United Nations Development Program in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNDP BiH), with support of Sweden, at a ceremony organized at the International Center for Children and Youth Novo Sarajevo in Sarajevo today proclaimed the SDG Business Pioneers in BiH for the second time ever.
The SDG Business Pioneers Award ceremony is the final event of the annual SDG Business Pioneers competition for 2020, which aims to promote private sector efforts in the field of sustainable development in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The awards were given for achievements in the thematic fields “People” and “Resources and Environment”, and the overall winner for Bosnia and Herzegovina was announced.
Winners in the field of “People”: in the category of micro companies, Stitch 22 d.o.o. Sarajevo was declared the SDG Business Pioneer, while in the category of small companies the winner was Unija MF d.o.o. Sarajevo. In the category of medium enterprises Ministry of Programming d.o.o. Sarajevo took the winner title, while in the category of large companies the SDG Business Pioneer in Bosnia and Herzegovina for 2020 is Lanaco d.o.o. Banja Luka.
In the category of micro companies under the theme “Resources and Environment”, the company Turboservis B-H d.o.o. Sarajevo was selected; while in the same theme, but in the category of small enterprises, the title was taken by the company Jaffa-Komerc d.o.o. Blagaj. In the categories of medium and large enterprises, trophy was awarded to Tvornica cementa Kakanj d.d. (medium enterprise) and Coca-Cola HBC B-H d.o.o. Sarajevo (large enterprise).
Tvornica cementa Kakanj d.d, a company which contributed to the promotion of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the private sector in BiH, was declared the overall winner, i.e. the SDG Business Pioneer for 2020.
“I am really happy because we received the overall winner’s award for fulfilling the goals of sustainable development for the second year in a row. Today we celebrate the work and efforts of our team that has ensured that we are engaged in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals. We will do our best to continue working on building a sustainable world in order to be an inspiration to other teams working on building a sustainable world and BiH. Thank you to UNDP and Sweden for recognizing our efforts to build a sustainable world”, said Izudin Neimarlija, member of the board of Tvornica cementa Kakanj.
“Using the compass of the SDGs will create new jobs, reduce inequality and poverty and protect the environment for future generations. This will be vital to improve the resilience of our societies and safeguard the future of both people and planet. Sweden has set out to become the world’s first fossil-free welfare nation by 2045. The fight against climate change and air pollution is one of Sweden’s top priorities, a fight which is closely linked to transitioning towards a green economy and realization of the SDGs”, stated Mr Torgny Svenungsson, Deputy Head of Mission of Swedish Embassy. He also added that they were very happy with the participation of the private sector in fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2030.
The SDG Business Pioneers Award recognizes and accentuates the efforts of private sector companies related to achieving the SDGs in BiH as well as motivates new entrepreneurs to create their business models in accordance with the SDGs. It is organized under the project “SDGs Roll-Out Support and Private Sector engagement” which is implemented by the UNDP in BiH, and funded by Sweden.
“We are proud to award companies, SDG Business Pioneers in meeting SDGs 8 and 10 in Bosnia and Herzegovina and who have thus shown their attitude towards decent work and growth, as well as reducing inequality in this country. Today, we focus on the achievements of the private sector and use this opportunity to celebrate their success, which is a guide for everyone else. We are proud that the awarding of SDG Business Pioneers in Bosnia and Herzegovina has become a tradition, for the second year in a row, while having in mind that this year we have twice the number of applicants, ie. 106 apllications from 71 companies”, said Steliana Nedera, UNDP Resident Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
This award is unique in many ways. Namely, the trophy was made by an architect from Sarajevo, part of the Smart Sarajevo initative, by using a unique robotic arm that serves as a 3D printer. Also, recycled material, filament, which was produced in Doboj, was used to 3D print the award. The trophy was designed by Mirna Putica, product designer. The essence of the award is to encourage thinking about sustainable development in practice. The idea of 3D printed trophies made of recycled plastic for the SDG Business Pioneers was inspired by the work of the UNDP Accelerator Lab on the establishment of workspaces with no disposable plastic.
This year’s SDG Business Pioneers Awards in BiH were presented by the winners of the covIDEJA 2020 ideaton, jointly organized by UNDP in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bit Alliance with the aim of gathering ideas from the public for overcoming the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis in all aspects of our life and work. covIDEJA is an initiative supported by the UNDP Accelerator Lab in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as part of a global network of knowledge and innovation, and today’s awards were presented by Elvira Delić (SMART COV-ring), Dženan Kovačić (Vault nanoplatform), Lamija Džaferović (Kupi više da BiH diše!) and Branko Petrović (Educor).
The focus of this year’s SDGs Business Pioneers Award are the creation of quality jobs and environmental protection, and the final selection included 23 companies out of a total of 106 applications submitted by 71 companies. The methodology for evaluating applications was developed based on the methodology of the UN Global Compact and adapted to the local context. The evaluation process was entrusted to an expert expert commission consisting of Vjekoslav Domljan, Maja Čolović-Daul and Marko Kakuća.