A one man success story

Bosnia’s post-war freedom of trade has opened up business prospects dramatically and Bobar is one of its most successful private ventures. Based in Bijeljina in the Republic of Srpska (RS) and officially launched in 1996–though it has been around since 1989–the company embraces a wide variety of sectors ranging from insurance and banking to tourism and international transport.
“Privatization is one of the first conditions that needs to be met in order to become a democratic country and eliminate corruption,” says president Gavrilo Bobar, who visited Brussels, Berlin, Vienna and Paris himself to drum up initial business abroad. “I was the one who went there in order to inform them, although they had representatives here,” he says. “This wait and see approach must be changed.”

GAVRILO BOBAR President of Bobar

Bobar now employs around 1,200 staff, whose managerial salaries are well above the national average, and has offices through the whole of the RS, as well as two in FR Yugoslavia, and one in Macedonia, Germany and the U.S. An estimated 300,000 people use his services in RS alone. Mr. Bobar’s overall plan is based on micro and macro locations, the former being the RS and FBiH and the latter southeast Europe, where he has the greatest number of insured vehicles. He sees his location as a business advantage. “In two hours you can get to anywhere in Europe,” he says.

When the Free Trade Agreement is finalized in 2002 he intends to strengthen the bank by up to $25 or 30 million, look for a business partner and expand the insurance sector in BiH, Yugoslavia, Montenegro and Macedonia. He is also negotiating to merge with a Croatian company. “Insurance is the best support for a banking system,” he says. His major goal, though, is to do business with New York, ideally on a three-part basis: partnership, joint investment and purchase of shares in a Bobar bank. He envisages being part of a universal environment where big companies buy up smaller ones. “In the era of globalization, the world becomes one village if you know the language,” he maintains.

Education is another key sector of his agenda and he is currently registering BiH’s first university in Brcko. He would like to see a joint venture with a New York university so that students would benefit from the world’s best teachers, have an internationally recognized degree and be able to visit U.S. companies. “The next area in which we would like to have an American partner is the hotel industry”, says Mr. Bobar. He feels Bosnia’s low costs would be a major incentive and he could offer his own airline services as well.