Nura Eston is in charge of maintenaning strong relationships with partners, such as HSBC, CIBC and National Bank of Canada. Even though she doesn’t have a stronger connection with Bosnia and Herzegovina, in fact she doesn’t even have Bosnian-Herzegovinian citizenship, Nura thinks of BiH as her home country. She was inspired to get more involved in the promotion of BiH in Toronto after visiting her home country 10 years ago.

“I did not grow up in the BH community in Toronto. My connection with BiH was established after a visit in 2003 when I really felt a strong connection with the people and the country. I started learning more about culture, music, and my origins right after that trip,” said Nura.

"There are many obstacles. As in our country, the diaspora is also divided, mostly based on religious factors. Sometimes it is hard to find a relevant public, to gather people together for positive initiatives and aims. The collaboration within our community in Toronto is pretty limited, we connect very rarely on a level of professional cooperation. Instead, we mostly spend time with people from the same circle of acquaintances," adds Nura.

Nura Eston decided to join the association Restart in 2016, when an initiative was started focussing on the professional business networking of BiH diaspora members around the world. In 2017, Nura organized, in cooperation with Restart, a business networking event for the BiH community in Toronto.

"Sometimes it feels like the only way to gather our diaspora is by organizing a concert, but we tried something different," explained Nura.

Together with her sister Amanda, Nura has brought together over 300 women in celebrating women's day annually. With an increasing number of educated women within our community, Nura strongly believes that their involvement is needed in discussions regarding challenges the bh. diaspora is facing right now.

“Our generation often sends a message – we have something good to say,” says Nura, who believes that young people, and especially women, are often left out of the discussion of ‘difficult topics’.

"Every year we see new and positive initiatives, like the BiH Diasporic Conference, which takes place annually in a different city in North America. Another great initiative is the Bosnian-American Professionals Association. Women play a crucial role in both initiatives, illustrating great progress from former practices."

The bh. diaspora will be part of the Reconnect2018 event in Sarajevo this August, with the association Restart and the USAID project Diaspora Invest focussing on professional networking of business initiatives, investors and new development projects. Nura Eston will provide her support through work with communities in Canada again this year.

"Every member of our diaspora has different expectations. Some people see Bosnia and Herzegovina as their annual holiday destination, while others are thinking about changes to the political system. For me, it's important to start bringing people together, and for now, we can do this based on a topic that addresses us all: economic development and reducing unemployment," she states.

Nura Eston spends her volunteer time talking to people who are interested in investing in BiH, explaining to them that now is the time.

“Bosnia and Herzegovina have well-educated and qualified staff, who are waiting for the right opportunity. I am telling potential investors that they can save their money by starting a business in BiH without losing the quality of their products and services. We can take a positive step forward in BiH through joint efforts. Therefore, it's important to work with entrepreneurs on that path and share positive stories about their success,” noted Eston.

Bosnian and Herzegovinians have an outstandingly good image in Canada, and fullfilling lives. What is missing is a little stronger connection and more trust in BiH, its institutions, companies and professionals. And we, who are originally from BiH, need to figure out how to get that trust back and to encourage at least 10 per cent of the two (2) million bh. diaspora members to actively contribute to the economic transformation of the country by creating strong professional connections. Our diaspora can do a lot for Bosnia and Herzegovina, but we need to find a way to make this cooperation beneficial for both sides.

The article was translated from Diaspora Invest.