Success stories

10 years of WYG International in Bosnia and Herzegovina

WYG International hosted a reception at the Park Princeva Restaurant in Sarajevo on 15 December to celebrate 10 years of the company’s work in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The UKTI Trade Advisor Emir Sabic, along with over 70 guests from local and international partner consultancy firms, donor organisations, government institutions and others were present at the event. WYG International, based in Nottingham, is one of Europe’s leading technical and socio-economic consultancies.

In 2001, WYG International started work on an Enterprise Restructuring Programme for the British Government’s Department for International Development (DfID) – and has gone on to implement other DFID and World Bank projects. Currently, most of the company’s current work involves EU-funded projects. Three projects are being implemented – the Export Promotion Project supporting exporting companies; EURELSMED - a capacity building project which supports regional and local development agencies and also provides direct support for small businesses; and the Sarajevo office of the Western Balkans Investment Framework which is an Infrastructure Facility operating throughout the Western Balkan countries. This programme has, so far, been directly instrumental in providing over €40 million for 21 infrastructure and construction projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina – it is expected that this initial funding will lever in investment of over €800 million from the International Financial Institutions. The Western Balkans Investment Framework operates across all of the Western Balkan countries and is just one of the 14 projects currently being implemented by WYG International in the Region.

In all of the countries WYG International operates, World-wide, the aim is to consolidate the company’s presence – moving from project offices into the formation of more permanent businesses, managed and operated by local staff. WYG International’s newly appointed Head of Private Sector Development, Peter Fortune has overall responsibility for the development of WYG International’s work in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Ana Guber, who is based full-time in Sarajevo, is the company’s Business Development Manager in BiH.

WYG International shares the vision and commitment of the EU Member states to the creation of sustainable development in the Western Balkans – looking forward to the day when they are all part of the European Union. WYG International is focused on making a long-term contribution to securing investment in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as the Western Balkans as a whole, and helping to improve economic and social development and performance.
UK company Green River Media recently moved to their new premises in Sarajevo and Ambassador Nigel Casey paid them a visit.

Green River Media opens new office in Sarajevo

Green River Media is an independent UK-based agency specialising in website and internet design and implementation, with a focus on Content Management System driven websites and collaborative internet and extranet solutions. The company operates a wholly owned subsidiary in Sarajevo, providing software design and development services to its clients. Even though Green River Media recently moved their main office from Mostar to Sarajevo, the Faculty of Information Technology of the University of Mostar still plays a very important role in the company’s training and development plans. Over the coming months, Green River Media will work to develop similar partnerships with other schools of information technology in this country.

“We feel that we’re unique in the rate of growth that we have achieved over the first 18 months of our business being operational. In terms of staff numbers and financial turnover, we’re already matching or outperforming many UK digital agencies that have been operational for many years. We started with 3 employees in total, which has already grown to 24 full time employees and is continuing to grow at a rate of 2 – 3 new employees every month. Our growth is 100% organic and the company has never used any form of external investment, bank loan or venture capitalism. Regardless of that, our turnover for 2011 is expected to be at around £1.4 million – for a company that was founded a mere 18 months ago on a very limited budget, we feel that’s a significant success”, said Nej Gakenyi, Managing Director of Green River Media Ltd.

Trade Greener wins big contract in Bosnia

With help and support from UK Trade & Investment, UK carbon credits developer Trade Greener has won a contract to reduce the CO2 produced by Bosnia’s largest energy provider. Read the full article....

New member of the British Business Club in BiH - Bondaii d.o.o

UKTI Bosnia and Herzegovina are pleased to announce a new member of the British Business Club - Bondaii d.o.o, an innovation in the domain of mobile applications.

UKTI invited Bondaii to attend this year's Technology World event that attracted participation of more than 400 investors from 50 countries who gathered to meet innovative, leading-edge science and technology organisations from all over the world. "We are delighted that UKTI was able to organise access for Bondaii to Technology World exhibition at London's ExCel Centre this year where we have met a number of companies and industry bodies such as Knowledge Transfer Network. Without this help we would most certainly have missed on this opportunity", said Asim Bucuk, Founder of Bondaii d.o.o.

For more information about the next year's Technology World please visit www.technologyworld.uk.com.