EU4BusinessRecovery

As much as she tried to escape from her entrepreneurial spirit, the economist Božana Ćorda from Banja Luka brought her life back to those entrepreneurial waters. Today, she is the idea creator and founder of "B Office" and she no longer hides that she is an entrepreneur at heart.

During 14 years of her work experience, she had the opportunity to collaborate with the founders of IT companies, developers, freelancers and other participants from the IT sector and the creative industry, and she noticed one thing in common with all of them. They don't like administrative work!

"I started thinking about which services or products could solve the problems and frustration of these people in their daily administrative work. I came up with the idea to allow them to focus on the essence of their business, and delegate the administration to someone who really enjoys the business. That is how "B Office" was created, a service that is currently used by more than 30 clients, "Božana points out.

"B Office" is a flexible service that takes over the management of administration for clients. Its set of administrative services intended for entrepreneurs, micro and small businesses includes: creating outgoing invoices, sorting incoming and outgoing invoices and statements by folders on the drive, creating monthly reports on business account turnover (inflows - outflows), electronic banking management, logistics office ordering services, monitoring contracts (employment contracts, business premises, etc.), keeping records of employee absences (making decisions on vacations and monitoring the number of used days), collecting and selecting job applications, organizing job interviews , calculation of travel expenses and filling in travel orders, preparation of documentation for dividend payment, etc.

In order to simplify business and better communicate with customers, a number of available digital tools are used. All documentation of each of the clients is available through cloud solutions, so that clients have real-time access to their documentation and created business reports.

"Since I am a person of entrepreneurial spirit, I re-entered those waters without hesitation. Although entrepreneurship brings with it great challenges, responsibilities and obligations, it gives me the freedom to do what I love, at a time that suits me and from any location, so even if I had to choose again, entrepreneurship would be my choice again. " - adds Božana Ćorda.

The invitation to participate in the project, Božana saw as an opportunity to establish contact with new clients, which turned out to be true, because some of the participants in the project very quickly became her clients. "On the other hand, working with mentors has helped me a lot to see what the weaknesses of my business are and how to overcome them. Finally, financial support has meant a lot to me in developing a web application that automates my internal processes and is offered as a separate B Office product.

” This application, which is a separate product of "B Office", will enable small entrepreneurs to create invoices, track the collection of receivables, automatic calculation of taxes they have to pay every month, automatic filling of the income book and tax calendar notifications. In addition to benefits for customers, the web application also brings benefits for "B Office" because it shortens internal business processes and thus contributes to saving time and scaling the business.

"B Office" services are intended for IT companies that employ up to 20 people, digital marketers, designers and architects, as well as companies that fall into the category of small taxpayers.

To all young people who want to start their own business, Božana says: "Dare, test your idea and see if what you offer really needs someone! Such testing in most cases requires less financial investment, but this will determine the direction of movement for further business development. It is important to talk to your potential clients and listen to what they really need. You do not need to be afraid that someone will steal your idea, it in itself is worth nothing. What is worth is faith, love and hard work on it. We all have ideas, but only those who dare to dedicate themselves to it and invest their maximum in its development, can turn a idea into a business."

Božana Ćorda's business idea was financially and professionally supported through the project "Support for starting STARTUP in the field of IT sector" which is being implemented within the project "EU4Business - for a competitive and innovative domestic economy". With the aim of strengthening the BiH economy, the EU4Business project encourages the development of entrepreneurship, export-oriented sectors, tourism and agriculture, as well as rural development. It is worth 16.1 million euros and is jointly funded by the European Union (15 million euros) and the Federal Republic of Germany (1.1 million euros). It is implemented jointly by GIZ, ILO and UNDP, from April 2018 to March 2022.

The project "Support for starting STARTUP in the field of IT" is implemented by the Local Partnership Banja Luka, which consists of the City Development Agency Banja Luka, City of Banja Luka, Innovation Center Banja Luka - ICBL, Employment Service of RS - Banja Luka Branch, Faculty of Electrical Engineering Banja Luka, companies "Blok projekt" doo, "Ad Lab" sp, "Media Lab" doo, Telegroup doo from Banja Luka and the associations "Bit Alliance" and "Club of Business Women of Republika Srpska".