Growing up in Sarajevo, Emir Pleh dreamt of becoming a professional motorcycle driver. He would complete studies in Information Systems and Economics, working his way through various corporate roles. His passion and entrepreneurial mindset led him to open one of Sarajevo’s most famous pub “Red Door”, all while building his corporate career and keep…

Željka Hassler- Product Design Manager at FleetioJoin us for a deep dive into UX design and AI with Željka Hassler, an experienced design expert. Learn about the important steps in creating software and hardware products, find out how AI adds value to the design process, and see how designers can keep users at the center even with AI. We'll also to…

Fedja Begovic, Chief of Party at USAID Developing Sustainable Tourism in Bosnia & Herzegovina (Turizam) ———————————— Every good story has a humble beginning, and Fedjas is no different.From the streets of Maglaj to spearheading one of Bosnia and Herzegovina's most ambitious tourism initiatives, Fedja Begovic's journey embodies the spirit of his hom…

Amila Pita, Senior Director of Client Success at HTEC Group Inc. ————————————Our vision is to position the Futures Leaders Summit as the leading platform in the country for ongoing collaboration between young STEM leaders, the local economy and the global community with the aim of creating the next generation of changemakers that will transform Bos…

Zlatko Tanovic, CEO and Co-Founder Gazzda ————————————Our vision is to position the Futures Leaders Summit as the leading platform in the country for ongoing collaboration between young STEM leaders, the local economy and the global community with the aim of creating the next generation of changemakers that will transform Bosnia and Herzegovina int…

Edin Skaljic, FabLab BiH, Founder Digital Innovation Hub 'Digital Storm' ————————————Our vision is to position the Futures Leaders Summit as the leading platform in the country for ongoing collaboration between young STEM leaders, the local economy and the global community with the aim of creating the next generation of changemakers that will trans…

Paul Cronin, Managing Director & CEO at Adriatic Metals | https://www.adriaticmetals.com/————————————Our vision is to position the Futures Leaders Summit as the leading platform in the country for ongoing collaboration between young STEM leaders, the local economy and the global community with the aim of creating the next generation of changemakers…

Welcome to "EmpowerHER: Mostar"s Trailblazer in Brussels" podcast that unveils the inspiring journey of Elma Orucevic, women hailing from the picturesque city of Mostar, and her remarkable experience working in the heart of European politics in Brussels. In this podcast we delve into the personal narratives tracing her footsteps from her early life…

Join us for an insightful conversation with Selma, an experienced professional in the automotive industry. We explore her international journey, her decision to return to Bosnia, and the evolution of her knowledge in automotive development. Discover the concept of agile development, its impact on innovation and efficiency, and recent advancements i…

The theme of "Leading by Example: How Volunteering can Champion Change" emphasizes the power of volunteerism as a catalyst for positive change in communities. It highlights the significance of leaders who inspire and motivate others through their selfless acts of volunteering. By setting an example through their own volunteer efforts, leaders can g…

Continuing on the previous episode, we are still asking the same questions. What makes a company future-ready? What do executives and founders do to enable their companies to respond to challenges? As a part of our annual event, the Futures Leaders Summit, we had the opportunity to interview leaders of some of the most interesting companies in the …

What makes a company future-ready? What do executives and founders do to enable their companies to respond to challenges? As a part of our annual event, the Futures Leaders Summit, we had the opportunity to interview leaders of some of the most interesting companies in the field of engineering and IT in BIH and talk about these topics and much more…

Futures Voices special episode to conclude 2021 focuses on our annual conference "Futures Leaders Summit". As part of this episode we speak to four incredible individuals representing four different organisation and four different sectors. Muamer Babajic, CEO and founder of DKR German Robotics Centre in Tuzla speaks to us about his journey and the …

How many of us can say that we have worked for tech giants such as Google, PayPal, eBay and Roku? Better yet, how many people do you know that passed on a career in classical singing to conquer the tech industry? Well, Danijel Barač did exactly that and more. In 2003 he became the first employee from Bosnia & Herzegovina and one of the first from Y…

"Never allow fears to destroy your vision, prejudices to prevent you from growth, cruelty to embrace your heart, greed to haunt your mind, or tumble to shade your flare". Andrea Čordaš chose not to adhere to the social norm. She refused to let her surroundings (politics, tradition, polarised views) dictate her life or career. She grew up in Mostar …

Right place at the right time? One thing is for sure, when an opportunity arises, seize it! That is exactly what Sladjana Cosic did in the midst of the war in Bosnia & Herzegovina. At the mere age of 13, she became the radio show host on the first private radio in Tuzla, Radio Kameleon. Working for the radio during the war gave Sladjana a meaningfu…

