As Poslovni Dnevnik/Bernard Ivezic writes on the 12th of February, 2020, Croatia’s highly successful Infobip has started the construction of its third campus in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, which, according to initial announcements, will be larger than the one in Vodnjan and will gain on the largest, which is being built in Zagreb. The leading Croatian software company has purchased four building lots covering a total area of 4230 square metres at the location of Šip.
The value of the contract is 503,000 BAM, which is approximately HRK 1.9 million. Although the price of construction land in Bosnia and Herzegovina is lower than it is in Croatia, the plans Infobip has in the capital of the neighbouring country are no less ambitious than those in Croatia. The Sarajevo campus will cover an area of 8500 square metres. Currently, the company employs more than 160 professionals in this city, and with this investment, it will be able to offer jobs to more than 500 people in one place.
According to these indicators, it is the largest IT investment in Bosnia and Herzegovina in decades. Infobip has already begun the process of choosing an architectural solution for the new campus. It is said to have been opened to some of the best regional players and should be done within the next two months. Although it is unknown how much the total investment in Sarajevo will be, for comparison, the new campus in Zagreb is reportedly worth an investment totalling HRK 120 million.
The expansion in Sarajevo is part of Infobip’s growing regional positioning, strengthening the base in preparation for the New York Stock Exchange in the next few years, in line with announcements made by Silvio Kutic, co-founder and CEO.
According to Poslovni Dnevnik, as part of the reorganisation, Infobip has decided to transform its campus in Vodnjan into its global headquarters, a new campus in Zagreb into a business headquarters for Europe, while the campus in Bosnia and Herzegovina will become the headquarters for operations in the Middle East and North Africa, the so-called MENA region. Dino Ibrahimovic, director of the MENA region at Infobip, says that in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the company’s plans are to significantly increase its number of employees in line with the company’s plan to create 1,000 new jobs globally in 2020.
He stresses that the Sarajevo campus, with more than 500 employees, will become one of Infobip’s key development centres and a strategic hub for the MENA region.
“Because our current business premises aren’t big enough for us, building a modern IT campus for all employees in the wider Sarajevo area is a logical step in view of the projected growth of our office,” says Ibrahimovic. The first Infobip campus “Pangea”, the one in Vodnjan, whose opening three years ago was attended by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, covers a total of 17,000 square metres, and in its available office space, it has a capacity of 5600 square metres intended for two hundred employees.
The Alpha Centauri campus in Zagreb, which is being built rapidly in St. Klara, and which will be the largest, will cover 20,000 square metres and will have as much as 11,900 square feet of office space on seven floors.
According to Infobip, construction is progressing as planned. The ground floor is finished and the second floor is currently being completed. The Alpha Centauri campus is expected to receive its first tenants by the end of this year.
“There are no further plans for the construction of new campuses in the region, but there are plans to increase the capacity of all our offices in Croatia – in Vodnjan, Zagreb, Rijeka and Split,” Infobip explained.
Commenting on the construction of a campus in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dino Ibrahimovic said that the Sarajevo municipality of Centar showed the highest level of willingness of all levels of government in the country to support IT companies.
“Our long-term goal is to retain young talent in Bosnia and Herzegovina and we’re aware that a job alone is not enough for that purpose, but we as a company will provide a secure workplace, certain benefits and working conditions that are comparable to the world’s largest companies,” says Ibrahimovic.
Globally, Infobip is undergoing a major expansion, aiming to double its headcount by 2022 to 4,500, with the highest growth expected in the entire region. The company has so far opened 67 offices on all continents except Antarctica. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, besides Sarajevo, a brand new Infobip office has recently been opened in Tuzla, employing 25 professionals, and it plans to increase that figure to 80.
Nedzad Ajnadzic, Mayor of the Sarajevo Centar Municipality, expressed his satisfaction that they had completed their administrative work, followed by the issuance of a planning and construction permit.
“I have high expectations of this project and my opinion is that the IT Park is one of the largest development projects for this local community and beyond,” says Ajnadzic. He added that all engineers of the future IT park will also be offered the opportunity by his municipality to resolve housing issues through the purchase of an apartment with an interest free loan.
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