How to be world class in BiH - Apple's Miralem Salihovic inspires many
Apple & BH Futures Foundation? Yes your heard right! Miralem Salihovic, from Apple joined as at our “Breakfast & Chat” to the delight of our scholars and industry partner Softhouse Consulting. Besides being the Head of Solutions & Technology, Apple Media Products, Miralem Salihovic is also an amazing mentor in our foundation. Last year he mentored Andrej Perkovic from Banja Luka and this year he is mentoring Rados Veselinovic from East Sarajevo. Our members gathered to enjoy breakfast and a chat with Miralem on the topic of “How to be world-class in Bosnia & Herzegovina”.
The story of Miralem is quite intriguing. Even though he is in Big Tech now, his professional journey started at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Tuzla. Since he was obsessed with technology from an early age, he became a self taught computer whizz. Migrating to America in 2010, he worked for several companies before being contacted by Apple itself to join their crew to manage projects worth millions of dollars. Last year, he joined our Foundation as a Mentor.
The meetup kicked off with the presentation of BHFF to Miralem and Softhouse employees. From that point on, Miralem took over, where he didn’t quite formally present but rather moderated a two-way discussion. Notable topics covered were lack of agility in large companies and how smaller Balkan IT companies could use this as an advantage. Miralem also translated his remarkable experience and rise to Tech Stardom into concrete advice and steps for our students to use. One thing he constantly emphasized is the one characteristic of people from BiH and the region, which is a huge competitive advantage of our diaspora in the West, and that is making decisions and taking risks. Conversely, characteristics people in BIH lack and that would prove to be a competitive advantage in this region is toning down your ego and transferring knowledge to your peers and fellow stakeholders.
The talks had such a productive and fruitful flow that it lasted for more than three hours (instead of the planned two). The feedback from our students is that they are thrilled they had the opportunity to listen to such an inspirational story and super excited for the upcoming projects Miralem has in store for our students.
What is worth noting is that two of our scholars got up at 3 am and drove from Banja Luka to Sarajevo to meet Miralem. That is the BH Futures Foundation dedication and spirit.
