajevo Canton – IT sector / BPO sector.

In order to ensure needed support and to encourage IT and BPO companies to participate in these public calls, the Ministry of Economy of Sarajevo Canton, in cooperation with ABSL Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Bit Alliance, will hold a public online presentation.

The presentation will focus on experiences of similar public calls, frequent application mistakes and on providing technical support to companies during the process of application preparation. The participants will also get the opportunity to familiarize themselves with other relevant and useful open calls, benefiting their sectors.

The joint presentation is scheduled to take place on Thursday, July 22nd 2021 (from 14:00PM to 16:00PM) and all interested companies are kindly invited to join in via Zoom.

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The first ABSL BiH Business Service Leaders Talk

As a significant result in 2020 and a visible contribution to the development of the business services industry in Bosnia and Herzegovina, ABSL BiH has prepared and published the first Annual Country Report for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Potential investors, members of ABSL in Bosnia and Herzegovina and other ABSL locations (Poland, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Romania and Latvia), international organizations and employers were introduced to numerous opportunities found within the local market in the form of companies, services, resources and competencies.

Our country’s potential in terms of talent, expertise and market advantages was highlighted throughout the report, with special focus on successful BiH companies within the industry.

The ABSL BiH team is certain that this report will positively affect the perception of the BiH market as an attractive business destination and make a key contribution to the development of this industry in Southeast Europe.

In order to promote the Report, to present ABSL BiH activities for 2021 and to encourage synergy between current and future ABSL members and foreign stakeholders, ABSL BiH is organizing the ABSL BiH Business Service Leaders Talk – first in a series of online panel discussions with industry experts!

The panel will encourage further discussions thematically related to current trends in the business services industry, and the importance of the location of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Western Balkans.

Speakers joining us for the day are:

Tomislav Glavaš (CEO of M + Connect)

Jacek Levernes (Honorary President of ABSL Poland)

Dino Ibrahimović (Managing Director of MENA Infobip)

The online panel discussion will be held on 11th March 2021, from 9:00 to 10:15 a.m., via Microsoft Teams.
You are kindly invited to participate for free by following this link!

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Nadina Gradaščević becomes VP of International Relations at ABSL Management Board

Nadina Gradaščević is an executive consultant, business and leadership coach with 15 years of international experience in driving and managing sales and business development, pioneering new concepts and products, and advising leading global companies (DAX 30, STOXX 50, FTSE, ATX) and clients from 30+ countries. Thought leader and astute strategist with an extensive cross-cultural experience and unique drive for excellence. She is a co-founder of the Association Business Women of Bosnia and Herzegovina and a founder of Women in Leadership community, which aims to bring together high-potential women and support their personal and professional development while encouraging them to explore new paths of leadership and become an outstanding leader. Nadina is committed to the development of sustainable and future-oriented leadership culture and to intercultural understanding in global business. She is passionate about building international business communities, raising leadership awareness, and promoting excellence through leadership.

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The first ABSL BiH Country Report teaser is out!

In order to achieve the first visible contribution to the outsourcing industry in Bosnia and Herzegovina, ABSL BiH has been meticiously working on the creation of the first ever ABSL Annual Report covering the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina!

In general ABSL reports offer a comprehensive overview of the business and outsourcing services sector within a country’s market, an overview of digital tools and strategies used by domestic companies in order to achieve competitive advantage, an overview of innovation levels and global reach of companies within the market and they also provide insight into the current labor market situation.

They are a direct result of an extensive survey conducted among ABSL members and an independent research conducted across the entire sector.

The ABSL Report is the go-to publication used by investors, during the process of planning an expansion of their business within new markets, specifically across territories of the country whose market was covered by the said report.

We plan to publish the first report in a couple of months’ time, in September 2020, until then download the Teaser Report and take a peek at what awaits you!

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The First ABSL Webinar

In the midst of the COVID-19 situation that has impacted the whole world, we have managed to adapt and to transform the previously planned lecture into a digital format. Together with our colleagues from PwC, on March 31th 2020, we organized the very first ABSL Webinar!

