ROW with Butch: Despite a dark past, Sarajevo’s tech scene is emerging

“RoW With Butch” is a weekly column about technology outside of Silicon Valley, in the rest of the world. This week he comes from Sarajevo, Bosnia.

At the height of the Bosnian War, between 1992 and 1995, some 8,000 grenades rained down on the capital Sarajevo every day, while snipers plied their deadly trade from the hills above the city.

The internecine war between the different nationalities, religions and ethnic groups in Bosnia – a consequence of the breakup of communist Yugoslavia – was total and remains one of the great tragedies of the 20th century.

Driving from Sarajevo airport into the city, passing tall Soviet-era towers, you can still see bullet holes covering many buildings, forming large groups near the tops of buildings where more shooters elites would hide.

But after years of difficult economic times, the city, the country and its resilient population are looking to the future. Last weekend, signs of a new cluster emerged on the European and global technology scene: that of Sarajevo.

But as happened before them in many other Central and Eastern European countries, the technology scene in BiH is gradually evolving, as new entrepreneurs emerge and traditional outsourcing companies realize they can also start producing their own startup products.

#SarajevoFTW was one of the first events in the city to start galvanizing the tech startup scene (preceded only by the Balkan Venture Forum in the city the day before).

It certainly wasn’t the easiest time. After unusual torrential rains, Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia all suffered the worst flooding in 120 years (see below).

Organized by YOU SAIDregional technology news siteNetokracijaAnd Teres Capital, the #SarajevoFTW event brought together key players from Bosnia and Herzegovina to connect startups with investors and investors with each other. A pitch competition organized by European accelerator Startup Bootcamp allowed early-stage startups to pitch in front of a crowd of new angel investors, mentors and others.

In the end, the throws went one by one. Good living, YuTransfer and Light Docs (yet to launch), a startup launched by two 16-year-olds – an unheard of result a few years ago, and testimony to the explosion of technology across the world.

But it quickly became clear that the main pillars of this new ecosystem are two men named Edin. Edin Mehic (left, above), CEO of Posao.ba and Edin Saracevic (right, above), founder, HUB387 And Nid71.

Saracevic decided to double down on the city and country’s potential to create new businesses, after leaving his own startup. Four months ago, Saracevic, a serial entrepreneur, discovered an abandoned shopping center that had sat empty for 12 years and converted two floors into a co-working space (Nest71) and General Assembly-style educational facility, Academy387 based at HUB387.

Why all 387? Because in a multi-ethnic country, it is much easier to refer to the country’s 387 area code than to a place or region.

Saracevic hopes to help train the next generation of engineers and entrepreneurs in Sarajevo. It also plans to build a fund for four startups in the next 18 months. “Today, everyone can dream, everything is possible,” he told me.

Max Gurvits, partner at Teres Capital (a new fund based in Sofia, Bulgaria), says that although the tech scene is still in its early stages, he is confident that a series of new tech startups will emerge from the wider region of South-Eastern Europe, of which Bosnia is one.

For his part, Mehic, creator of the new accelerator called Bizoostates that Sarajevo has certain advantages in the Balkan region.

Even though Belgrade is the largest city in the former Yugoslavia, some companies use Sarajevo as a hub for the region due to its lower costs and relatively neutral geographic location.

Its own story reflects the journey of the country and its tech scene.

During the civil war, his parents were concerned about his education and so sent him and his sister to Croatia where he had to make ends meet and care for his younger sister.

He came back at 19 and went to college. From there he was responsible for getting Sarajevo back on the Internet via a satellite link to Amsterdam to the Internet, all under Windows 95.

One day he was in the computer lab at the university and a professor walked in. “He said he wanted us to develop software for the UN. » Thus, Mehic contributed to the development of the first national software system to track people displaced by the war.

More recently, Mehic left a regional job site (bought by the British group Daily Mail) and launched a salary survey site, also bought by a Finnish group. He is now focusing on the development of Bizoo and the local ecosystem.

So, where grenades and mortars once fell, a converted shopping center welcomed a tiny startup winning a pitch competition.

Sarajevo, once a city synonymous with war, finally has a brighter future and we hope that tech entrepreneurship will play its role.

Post Scriptum :

This video was filmed in Croatia, but it is representative of the flooding that affected the entire region:

Balkan countries have been devastated by floods. If you would like to donate to relief efforts, one charity to consider is Appeals by The Red Cross in the United Statesor the Red Cross in the United Kingdom. Below you will find more information.

http://ckfbih.ba
http://hck.hr
http://floodrelief.gov.rs

HelpSerbia.com

BitCoin for Serbia

Novak Djokovic Foundation for Serbian Schools

Donate to Bosnia

Croatian Red Cross:
IBAN: HR 6923400091511555516
SWIFT: PBZGHR2X
FULL NAME OF BENEFICIARY: HRVATSKI CRVENI KRIŽ,
FULL ADDRESS OF THE BENEFICIARY: ULICA CRVENOG KRIŽA 14, PP 93, 10001 ZAGREB

Red Cross Serbia
Red Cross of Bosnia and Herzegovina
IBAN CODE: BA391610000000850119
SWIFT CODE: RZBABA2S
FULL NAME OF BENEFICIARY: CRVENI KRIZ FEDERACIJE BIH SARAJEVO
FULL ADDRESS OF THE BENEFICIARY: NEDIMA FILIPOVICA 9, SARAJEVO