NERMA SARACEVIC,
MANAGER OF BRANCH SARAJEVO CENTRAL OSIGURANJE DD, BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA
I was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina. My family highly valued education, especially for girls. Because of this support and encouragement from my parents, my journey through education and sciences started very early and is still going on. After graduating from the Faculty of Economics in Sarajevo, I worked in various industries, from automotive to financial institutions, where my work engagement lasted the longest. In the meantime, I completed my MA studies at the Faculty of Economics in Osijek, Croatia. Later I enrolled in the International Interdisciplinary Doctoral to study Entrepreneurship and Innovativeness in Osijek, Croatia. As part of this study, my presence at Durham Islamic Finance Summer School enriched my knowledge of Islamic finance and strengthened my commitment to explore this field.
I started doing detailed research in Islamic finance in 2012, and my focus was on authentic products of the Islamic financial industry – musharakah and mudarabah and related products. As business practices of some commercial banks caused a significant financial crisis in 2008, as a professional and a human, I had a tough time experiencing the collapse of some successful companies. This was especially true for SMEs, which are particularly vulnerable even in relatively normal business environments.
The Islamic financial industry experienced a percentage reduction in annual growth, which is very well presented in the GIFR 2020-21 edition. One of the reasons may undoubtedly be the “commercialisation” of Islamic financial institutions (IFI) and the tiny share of Islamic products in the total portfolio of Islamic banks.
Therefore, I hope that this data will influence the IFIs to connect investment account owners and entrepreneurs, and thus update musharakah and mudarabah financing in the best possible way.
My small contribution in this is my doctoral dissertation on the development of internal rating of SME client in an Islamic bank, which would facilitate the process of financing these economic entities based on authentic Islamic products. In collaboration with my colleagues, I have also written and published several papers on this topic, as well as in the field of Is it easy to be a woman in the business world? I think it is very demanding to become successful, to compete with male colleagues, and at the same time to raise children and to remain on the right path. This was indeed and continues to be the most significant challenge – keeping a balance between professional and family life. I believe this is a challenge for most women in business. Though the work outcome should be evaluated in the same way as for male colleagues, unfortunately, it is not always the case.
However, my most significant professional achievement is working with young colleagues who are successful managers today in various financial institutions or other companies. In addition, I am proud to have mentored some successful managers during my professional career-a significant number of who are women, which is also a success.
Other than my regular business commitments, I still occasionally work on training start-up business owners. This is a particular pleasure for me and complements my desire for faster development of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. But, unfortunately, the coronavirus pandemic has dramatically affected their businesses. For most, it is a matter of survival, and for some, doing better business through quick adaptation to new conditions is the need of the time.
All of the above, I believe, has led to my selection in the Top 50 women in Islamic finance and business for two consecutive years, which is a great success for me given the size of the country I come from. I am happy and proud to be in the club of women from much larger countries and where IFs are highly developed. It is a lovely feeling to be recognised as someone who has contributed to this industry.
My future professional aspiration is to connect my knowledge acquired in the real sector and financial institutions with the education of new generations. I think through this, my mission to transfer knowledge would be accomplished, in part especially related to returning to original Islamic financing through equity-based products, which is my great pleasure.