“VAT treatment of professional services in accordance with the Law on VAT in BiH” was the theme of this webinar and it was elaborated by Alisa Šehović, tax consultant working for PricewaterhouseCoopers Tax and Advisory.

Our first digital session, hosted on the Google Hangouts platform, covered several useful and interesting topics, especially relevant for companies working within or cooperating with the BFSI sector. Ms. Šehović sucessfully managed to start an important conversation and offered valuable insights to representatives of 25 companies.

Within the hour long webinar, our lecturer talked about the general and special rules of taxation of services within the VAT system in BiH, taxation of services under the EU Directives, accounting and tax treatment in case of services received from abroad and answered all additional questions posed by the attendees. All of the attendees received the webinar recording and were also encouraged to send any questions they might come accross after reviewing the recording.

In conclusion, the first ABSL Webinar was rated as extremely useful and relevant and we managed to provoke active interest of the present profesionals, who expressed their interest in future similar events and suggested possible future conversation topics, relevant to the sectors within which they operate.

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The first constituent meeting of the ABSL BiH Strategic Board was held in Sarajevo

The Association of Business Service Leaders in Bosnia and Herzegovina (ABSL) is the leading organization within the business services sector. It was established primarily to represent the business interests of all domestic companies that offer their services to foreign markets, to assist in expanding the scope of business of these companies within the domestic and foreign markets, to allocate new clients and to improve the business environment and legal framework within this industry.

After many years of successful activity across the territories of Poland, Romania, Latvia, Switzerland and the Czech Republic, the Association formally commenced operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2019.

In these locations across Europe, ABSL represents over 500 leading business service centers with over 700.000 employees, while ABSL BiH currently has 30 members with over 2.500 employees.

The first constituent meeting of the Strategic Board was held on February 27, 2020 at the premises of Sys Company d.o.o. The meeting was attended by the representatives of Deloitte, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, DDC MLS, M + Group, Infobip, DVC Solutions, Alfa Energy, Sys Company, Storsen and the members of the ABSL Management Board.

The Strategic Board will do its best to represent the interests and unify the requirements of ABSL and its members, in order for them to be presented to key partners in governmental and non-governmental organizations as well as to potential association members.

During the first held session, a plan of work for 2020 was presented alongside a recommendation to create a strategy for the period 2020-2025., in accordance with ABSL principles. First ABSL Club activities have also been announced – a BFSI Club Workshop in cooperation with PwC BiH is planned for March, while a HR Club Workshop is planned for April.

ABSL invites all companies that offer business services to foreign markets (IT, design, architectural and accounting services, support and contact centers, etc.) to seize the opportunity and secure their free membership for 2020, to participate and contribute to the creation of the business services industry, and to become an important part of this community in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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Phil Randazzo: Sarajevo looks like a small growing Silicon Valley

Phil Randazzo, former Deputy Director of Innovation Sector at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), recently visited Sarajevo to evaluate the innovation potential in BiH.

As a member of the Transformers Roadshow jury – the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) competition held in Sarajevo in 2019, with the support of Bosnia Bank International (BBI) d.d. Sarajevo, Randazzo had the opportunity to talk to Bosnian innovators. He highlighted the potential that Bosnia and Herzegovina has and his beliefs that our country and Sarajevo may become a small growing Silicon Valley.

“We saw fifteen different presenters at the finals of the IsDB Transformers Roadshow competition in Sarajevo and they did a fantastic job. They were creative, energetic and had great ideas. Some were more advanced than others, but they presented really well, concisely and I was really impressed by the freshness in the quality of the ideas and how they are connected to help their fellow citizens and humanity. And I saw here in Sarajevo this creative energy, this community of innovators and it looks like a small growing Silicon Valley. I think you have a lot of talent and it’s just a matter of nurturing that talent in the future and helping them to thrive from the idea to the implementation,” says Randazzo.

