The US Embassy in Sarajevo, in cooperation with USAID, organized a ceremony at the US Embassy to celebrate the 25th anniversary of cooperation with Bosnia and Herzegovina. On that occasion, the founder of SU-AD, Suad Bešlić, was awarded the “Hero of the Nation” award by Ambassador Eric Nelson.
This kind of recognition by the world’s biggest power gave the wind behind us to continue writing our common story.
Suad Bešlić was born in Kalesija. After the war, he was educated in Germany, and after the
Suad Bešlić returned from Germany to his country of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) to start a local company that manufactures fire trucks for export to Germany and other world markets. With his return, he restored hope to young people in the town of Živinice.
“We produce sophisticated fire trucks according to the customer’s wishes and we are one of four such companies in the world,” said Suad when awarding the award.
He worked for nine years in a precision mechanics company on CNC operators where he got injured.
“And that was my turning point in my life. I went to study for three years. I gave all the invested money that I saved to school and finished,” recalls Suad.
After completing his studies, Suad was given the opportunity to intern at Lentner. Lentner’s products are specialized structures for fire trucks that are installed in MAN, Mercedes, Unimark, Scania, Volvo and many others.
They are known for the best use of space, the highest quality fire pumps, and the modification of all chassis and electrical and radio equipment. Very quickly, Suad became recognizable as a designer who introduced numerous innovations and suggestions for improvement.
“The turning point for me was the tear of a mother I met in Kalesija,” recalls Bešlić.
While looking for workers in Bosnia for his employer in Germany, he met the mother of one of the young men who was supposed to go to Germany for training.
“If my child leaves, will his wife and my grandchildren also go?” she asked.
The thought that in her eyes he was separating a family from their homeland haunted him all the way to Munich, where he was living at the time.
After this event, in 2015, he opened a company in the town of Živinice and employed 25 local workers. The employees, whose average age is 21, undergo regular training, both internally at the company in BiH and in Germany, and the company maintains working standards with competitive salaries paid on time, weekends off and 40-hour work weeks.
Suad is spreading his story further. The success story of the company SU-AD d.o.o. goes far beyond Živinice and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is an example for other foreign investors as well as citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the diaspora.
