Five new businesses were launched in Modriča at the beginning of this year, with the support of the US Government and the Municipality of Modriča, which are successfully run by women from the local community.
Thirty-nine-year-old Jelena Kecman opened the “Vortex” beauty salon in the village of Miloševac near Modriča at the beginning of this year. As she says, she decided to start a business because of her great love for the job, but also because of her previous experience and numerous educations, which were more than enough for independent work.
“The village is big, I really have a lot of customers. Considering how many obligations I have, it’s going well”, says Jelena with satisfaction for Discriminacija.ba.
Numerous life challenges, the biggest of which is taking care of her disabled son, did not provide her with great opportunities on the business front. A full-time job, which, as she says, is necessary in this line of work, was not an option, and she found understanding with an employer in whose hair salon she worked part-time for five years. Driven by the goal of starting an independent business that would allow her to be closer to her son, she further educated herself and attended numerous beauty training courses.
“It’s easier for me now. I know when I can close, I know when I can work, take a day off, etc.,” says Jelena, emphasizing that even now there are “difficult moments” that she overcomes because of her love for work, which gives her extra strength.
Jelena’s salon currently offers manicures, pedicures, eyebrow correction and grooming, maderotherapy, and in the future she plans to attend additional training in order to become an educator and train others, and hire someone in her salon.
With her story, she wants to encourage all women, especially mothers who have similar life problems, not to give up on their ideas and goals.
“We need to move forward. You can’t just say my child is sick and sit at home, do nothing, I was always doing something and along the way I learned how to do what I do today. I think I’m on the right track. If someone has a goal, they should not give up no matter what the case is, because every day is a challenge,” she explains.
From a decorative candle to a flower shop
An independent business was also started by forty-four-year-old Anđa Drinić, also from the village of Miloševac near Modriča, who opened a flower shop and thereby “fulfilled her life’s desire”. She is a business secretary by profession, but she never found a job in that profession. She worked several jobs, and only got the opportunity to work in a flower shop last year. After four months, she decided to open her own flower shop. The biggest challenge was finding an adequate location where her business could survive, because there are several flower shops in Modriča that have been working for a long period of time and already have regular customers. She found a location for her flower shop in a new shopping center on the outskirts of Modriča, and for now she is satisfied with the business.
“I was satisfied as soon as I opened it. My wish came true for me. I earn money for all the obligations, for the goods, the salary sometimes comes, sometimes it doesn’t, so I hope that the business will expand and that I will hire a female worker someday”, says Anđa.
Although opening a flower shop was her life’s desire, Anđa says that the biggest “culprit” for starting this business was her illness, which she discovered in 2017. That’s when she found out that she had cervical cancer, and the same year she underwent surgery, underwent chemotherapy and a difficult recovery that lasted more than a year.
“The idea to open a flower shop started when I received a decorative candle as a gift from a friend during that period after surgery, which started it all,” says Anđa, who then started making decorations and visiting fairs where she presented her work. she got a job in a flower shop where she acquired skills thanks to which she was ready to start working independently. The job, she says, helped her feel better.
“He brought me back to life. No matter how tired I am, every decoration, every bouquet I make – I rest. Making something with my own hands fulfills me”, says Anđa, adding that “positive thoughts kept her alive”.
In addition to Jelena and Anđa, at the beginning of this year, independent businesses were also started by three young girls who, as they say, found themselves at a turning point in their lives where they had to gather courage and try to implement their ideas or give up on them.
Rare businesses as the secret of success
The massage and therapy studio “Magic hands” in Modriča provides numerous services such as various types of massages, corrective exercises for children and adults. The owner and, for now, the only employee in that studio is twenty-six-year-old Danijela Kojić, who is a medical doctor-physiotherapist by profession.
After completing her studies in Banja Luka in 2019, Danijela returned to her hometown of Modriča, where she did an internship. Three years after that, she was unable to find a job in the profession because, as she says, Modriča is a small town that does not offer great opportunities. Since she did not want to leave her city, without experience, she decided to start her own business.
“The idea, in part, came from my childhood because I always loved physiotherapy and massage, and I always said that I would like to be a physiotherapist”, Danijela recalls.
