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On the same line, Centrotrans earns three times more than GRAS
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“I was never in the red, but I had no money”
SARAJEVO – For 39 years, he has held a managerial position in one of the most successful transport companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina – “Centrotrans”. He went from manual worker, clerk, secretary, through director to the largest domestic shareholder in the company. Only the German company Sejari has more shares.
Podcast guest “Never in the minus” Safudin Čengić is the president of the Economic and Social Council of FBiH.
Čengić has been the director of “Centrotrans” for the past 16 years, which currently employs around 630 workers and has a fleet of over 200 buses. About 70 craftsmen work daily on their maintenance alone.
The podcast “Never in the minus” speaks openly to the competition with which they have successfully coped for decades, the state of the passenger transport market, but also his inspiring personal journey.
CAPITAL: In Sarajevo Canton, in addition to the public company GRAS, you also provide public city transport. How is it that it pays off for you, and GRAS is in constant doubt?
Cengic: The company “Centrotrans” celebrated its 75th anniversary last year. In the last 40 years, I am the third director at “Centrotrans”. In GRAS or some other companies, ten directors change in ten years. This cannot lead to good results. I have information for the year 2024 that on the same route on which we and GRAS drive, the income of “Centrotrans” is almost three times higher than that of GRAS, and we do the same work, with the same number of train units. It must be questioned why this is so.
He demonstrated his ability by purchasing a forklift
CAPITAL: Is the only company you worked for Centrotrans?
Cengic: That. I finished university at the age of 21. When I graduated, I came home and told my mother that I had graduated, and she took out a banknote from behind the TV, it could have been 100 KM in today’s terms, and said here you are to treat the company. I did that, but in the morning I left to get a job.
CAPITAL: Is it true that you started working as a manual laborer after college?
Cengic: I got a job at “Centrotrans” as a manual worker, worked for six and a half months, and then I did other jobs, and after four years I became a director where I worked as a manual worker.
CAPITAL: What did you do physically?
Cengic: I am together with one, his name was Bešo, who was 1.55 tall, and I was 1.97, and the two of us pull a cart with either finished products or castings, and then the two of us pull, and dozens of people watch and they laugh, because I’m two meters, and he’s 1.55m. But I became great friends with Beša and we did it with pleasure.
CAPITAL: You progressed quickly…
Cengic: I started working as a clerk because I had a university degree. After three years, I became the secretary of that OUR, and due to unfortunate circumstances, the director passed away. He had a stroke, and then I was appointed acting for a month. The procedure lasted for some three to four months. In three months, I managed to change some things and buy forklifts and cranes, and then people said – you can do this.
CAPITAL: Was it easier for Beša?
Cengic: Certainly it was easier for him because we bought forklifts back then.
The ticket to Belgrade and Zagreb cost like dry gold
CAPITAL: How is it that you are one of the few companies that continued to do well after the war?
Cengic: In 1994, we bought the first buses for “Centrotrans”, then they considered us crazy, there is war on all sides, and we buy buses. In the pre-war period, we worked quite well. Especially during the period of departure from Sarajevo. It was more valuable to get a bus ticket to Belgrade or Zagreb than gold, I don’t know what kind they give you. We worked as hard as we could and didn’t spend that money.
CAPITAL: How much are the assets of “Centrotrans” valued today?
Cengic: The book value is somewhere around 65 million. Marketable, probably much larger. Although, when it comes to market price, it is determined when you sell something, and how much someone is willing to pay.
CAPITAL: Have you ever been in the red?
Cengic: I was never there myself, but I had no money. This means that I have never taken out a loan or borrowed money to buy anything. I always earned first and then bought. When it comes to “Centrotrans”, I can proudly say that there were no minuses, except for the war years and times of crisis.
Watch the entire interview with Safudin Čengić at CAPITAL TV.
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Source: capital.ba
