The Balkan Talks

If you were to start doing business in the Western Balkans today, where would you start? A question often asked, and our hosts Sanir and Sandro take their time talking to you about all the business opportunities that exist in the region nowadays. Learn about experiences from others, about the opportunities in various industries and more relevant information that's of use to anybody looking to do business in the region. A number of questions from listeners are dissected and talked about once more, and we encourage you to keep sending them in! You might earn yourself a spot in the next episode of The Balkan Talks!

You have probably listened to his Spotify playlist at least once: Balkan Hitovi 2020 by Armin Hamzic, the most popular Balkan Spotify playlist you can find! How did this playlist come into existence, what impact is music from the Balkans making and what will the future hold? We talk about all these questions and more as we focus in on the music industry in the Balkans, and examine the central role that music has in Balkan society. We also share our personal experiences and the way in which we have seen the industry changing in the region. If you are interested in Armin's playlist, go and look it up 'Balkan Hitovi 2020' on Spotify! 

Keep calm and carry on! Or isn't it business as usual this time around? While everybody is talking about Brexit and the looming goodbye of the United Kingdom, in this episode we focus on what this and other developments in the European Union means for the Western Balkans. What is the current state of things, and how will it impact future accession of non-EU countries in the Western Balkan region? Learn all about it in this week's episode of The Balkan Talks, where we will also be taking the time to answer a few questions from you listeners. If you want to send in a question too, send us a message on any of our social media channels and it might make it onto the show!

What is the tie that Sander Schimmelpenninck has with Croatia? What brings him to the region, and what keeps pulling him back time and again? To learn more about one of Sander's biggest passions, go and listen to this first episode of the second season of The Balkan Talks! Our Dutch listeners are probably familiar with the work of Sander, but for our non-Dutch listeners, Sander is an entrepreneur, journalist, editor-in-chief of the Dutch business magazine Quote and host of the late-night talkshow "Op1". We focus in on his love for Croatia, why he believes that the country deserves a lot more attention than it does and are treated to a lot of great anecdotes along the way! 

In our final episode of the season we have invited a voice that is not heard (or listened to) that often. What is it like to be an expat from the Western Balkans, to work and live away from your home region? We invited Dusan Radicanin to talk about his experiences as an expat. Dusan is from Novi Sad, Serbia. He currently works at the Rabobank as a financial model validator, and he has almost obtained his doctorate in mathematics. His life story is an interesting one, and we can all learn something from the perspective that Dusan has to share. What is it like for highly-educated young professionals to leave their home country and build their careers and lives in a foreign land? And how is that experience for someone from the Balkans in particular? Find out in this fun and lighthearted episode!

Making the step as a Western entrepeneur to start doing business in the Western Balkans, it is a step that Joris Aalberse has made.  Joris is a Dutch CEO and investor, and together with a business partner he owns Jumbo-Groenewegen group, a company specializing in the production of truck trailers. The business owns two factories in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Tesanj area, where they employ a few hundred locals in their production lines. Joris shares his story about investing in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the things he's experienced, his challenges and the opportunities. He tells us how despite the challenges, the country is full of opportunities.

* In this episode we also have WBBG team member Dado filling in as a host for Sandro. 

What does it take to become a successful entrepreneur? What does it mean to be somebody who takes ownership of their own life and takes full advantage of the opportunities that exist in the world? To learn more about this, we invited AI specialist, speaker, motivator, entrepreneur and manager Amir Sabirovic, to talk with him about his life and career.  We focus on his life and mindset as an entrepreneur.  Ever since he was little Amir has been looking into ways to improve his life, standards, knowledge and experience and he has brought that mindset with him throughout his adulthood and career. He shares with us his vision of entrepreneurship and what it takes to be an entrepreneur. How did he get where he is today? 

During the quiet summer months your The Balkan Talks-hosts Sanir and Sandro take the time to tell you more about the Western Balkans Business Group (WBBG), the company behind The Balkan Talks. Next to hosting The Balkan Talks, Sanir and Sandro are also the Managing Partners of WBBG, where they engage in doing business with the Western Balkans on a daily basis. We try to tell you more about what we do at the company, what we have learned about doing business with the Western Balkan region and why we believe it is important to promote doing business with this part of the world. We talk about how we try to spread awareness in the rest of the world about the possibilities of the region, and invite you to contact us if you have any interest in doing so yourself.

To learn more, visit our website at www.wbbusinessgroup.com! 

Producing a garment in Albania, transporting it to Italy, sewing on a button there and labelling it 'Made in Italy'? We talk about Albania and more with Veerle Luiting, about her experiences in the garment industry of the country and what somebody can generally expect from Albania.  Veerle has a background in sustainable fashion and business development and has a lot of interest in Albania. She has lead a number of projects related to the Albanian garment industry and has gotten to know the local factories and economy better than most other foreign entrepreneurs. During this episode, we talk about the opportunities we see in the country, and also about some of the challenges what somebody could face when looking to do business with Albania. Veerle gives us some practical tips on how to deal with these challenges.  If you're curious about the garment industry, manufacturing and doing business in Albania, then this is a great episode for you!