What is culture shock? For some of us it is going to an exotic country. Yet for Emir Hrnjic, the biggest culture shock was moving from one part of his hometown of Sarajevo, where he dodged shells and sniper fire, to another, considered “free territory”. With a promise of a scholarship to study in Malaysia, in 1994 he escaped besieged Sarajevo via a…

Most of us who watched the Tokyo Olympics were in awe at the athleticism and multiculturalism, but we probably didn’t give too much thought to the thousands of incredible professionals that made the Olympics happen in the most difficult times. One of those people is Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Fedja Delalic, the Technology and Energy Manager at the Inte…

Wouldn't we all want to know what it is like to work at Netflix? Melita Kurtović is a Talent Operations Analyst at household entertainment name Netflix where she is combining art and science to equip the Human Resources teams with the tools, the knowledge and the data acumen to do their best work with our employees and candidates. However, Melita's…

When you are born and raised in Breza, a small town central Bosnia & Herzegovina town, reaching Oxford University to work with leading neuroscience researchers in better understanding the long-term effects of psychedelic drugs on neuroplasticity may seem impossible. Not for Merima Šabanović! She didn't allow her surroundings to limit her potential …

What does it take to succeed in a large multinational corporation? What are the characteristics of a good leader and what are the differences between coaching, mentoring and leading? Find out from Lejla Seperovic. She was born in Germany and has lived for a long time in Sydney, Australia but her roots in Travnik, Bosnia & Herzegovina ensured she ne…

There is probably no one today who hasn’t heard of the company AstraZeneca. We know of it from the media as one of the leading institutes producing vaccines to cope with COVID19. But did you know that Bosnia & Herzegovina’s own Dino Oglić is applying artificial intelligence in discovering new drugs and improving processes? So what does an AI resear…

Meet the multi-award winning mathematician that ran 17 marathons and worked as a chef to support his family, while completing his Ph.D as a refugee in Canada. Veselin Jungić, 'Veso' as he is known to his friends, is a teaching professor at Simon Fraser University with more than forty years of experience. Prof. Jungic’s story is one of inspiration, …

You commence your university study and a war erupts. You find yourself on the front lines, questioning the world and where it's all leading to. You decide to take a chance, and in the middle of the war take up a scholarship to study engineering in Algeria! Amer Catovic’s life was turned upside down but his remarkable journey continued despite numer…

Namik Hrle was curious about everything and his passion for mathematics and computer science would lead him on a global journey. Today he is the Vice President at IBM Corporation, spearheading IBM’s Data and AI division. He is an IBM Fellow, the ultimate distinction of an IBM technical career given to a very small number of individuals who demonstr…

From growing up in Banja Luka to becoming the Senior Vice President of Deutsche Telekom today, Borislav Tadić has always known the importance of listening and taking action. With 20 years of experience in media, IT, networks, innovation and security in multinational companies, Borislav is not your everyday executive you might expect to meet. After …

As a 10-year-old boy, Dennis Savic wanted to build a motorcycle. Then, pretty soon, he decided: no, he wanted to build a motorcycle company. “By the time I was 14, it had become an obsession,” he says. “Everything I did was for this one goal – to create my own electric motorcycle brand.” Today, Savic Motorcycles is all about obsession: the obsessio…

Have you heard of language engineers? No worries, not many people are familiar with this profession, as it is very new. Dunja Veselinovic is one of the endemic people who compute around language. The story of Dunja Veselinovic shows the turnovers of life and the personal transformation. She graduated from the Grammar School in Sarajevo, Druga gimna…

How many of us can say that we played basketball against Mirza Teletovic, performed together with hip hop superstars Edo Maajka, Frenkie, Jala Brat, and presented on the same stage where Steve Jobs launched numerous products at Apple? Miralem Salihovic, also known as King Mire in the hip hop world, was passionate about technology and music but due …

Are you up for a game? Despite a difficult start, Kenan Huremovic graduated as a star of the Faculty of Math and Natural Sciences and got a position at the Sarajevo School of Economics. Finally, earning a decent living and having a secure job. Yet it didn’t make him happy, so he opted for another challenge. His interest shifted more to Economics an…

At the age of 17 he narrowly escaped with his life, when one of the two buses that was transporting refugees Zivinice, Bosnia & Herzegovina to Germany was bombed. His life would never be the same. Being haunted by images of war, he felt a mix of guilt and gratitude for the gift of life and woke up every morning in Germany to work at a factory while…

Growing up in the 1980s in the neighbourhood of Otoka, Sarajevo, Sejo who was a little boy then couldn’t have dreamed of becoming the owner of a consulting company in California. His story is a perfect example of not being afraid to make impromptu decisions and trusting your inner voice. Today Sejo Jahic is the owner of ECHO Technology Solutions, a…

He went to school wanting to be a politician in the US in order help Bosnia & Herzegovina but ended up working at Facebook designing the publishing user experience. This is the story of Meaz Hajdarovic, a political science graduate and self-taught user experience designer who took a very unconventional path to his true calling. He was born in Caplj…