It was then, as she says, that she encountered prejudice for the first time because family members told her that the job was “not for women”, which is still the case today with male clients who think that she is not strong and skilled enough in her job.
“When they see me, especially the male population, they are in the ‘what are you going to do to me’ phase – in the sense that I am a woman, so when they see how I massage, they come again,” Danijela says with a laughter.
Danijela’s vision is to further educate herself and complete training for other types of massage in the future, in order to expand the offer in her studio and develop her business and hire someone.
Unlike Danijela, twenty-four-year-old Mileva Ilić had two options: start a business or leave Modriča, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. She decided on the first option and, as she says, she was not wrong. Today, Mileva successfully runs the “Perfect Clean” cleaning agency, which, in addition to cleaning buildings, also offers dry cleaning and ironing services.
“A lot of people give up on their ideas because they don’t have the courage. I said I’m going to do it, so what happens”, says Mileva.
She started cleaning, she says, as a teenager, helping her mother who provided cleaning services to earn for a living. Although she had a desire to finish her economics studies, she interrupted her studies due to her mother’s illness. She worked several jobs in that profession, and with the arrival of the coronavirus, she lost her job. She started her own business at the persuasion of close people, and now, due to the large amount of work, her biggest challenge is that she cannot find a reliable worker to hire because she finds it difficult to finish all her obligations alone.
In addition to Mileva, her peer Andrea Dervenić also decided to start a business that did not exist in Modriča until May of this year, who opened the pet care salon “Kimba”. Andrea was previously involved in rescuing animals on the street, from where the idea of starting a business that would allow her to have closer contact with animals was born.
“It was a little difficult for us to acquire equipment because in Bosnia and Herzegovina, this business is not generally that common. Considering the beginning, I am satisfied. I still work alone, but I hope that the business will develop and that there will be an opportunity to hire someone, because I have already received such inquiries”, says Andrea.
Andrea obtained the title of sanitary laboratory technician after completing her high school education. She did an internship, passed the state exam, and then there was an obstacle in her search for a job in the profession, because, as she says, “everything was already filled” and employers were looking for work experience that she did not have.
“In the end, I managed to find a job in the laboratory, but it was not the job I found myself in.” Then I wanted something to do with animals and I went to Belgrade for training and after that, I started this business”, says Andrea.
In the coming period, he plans to improve his business by introducing the sale of pet food, collars, clothes and other pet supplies in his salon.
“My goal is for the job to last as long as possible. I think it will be able to last because people are becoming more and more aware of pets, there are more and more of them. I think there will be more and more work since the beginning is really great, I expect it will get even better over time”, concludes Andrea.
All the listed businesses required the purchase of consumables, equipment, space rental costs, payment of contributions and other costs, and these five women received financial and mentoring support through the Entrepreneurial Fund for Women in Modriča, which was made possible by the Municipality of Modriča and the Government of the United States of America, through USAID’s Human Rights Protection Support Program (USAID/INSPIRE).
“The fund is aimed at encouraging women who have a business idea to start their own entrepreneurial activities. It is intended for those women who are marginalized in some way and want to realize their business idea and start an independent business”, explains Modriča Municipality Mayor Jovica Radulović for Discriminacija.ba.
As Radulović explained, the marginalized group of women includes, among others, women who are victims of violence, single mothers, women with disabilities or mothers who have children with disabilities, as well as unemployed young women under the age of 35, those who live in rural areas and who are unemployed for a long period of time or are “marginalized in any of the forms provided by law”.
All female entrepreneurs who received an incentive to start a business pointed out that it was a very important support, without which everything would have gone much slower, or would have been impossible.
Such incentives, as Mileva Ilić says, can be a “good wind at the back” to encourage anyone who has an idea to start an independent business.
“It’s a pity that I see that many women stay in those jobs for which they are not well paid, they are not satisfied in those jobs because they think they can’t do better. I know so many people who have some ideas for businesses, but give up because they don’t have enough courage or money to start a business it’s not,” explains Mileva.
Such incentives, concludes Mileva, can reduce the number of young people who leave Bosnia and Herzegovina, and additionally motivate them to realize their ideas in their native local communities and cities, and be an inspiration to the coming generations, especially women who are marginalized or discriminated against in any way.