Due to his long-standing work and effort, Mr. Nijaz Hastor won the hearts of many citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, both the younger and the older ones, and at the beginning of August he officially “won” the heart of Sarajevo. Namely, during the 24th Sarajevo Film Festival Opening Ceremony, the founder of our Foundation received the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award. This award was given to Mr. Hastor in honor of his continuous support for the development of the Sarajevo Film Festival and his remarkable contribution to the affirmation and development of the film industry in Southeast Europe.
Nijaz Hastor is one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Europe, he is the founder of the Hastor Foundation and the founder and owner of ASA Prevent Group, which operates in 12 countries worldwide and employs 14.000 people. Modesty, fairness and dignity are the virtues this entrepreneur, visionary and a true philanthropist is best known for. ASA Prevent Group is the greatest privately-owned company in BH, with 7.500 employees, and is one of the leading exporters.
He was born in Gorazde and completed his primary and secondary education in Ustipraca and Gorazde, as the best student in the generation, afterwards graduating from the Faculty of Economy in Sarajevo. Once he completed his education, he found employment in the Sarajevo Car Factory (TAS) and during the following 15 years he became a manager of exceptional skills, with a unique strategic vision and business philosophy. Going on a business trip to Wolfsburg in 1989 marked the beginning of a new story – an entrepreneurial, developmental, patriotic and philanthropic one. Unobtrusively, slowly but confidently, he began building the great business system that ASA Prevent Group is. At the very core of it is a vision of a stable, progressive and economically successful society. This Group changed the lives of many families for the better.
With the goal to change lives of more families, and especially of young people, the Hastor Foundation was founded and during its 12 years of existence it became the greatest foundation in BH and in the region. The Foundation’s founder, Mr. Hastor, realized that only educated and ambitious young people can make the vision of a stable and economically successful society a reality, and, therefore, the idea to establish a foundation which will help the youth with their education and direct their potential towards the domestic market arose as the right solution. During the past 12 years, the Foundation has provided support for more than 3.000 young people across BH and helped them become successful and responsible citizens, both on the local and the global level.
Besides the support for the education, Mr. Hastor continuously invests into the development of sports, culture and arts, and he was among the first to recognize the significance of the Sarajevo Film Festival for the promotion of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian film industry. The Honorary Heart of Sarajevo, therefore, represents the recognition of his commitment and of his and ASA Group’s support for Bosnia and Herzegovina and its international promotion, both economically and culturally.
Mr. Hastor dedicated this award to his employees and his scholarship holders, and during the ceremony he was joined on stage by our youngest scholarship holders, Amina Salic and Edin Maksumic, as ambassadors of the Hastor Foundation, but also heralds of a brighter future for all of us.
