The talented Mr. Makarevic

If we were to look for shining examples of “Self-made men”, we’d find the perfect embodiment in the Bosnian Ambassador Nedim Makarevic. Caught in the middle of the Bosnian war, Nedim at 17 years of age, migrated to Germany to chalk a new life for himself by working 2 jobs 7 days a week.

“Life as a young refugee in Germany was tough. I learned German language by writing the words on a piece of paper and I learned those words during the bus drives to the work and back, my first work was at McDonald’s for 10 Deutche Marks an hour,” recalls Nedim. “And on the weekends I worked in a supermarket also, like 12 hours a day and that was my 17th and 18th year of life.”

Determined to make a thorough professional of himself, Nedim kept learning, adapting and growing forward in this new world. “Probably the best thing is I learned the language, I started preparing myself to study in Germany,” says Nedim. “So by the time I was 19, I applied to 50 universities in Germany and was accepted by 44. Got a scholarship and started to study engineering and finished it in the proper time.”

So what drives Nedim to excel at whatever he sets his eyes on?

“I strive to be the best at whatever I do and I stay focused on the target I want to achieve,” adds Nedim. “For example, I started to practice martial arts when I was 6 and I didn’t want to stop with it until I had a black belt and later on, in 2008 I became the vice champion of the world in karate fight.”

Speaking on Pakistan’s ongoing fight against terrorism, Nedim said, “You are a country of paradoxes. On the one hand you have these great people here, very hospitable people, nice people who don’t deserve the bad things that happen to them, but on the other hand you’re so strong and you have the possibility to absorb the bad things and that’s also one crazy strength of the people. Pakistan is a resilient nation, they get up on their feet quicker than any nation I’ve ever known.”

Talking about Pakistan & Bosnia’s economic trade potential, Nedim felt there was so much more that could be done to promote more exports from Pakistan if only the business community were ready to tread more unchartered territories. “We are now starting the leather export from Pakistan to Bosnia for leather jackets. We are also about to concentrate on exporting sports gear as well as surgical equipment,” says Nedim, “But there is so much more we can achieve if only the Pakistani entrepreneurs were more aggressive in their approach. In the past few years we made the trade grow by 500%, let’s make it 5000% in the next five years, and its very much possible.”

Knowing Nedim as we do to achieve whatever he sets out to accomplish, we are sure he’ll take our economic and diplomatic ties to new heights.