Euromodul Schweiz AG with seat in Zofingen offers modular construction solutions and urban equipment from a joint production of Euromodul d.o.o. Croatia and Euromodul d.o.o. Serbia. This company is the leading producer of urban equipment, kiosks and public toilets in Croatia and Serbia and was awarded various international and domestic prizes for innovations, design and corporate development.

Euromodul Schweiz AG, the first West European member of the Euromodul Ltd. Group, offers its own market programme and has its own delivery logistics for products such as kiosks, containers, pre-fabricated garages and canopies, public toilet facilities, advertising posts and billboards and various other products needed in public space. Purchasing partners in Switzerland are majority state-owned institutions and trade and construction companies, hospitals and public services. This company is also organising the logistics for the transport of goods between the Balkan countries and Switzerland by means of its own vehicles that transport goods both for Euromodul and other companies.

''All of this may sound good, but it was really necessary to work a lot and have the courage to do the impossible'', says Teufik Delić, ''and one has to continue working on it! Market conditions are continuously changing and we have to adapt, maintain the company's position and develop it further. For us it is now very important that the business in Switzerland and in the Balkans is continuing in order to maintain for a while the current position and that legal entities can operate a bit more hassle-free and then we will certainly continue expanding our market and production capacities''.

The operations of Euromodul are specific due to the fact that the whole production takes place in the Balkans, whereas the headquarters in Switzerland are in charge of preparing contracts, making preparations for the production, monitoring and project implementation. ''I can say that we are the first Balkan brand that is directly represented in the European market. There are many companies in the Balkans producing for the European market, but they are delivering their products under another brand. We, on the other hand, are producing and selling goods directly under the original brand and I believe that this is very important for companies in the Balkans, which had also been our long-term goal that we managed to achieve'', says Teufik Delić with evident satisfaction.

Cooperation between Euromodul from Switzerland and Radial from Bosnia and Herzegovina

The cooperation with the company Radial d.o.o. from Gračanica, which focuses on primary wood processing and production of construction formwork and sawn timber, has a special place when it comes to Teufik Delić's activities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Radial is specialised in the production of construction formwork, the production of which is quite demanding: ''After several meetings and analyses, we jointly decided to try selling these products and after conducting various sales meetings and trial deliveries, we received the first order, which was really not easy to do the first time, but we managed'', explains Teufik Delić, ''and then new offers ensued and the company started developing. Today, most of our delivery goes to Do It centres in Switzerland, Austria, Germany and the region of former Yugoslavia. We are proud of the fact that Radial has 130 employees!''

An interesting fact about the life of Teufik Delić is that he did not have any strong linkages with Bosnia and Herzegovina while he was growing up in Zurich, where he arrived in 1992 as an eleven-year old boy from Tuzla: ''I felt very welcome in Zurich and I immediately had an international group of friends, Iranians, Brazilians, Dominicans, and very few of them were from Bosnia and Herzegovina or the Balkans. My family, the largest part of which lives in Bosnia and Herzegovina, was criticising me, telling me that I was becoming estranged from Bosnia and Herzegovina, that I was forgetting the language, and I think that they were right. They tried to motivate me to sell products of a Bosnian company in Switzerland and they proposed it only in order to make me stay in touch with the language, family and country through the job. I liked it and it was some sort of a crossroads for me in order to reconnect with Bosnia and Herzegovina and to combine my two identities and these two regions in my work. This is still the case, I have contacts on a daily basis with both countries and my job is absolutely fulfilling''.

Teufik Delić is acquainted with the specific political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and its excessive red tape, but he does not see them as significant obstacles for doing business with companies from Bosnia and Herzegovina: ''Well, it can be as complicated as it gets, but we can solve it all. Of course, sometimes we have typical difficulties with banks, purchase of raw materials and malfunctions occur, all of that is normal in business, and we are facing such difficulties also in Switzerland. I do know that not everything is perfect in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but it is not that bad either. If one sees a certain potential in Bosnia and Herzegovina, why shouldn't he/she give it a try?! Bosnians are easy to motivate to work and do something creative. They like to work and create, and I really believe that they are good people and good workers. If they are motivated and encouraged, they create a lot, sacrifice themselves, are supportive, hard-working and wish to achieve something. There are various deficiencies when it comes to the economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina, we need more strategies and business intelligence to maintain the operations, because what sometimes happens is that a certain business develops, comes to a halt and then ceases to operate. We lack managers that are in charge of strategies and development''.

The economic situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina also involves a large number of unemployed persons, especially young persons that do not have sufficient access to apprenticeships during their education, adequate jobs and faster promotion to managerial positions. Teufik Delić would like to see more initiatives and individual ideas coming from young people themselves: ''They are not trying to make small steps first, but are rather thinking too much about what might happen someday. They cannot accept that they have to invest time and work to create something, that it happens gradually and that sometimes it even takes 10 years. But we cannot only blame young people for this. There is a generation clash, caused by the fact that the old generation is trying to maintain the old times. For example, managers in Switzerland encourage young people willing to work, young people that have the energy and motivation. They teach them and give them opportunities. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, on the other hand, the old generation is afraid that young people will come and push them aside. They are thus too reluctant to encourage them to progress. We might be facing a clash of generations in Bosnia and Herzegovina''.

Teufik Delić believes that Bosnia and Herzegovina has excellent potentials and that they can be used very well. In his opinion, such potentials include a wide range of raw materials, cheap labour force, low energy costs and export-oriented production. He is also of the opinion that the role of Bosnian diaspora can be much more important and active: ''Bosnia and Herzegovina should stop seeing the diaspora as migrant workers. We now have well-educated and successful persons in Switzerland, who make part of the decision-making economic structures. You can see last names ending in ''ić'' everywhere now, in various economic, scientific and cultural spheres. We are now able to transfer the Swiss knowledge about business operations and planning. Such human resources can transfer Swiss knowledge, practice and business-related information. We have to get in touch with such persons and connect them to businessmen in Bosnia and Herzegovina''.

Teufik Delić has the intention to stay living in Switzerland with his family, but he would like to maintain good linkages with Bosnia and Herzegovina and develop further the business cooperation between these two countries: ''I selected the most positive things from the Swiss and Bosnian identity, I have two mother tongues and I frequently say that I combined my two identities into one, something like 2 in 1! The economy has the greatest potentials to connect regions and people. We, Bosnians and Herzegovinians, are proving through the economy that we are a very good and positive people and good workers. One only has to find the mechanisms to bring all of these advantages to light and activate them. The economy develops common interests, profit and possibilities for a better life, which are factors that connect people, make them cooperate and produce. As a result, there is an interest in culture and the society, and this is how linkages are created''.

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Links:

Euromodul AG, Switzerland

Radial d.o.o., Bosnia and Herzegovina