Bosnia Cheese Shop Thwarts Human Trafficking

By David Snyder

For Mirsada Dedic, each day in her small cheese shop has a familiar, if hectic, pattern. Rise early (today at 2 a.m.), collect the milk, make the cheese, package the cheese and arrive in nearby Sarajevo by early afternoon for several hours of deliveries.

"I haven't [taken a vacation] in years," she says from her small den, which doubles as her office.

As with many entrepreneurs, the line between Mirsada's life and work has blurred as her shop, Cheese Dedic, begins its rise from small-town store to national supplier—a climb she could not have foreseen 10 years ago.

Mirsada lives in the village of Zupca, about 14 miles outside of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. "I had a shop here repairing cars for the army," she explains. "But after the war there was no work. For 5 years I was without any income."

As the country's economy stagnated in the years after the bloody 4-year war, which ended in 1995, Mirsada and her husband managed on what money he could earn as a laborer. They shared a home with his parents, barely getting by.

But then a friend shared his wife's recipe for cheese.

"He had a recipe but he didn't know how to make a business of it," Mirsada says. Though she had never worked with cheese or milk, Mirsada thought the product might just sell.

Setting Up Shop

She set about selling off what tools she and her husband still had from their small repair shop. Knowing she needed capital to convert the garage into a cheese shop, she took a grant of about $4,500 from a nongovernmental agency called BH Women's Initiative Foundation, a partner of Catholic Relief Services. With money borrowed from her father-in-law she bought her first 20 liters of milk, and a cheese shop was born. That was in 2003, and today, Mirsada's shop is flourishing.

"In the beginning it was only one kind of smoked cheese," Mirsada says. "Now I have 14 types of cheese."

Though she produces more than 500 pounds of cheese every day, Mirsada says she cannot keep up with demand. And while her business success is impressive, it is her commitment to the poor communities around Zupca that makes her story special.

Recognizing the impact that poverty has on many women in rural Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mirsada formed a cooperative of 400 local women who provide her with the milk she needs to make her cheese. Others produce the cheese itself, which they sell to Mirsada for packaging and delivery. She has hired eight others to work full-time in her shop, in shifts, seven days a week.

Supported by Catholic Relief Services under the Empowerment for Prevention of Trafficking project, Mirsada's cheese shop helps empower local women, reducing the risk of human trafficking, which is still a threat in Bosnia and Herzegovina—a threat Mirsada is dedicated to minimizing for her employees.

Protecting Women

"All are women," Mirsada says, "And I employ only women because they are the most vulnerable members of society."

Mirsada pays the salaries and benefits of the employees who work in her small shop, two of whom lost both of their parents during the war. She knows that the money she provides to the 400 members of her cooperative is also having a huge impact in poor local communities.

"Usually the women working for me are the only ones working in their families," Mirsada says. "And this is the only income they have."

Mirsada plans to expand as rapidly as she can, employing more women and even seeking export markets. She's focused on growth, sinking every penny she makes back into the business. She works seven days a week, makes all deliveries herself, and sees life through the eyes of one who knows both the horror of war and the privations of its aftermath. Her happiness, she says, comes not from what she has done for the business, but from what she has done with it.

"I am very religious, and I am satisfied even if I only have bread to eat today," Mirsada says. "But I like that others now have money for themselves."

David Snyder is a photojournalist who has traveled to more than 30 countries with CRS.