When we talk about success stories in Bosnia and Herzegovina, we cannot overlook Bontex Maglaj, a company founded in 2005, which produces high-quality shirts. Today, in addition to selling their products locally , they also export considerably to the Western market – mostly to the European Union countries. Italian Carabinieri, members of the Swiss army, as well as workers of the Austrian Post Office wear shirts sewn in Maglaj’s Bontex. The company employs over 200 workers.
The story begins in 1986, when Senaid Husić left for Switzerland to gain the knowledge and experience needed to start a textile company in BiH, the country where he grew up. Two decades later, he fulfilled his goal, creating one of the leading fashion companies that has almost no competition on the domestic market.
Senaid emphasizes that, in addition to the personal challenges he successfully dealt with, he particularly finds important the fact that his work contributed to the development and growth of the local economy and that he brought to his fellow citizens that success is possible, wherever they are.
“My wish was to use the acquired knowledge back in my country and to use my personal example to instill hope in the local population – my neighbors, relatives and friends that it is possible to live and do business successfully in this region,” Husić points out.
Maglaj was already considered a city with a developed textile industry, which greatly helped Senaid to make the transition period from establishing the company to making it a successful business as quickly as possible.
On his path, he also had assistance from the European Union, through the ‘EU4BusinessRecovery’ project. To improve production process, launch new products, protect existing jobs and create new ones, the company “Bontex” received 98,000 KM in grants from the European Union. These funds also helped the company create five new jobs with the goal of increasing production by 30%.
