Hana:

Samir Avdičević engages in the production of natural cosmetics in Brčko. The company is called Bio Remix and it is already well known for its product quality. They possess quality certificates and are increasingly thinking about exports, and they are also preparing an online shop through which persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina will be able to buy their products in an easier way.

I asked him how it even happened that he established the company Bio Remix.

Samir Avdičević:

It is very difficult to obtain an adequately paid job. That was one of the main reasons. The second was the fact that my wife was completing an aromatherapy course, so that after years of experiments we started engaging in natural cosmetics.

We basically started looking for ourselves, because back then there were no natural and certified personal hygiene items in the market, and this is still the case. There are many fake items, there are also uncontrolled imports, so that we decided to offer strictly natural products.

What are you producing?

Well, during the last certification audit, we learned that we had 28 products. These are variations of solid soaps, variations of some face toners, body products, intimate hygiene products, creams, labels, there are all kinds of things.

Where can your products be found?

Our products can currently be found at better equipped pharmacies and we are trying to export more.

Do you have a halal certificate?

Yes. We usually say that everything that is detrimental to humans is prohibited. That is what a halal certificate literally is.

Do you wish to increase exports?

If our economic departments worked on resolving problems faced by entrepreneurs, we would probably already have that certificate. We have issues with exports in several segments, starting from the transport vehicle requested by a forwarding company to mail that is too expensive to be sent from here. We also have issues with PayPal. PayPal classified Bosnia and Herzegovina as an unsafe country and it would be good if someone at the state level dealt with it.

What would in your opinion be a way to stop persons from leaving, what would be some measures that might prevent persons from leaving?

The government has been trying lately to implement the self-employment project, which is a really good idea. I myself also participated in the project – which gives an opportunity to everyone to sit down and think about what they might do in their life and what they like to do, instead of waiting for someone else to pull on their sleeve and say ”Come on, work”.

So, the government already has projects that are ready and active and that offer some hope for the youth to start thinking in a different way, instead of relying on people around them. That is a start, of course, and that self-employment project is something that the government should work more on in my opinion. If all these years they were giving someone funds to start their business, they should exempt the person during the first year from the obligation to pay contributions, taxes and other fees in order for the person to potentially succeed in a year and be able to pay such contributions that are not really small either.

You are in Brčko for the time being. Have you thought about leaving?

Yes, but only in terms of business. Given the fact that it is very difficult to export this kind of product from Bosnia and Herzegovina, I am thinking about a solution, opening a company somewhere abroad and then connecting it, maybe establishing a daughter company and see, because I would then have access to the EU market that is more difficult to reach from this side.

How can your products be found in Bosnia and Herzegovina?

We are currently working on the online shop, an online store that will become functional now. Of course, we are sending products by express mail, mail order, by BH Post, or any other delivery company.

Bio Remix cosmetics can be found at: http://www.bio-remix.com