Fil Randazzo is currently Founder and CEO Leverage Science. Leverage Science is currently helping investors and innovators identify big ideas and turn them to reality. Previously, Fil served as a Deputy Director at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). During his 12+ year tenure at BMGF, he actively participated in its rapid growth from a small startup to a 1500 employee institution. Fil co-launched and co-managed the Grand Challenges in Global Health Initiative, which in 2005 established the standard on how BMGF sources, funds and manages innovation. Fil directly managed a $600M investment portfolio which spanned areas such as health, agriculture, education, and policy. His portfolio included some of BMGF’s biggest success stories. From 1994-2004, Fil served a variety of scientific roles at the Chiron Corporation in Emeryville CA. He earned a Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular and Development Biology at Indiana University, Bloomington and B.S. in Microbiology and Anthropology from the University of Notre Dame.

“I would urge the young people of Bosnia and Herzegovina to keep their passion and not give up their ideas. I can tell you that you have a real community in BiH, where they care about retaining talent. Everyone is proud of the talent that toured the world, but you you have a lot of talent here. The community is building an ecosystem of innovation and I see what you do through example with BBI Bank and others, you are really trying to build that community. You can build this future here. This is a place where a quality future can be built. Many great Bosnians live all over the world and my recommendation is to turn to the diaspora for help and mentoring. I am sure they would love to help entrepreneurs and build that community, work with fellow entrepreneurs to help each other grow together, “explains Dr. Randazzo.

This was his first visit to Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and when he learned that he was going to see innovators and scientists in the Bosnian capital, his first association with Sarajevo was the 14th Winter Olympic Games.

“I remember the 1984 Olympics. I knew Sarajevo was the true center of culture and I knew about war, but I also knew it was a really nice place. People talk about Sarajevo that is a nice place to visit. I walked through the streets and could see clearly why people talk so beautifully and warmly about Sarajevo. It is a really important center in Eastern Europe with a lot of history, a lot of pride, a lot of culture and mixing of cultures, and actually mixing culture is the key to innovation. Innovation involves taking different ideas from different places and bringing them together … This is usually the place where innovation comes from – Cultures mix. And you have that foundation, so use that, “he added.

During his stay in the Bosnian capital, Randazzo made sure that the true stories of Sarajevo as a soul-filled city were true:

“Yes, there is really this Sarajevo’s spirit. I’ll give you an example. I drink Coca-Cola diet and went out to buy it, but I didn’t have Bosnian money, only dollars and a credit card. I went into a small store and searched Coke Zero and I asked the merchant if they were receiving dollars or a credit card. The merchant handed me a Coca-Cola and told me to take it. He didn’t charge me; he just gave it to me. It was something kindest I saw and for me, it was amazing. People should know how generous, warm and kind people are here”, Randazzo stressed out.

During his 12 years at BMGF, Randazzo has managed a diverse portfolio of investments and projects worth more than $ 600 million.

“Some of the programs I have supported and are coming to an end have been created as ideas when I started working at the Foundation in 2005. I left the Foundation in 2017. They started out as small ideas just like the ideas I saw today here in Sarajevo, with innovators and a short, compelling speech that has a background. They have reached the stage where they have been tested and evaluated. For example, mosquitoes, which commonly transmit dengue, Chikungunya fever, yellow fever and Zika virus, have affected three hundred million people around the world. Scientists in Australia have come up with the idea that if they could infect these mosquitoes with bacteria found in other insects, the transmission of these diseases could be stopped. And now, after nearly fifteen years, technology seems to be delivering, it has been deployed to an area of ​​five million people, where five million people are now protected by this technology. It is hoped that in the next five to ten years an additional hundred million people will be protected from these diseases, mainly over a forty-year period. It’s really exciting for me to help innovators in the development process from idea to implementation.”

That, he says, was his inspiration to start the Leverage Science company where he currently works.

“I spent 10 years studying biotechnology in the San Francisco Bay area, and then spent twelve and a half years at the BMGF Foundation, and during that period of time, I learned a lot about science, technology and innovation, how to move from idea to impact, but and how to fund those ideas. So, what I like to do now is help donors identify great ideas and projects, and then come up with ideas where they can help save lives, change the world for the better, and use technology for good purposes. I enjoy helping entrepreneurs and innovators bring their ideas to the goal. So, I love helping out on both sides, and helping overcome unique transformational ideas, ones that really make a huge difference, I love finding them and helping them to make it a reality, “Randazzo noted.

Source: www.klix.ba

 

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