The early adopters initially earmarked Bosnia & Herzegovina for its ITO, with a healthy number of solely exported-oriented companies and daughter operations of North American and European counterparts establishing themselves. Soon after, customer management and other horizontal BPO positions became part of a continuing second-wave of growth buoyed by widespread conversational German and English skills, strong socio-cultural affinities, and the significant proportion of unemployed college and university graduates. The strong multilingual capabilities and transferable skills of the population have already been leveraged by several larger players (CCC, DDC, Teleperformance, Trizma) and a healthy number of small and medium-sized providers. 

BPO AT-A-GLANCE

• 65+ specialist BPO/KPO providers (est. 2018) 
• 2,750+ employed (est. 2018) 

HIRING SPEED 

• 3 MONTHS to fill 50+ customer management or IT helpdesk positions

INDUSTRY POTENTIAL

• Now: horizontal functions (e.g. CM, F&A, HR) and a small number of BPO sub-sets (e.g. ITO, LPO) 
• Within 2 years: ‘Work-at-home’ CM and limited industry-specific knowledge service verticals (e.g. architecture and engineering services, design and digital marketing, etc) 
• Vast potential to develop strategic “supplier partnerships” with established local service sector companies, using leased associate or sub-contracting.

HUMAN CAPITAL AT-A-GLANCE 

The most valuable resource Bosnia & Herzegovina has is its people. With high tertiary enrolment rates, the country is fortunate to possess great depth in its human capital, providing an optimal environment for BPO vendors looking to hire, retain, and replace career-oriented professionals. 

Very high youth unemployment rate (45.8%), including among university graduates with technical and business degrees; an average gap between education and first employment of around 8 months; 125,000+ seeking first-time employment High social proximity where youth share strong European values and emotional closeness to customer markets; significant minority of diaspora returnees Deep pools of un- and under-employed talent educated in business, finance and accountancy, law, marketing and technical professions such as architecture, design, and engineering.