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TOP 10 FOREIGN BUSINESSMEN IN BIH
Slobodna Bosna - January 10, 2008

TOP 10 FOREIGN BUSINESSMEN IN BIH
Foreign Capitalists Control 60 Percent of BiH Economy

Along with the penetration of foreign investments and capital, a rather numerous colony of very powerful foreign businessmen have taken up residence in BiH during the past few years. These businessmen have taken over most of the major industries in BiH - first the banks, then insurance companies, followed by trade, construction, metal and oil industries.  Almost 60 percent of the economic potential in BiH is currently in the hands of foreign investors.

Foreign capital in BiH is generally managed by top foreign managers, who have been entrusted by their parent companies with the restructuring of acquired companies and expansion of market positions in BiH; however, the number of foreign capitalists who have hired local managers in BiH is not small, either.

Equally numerous is the colony of foreign speculators whose business operations mostly amount to stock market dealings and resale of capital held by the much vaunted Privatization Investments Funds (PIFs) at the Sarajevo and Banja Luka Stock Exchanges.

Slobodna Bosna has decided to make its own selection of the 10 most powerful foreign investors and managers in BiH, chosen on the basis of the following criteria: size of investment, number of employees and volume of business operations.  In some cases the investor is at the same time the general manager in BiH.  However, as these two functions are most often separate, we have focused on investors and company owners rather than their subordinated executive staff in BiH. 

You will notice that our list does not include some of the largest foreign investors in BiH (e.g. Mittal in Zenica or Natron in Maglaj).  This is due to the fact that their businesses in BiH are not finalized and completed.

Tie Sosnowski, a US businessman working in BiH, is without doubt the most interesting individual among the numerous community of foreign businessmen. Sosnowski is the founder and owner of Triland Development, a company that built a residential villa in Koševo a few years ago, probably the most luxurious building in the entire BiH.

In the very center of the city, next to the two UNITIC skyscrapers, Sosnowski has just started constructing a large retail building of 23,000 square meters.
Through his company, Sosnowski is present in some other countries in Europe and America, but the main ambitions of this US businessman are related to BiH and Sarajevo, where he had taken up residence as early as five years ago.

As a veteran in the foreign business community in BiH, Sosnowski was appointed the President of the Foreign Investors Council last year, and is also the current Vice-President of the American Chamber of Commerce in BiH.

Sosnowski has demonstrated his high level of integration into the social life of the city in a rather unusual way: in the summer of last year, he formed the professional basketball team "KK Triland" in Sarajevo and has brought a few promising players from other teams. Sosnowski himself used to play basketball while studying at the Washington and Lee University.

Written by Asim Metiljević