"The difference between women and men in terms of abilities and capabilities is in the expectations of society. These expectations are always conservative, with a lot of prejudice against women and always hidden by invisible barriers," said Managing Director of Ekopak, Amela Hrbat.

Hrbat adds that the success of women in leading positions is best evidenced by the fact that a quarter of companies are owned by women and that there are far fewer insolvent companies run by women than companies run by men.

"Ekopak is a company that became the first and leading operator of the packaging and packaging waste management system by obtaining a license from the Federal Ministry of Environment and Tourism in 2012. It was a great honor for me that these renowned companies have trusted me since the beginning of Ekopak's work. Until I was appointed to this position, I acquired and perfected my knowledge and skills at Coca-Cola BH for almost 14 years and I am very proud of that period and happy to have had the opportunity to educate and gain leadership experience in a multinational company. Business in the highest standards, which made me ready to accept the challenges that awaited. In Ekopak I was responsible to establish Ekopak as a company like any company with all the obligations arising from the relevant laws. At the same time, due to the specific work of Ekopak, I was obliged to obtain a license from the relevant ministry for the operator of the packaging management system and packaging waste, establish a system on the ground and manage on the one hand taxpayers (producers, importers, distributors) and on the other collectors of packaging waste" said Hrbat.

Speaking about the pandemic, Hrbat points out that Ekopak also significantly felt the consequences of the pandemic in the past business year.

"I stated in the work program I presented to the Ekopak Supervisory Board that despite the pandemic, I want to contribute to the further development and improvement of Ekopak's business and that I consider new circumstances a new challenge and that I am determined to continue working on Ekopak's prosperity. Ekopak has achieved a good operational and financial result in the past year. In this difficult period, we always provided comprehensive fact-based information to our clients and we at Ekopak are always at their disposal. Ekopak has a good international reputation due to the fact that we have harmonized our business system with international standards. That is why Ekopak is the only equal member in Bosnia and Herzegovina of two important umbrella international organizations in the field of packaging waste management, Expra and PRO EUROPE, whose headquarters are in Brussels” says Hrbat.

What is the position of women today?

"International Women's Day is a world event, when we sublimate all the demands of women that were then publicly proclaimed, we can say that it was, and still remains a call for gender equality. At this historic event, which took place in New York in 1908, women demanded the right to vote, better working conditions, higher wages and shorter working hours. What has been achieved in BiH since then? Although time has passed, women's equality with men is still far from being fully realized. Even today, women are not sufficiently involved in the business and political sphere. Even in the business world, I believe that even today there are prejudices and a different attitude if the company is managed by a woman, despite achieving exceptional results that no one can deny or underestimate. Then, violence against women is very present in our society. For me as a woman, it is unacceptable that no street in Sarajevo is named after Klara Cetkin anymore. And that says a lot about the position of women in Bosnia and Herzegovina. While doing this job in Ekopak I have the opportunity to meet very capable and successful women entrepreneurs, whether they are business owners or managers in companies of a different ownership structure. I talk to these women and I recognize the great potential of each of them to develop their ideas, to create new values ​​", stressed Hrbat.

She adds that Women's Day is mostly reduced to flowers, dinners, and maybe a few trips (to a pandemic).

"Women need complete equality with men without prejudices and invisible barriers. And, give us back Klara Cetkin to Sarajevo. I take this opportunity to congratulate all women International Women's Day " said Hrbat.