Born and raised in Sarajevo, studied engineering and ended up as a globally recognised leader in the communication and advertising media world. The circumstances back at her home country set Gordana on a journey she had never envisaged. Today she is a marketing and advertising media professional with extensive experience in leading global clients a…

Someone said that science rewards you for every effort you put in. Adnan Mehonic is the real proof of it. He graduated in Electronic Engineering from the University of Sarajevo as the best student in the 2006-2009 cohort, receiving the Golden Badge award. He continued his education in London, finishing MSc in Nanotechnology at University College Lo…

Are you stuck in your career and think you have to be there forever? Then listen to the story of Milan Vručinić a senior consultant at Accenture, London, a fortune 500 company with revenues of $43.2 billion in 2019 and had 492,000 employees, serving clients in more than 120 countries. His life started in Lušci Palanka, in a small village in north-e…

Bosnia and Herzegovina is well-known for its rich natural resources, but also human potential. It is so common to hear in the news that young Bosnian-Herzegovinian talents won Math and Physics Olympic medals, who later land at top world universities. Is it luck, hard work or raw talent? Haris Brkic is a Math olympian who shared his experience with …

Listen to the story of a young lady who made it from a small village in Banja Luka to an Ivy League University! Ivana Devic spent her primary and secondary education in studying, competing at different school contests, but devoted her time to teach less privileged children. Life offered her an amazing opportunity to study at Dartmouth College as a …

There is no peak that can’t be conquered. Nina's life is worthy of a Hollywood movie about Adventure and Science as if it was written by Jules Verne personally. She grew up on Grmeč mountain in Bosnia & Herzegovina where she fell in love with mountains and nature. She survived a Taliban attack, lost a loved one, saved the life of a rugby player, re…

One day everything changes: suddenly an awful war erupts and you find yourself across the ocean over several different time zones. You can’t make things undone, but you can decide to impact and create the future. This is the story of Mizra Cifric who utilised all available opportunities of the “American Dream”. He co-founded Veritas, together with …

Degrees in Psychology, Spanish & Literature, Environmental, and Water Resources Engineering - sound like a random collection of topics? Well, it is everything but that! Azra Tanovic completed her education in the US and worked in organisations like Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) and EU supported projects. Having changed her New York address to Mos…

Kenya: doesn't it sound exotic? Dragana Marinkovic combined her background in International Relations and Public Policy with technology and business to green the planet and develop sustainable forestry at "Komaza". Her professional life evolved around different roles and while she managed to make her social science background an asset in contributi…

A Herzegovinian's life path made a sudden turnover and transformed his life. After years of "jobbing" around and hard work in the pursuit of education, he risked and said "yes" to a completely unexpected opportunity that took him to China where he became a Science teacher. Listen to his road to China where he works with students, while his heart st…

Maja Paleka is the co-founder and director of Juggle Strategies - an Australian consultancy that specialises in the capability and leadership development, as well as implementation of flexible working practices. She has almost 20 years experience in leadership roles across a variety of areas - engineering, operations and sales gained working in Can…

Mersiha Kovacevic is a learning designer at Mohamed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences in Dubai. She has a background in teaching and curriculum development in higher education in Saudi Arabia and the United States. She’s currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Leadership with a concentration in Adult Education and Online Learnin…

For over 10 years, Elma's passion is to empower people by creating simple and meaningful digital experiences. She is mentor at our Foundation, mother of three, and she also works at IKEA as Experience Design Lead, and Design Thinking is a big passion of hers. It is an innovation process by which new products and services are developed, and we talke…

Innovative and analytical clinical development professional with many years of experience in healthcare industry ranging from direct patient care to pharmaceutical industry. Almasa has been a lead clinical scientist on many Phase 1-3, pediatric, and post-marketing clinical trials and is responsible for the clinical strategy that enables new drug ap…

Artist, consultant, AI advisor for G7, futurist, TED speaker, engineer and then some. It is impossible to describe Michela with only one or two words, but we are glad to have her as a friend of our Foundation. Since her childhood, she has been involved in creative processes of architecture and design and she has not stopped ever since. We talked wi…

How often do you have an opportunity to talk with one Senior Radio Frequency Engineer? Vedran's life journey took him from Sarajevo in the 90s, over to Germany and Australia. Thanks to his dedication and hard work he has worked for some of the biggest telecommunications companies in the world, including Ericsson and Optus. He is also a mentor in ou…

Amir is someone who wears many hats, he is Artificial Intelligence protagonist, digital transformation strategist, professional speaker, general manager at Symphony.is and mentor in our Foundation. In this episode we talked about crazy potential of human brain through various topics - social media and how its poor usage can lead to idiocracy, how s…