Success out of war-torn past

For entrepreneur Edina Dizdarevic, a positive attitude and lots of willpower are the keys to success, writes Rozana Sani

SITTING confidently in her spanking new office in Desa Kiara, Kuala Lumpur, Edina Dizdarevic is in her element as she chats with a client on the phone.

The 36-year-old managing director and co-owner of public relations firm, Swot Communications Sdn Bhd, smiles warmly as she ends the conversation. Noting that she and her team will have to get right down to business straight away, she walks to the door and calls out to two of her 10-strong team members.

They settle down at her desk and start to brainstorm on the best PR campaign to suit the client’s needs. After a mug of coffee and some animated discussion, a proposal is in the making for the client — one of five clients that Swot Communications is currently handling. As they finish up, Dizdarevic looks at her watch and wonders whether she has time to go for a five-km run, which she tries to do as often as time permits. And she decides that she can do so before she cooks dinner and have a relaxing evening in her condominium unit later.
The scenario couldn’t have been more different than the time when she was a 17-year-old in war-torn Bosnia. Her decision to leave all that she knew for a shot at a better life had paid off tremendously.

“Three months after my 17th birthday, the war in Bosnia started, and I was part of it for six months. Then I had enough! When you find yourself dreaming of running water, electricity and real eggs, you know your life must change. I heard of UIA (International Islamic University Malaysia) and the programme they were running for the Bosnian kids. I jumped on it with the determination to walk there on foot if I had to,” she recalls.

Thankfully Dizdarevic didn’t need to. But the trip from her hometown to the Zagreb (Croatia) airport, which ordinarily takes four hours, took two days.
“We were shot at and twice stopped by the unfriendly army, insinuating that they were thinking of getting the girls to work in their pleasure camps. Finally, in October 1992, I arrived in Malaysia. We landed at the Subang airport, and I still remember drawing in the first breath of

Malaysian air which smelled like cloves. The trees were lit and everyone was smiling. It was like waking up from a nightmare.”
Dizdarevic did not hear from her family for a whole year after arriving here, as there were no phone lines or mail routes opened in Bosnia.

“I didn’t know if the three of them (my parents and elder sister) were dead or alive. Realisation dawned then, that I alone was in charge of my life and everything that was about to unfold was going to be my doing — good or bad, laughter or tears. No one was coming to save me and obviously life owed me nothing. I had just gone through an ordeal. We lost all we had in the war. I lived in bomb shelters for six months and now I was on my own. No sudden lottery jackpot, no distant relative who left me an inheritance. I was on my own — an overweight 17-year-old, with no money and not even able to speak English.”

Dizdarevic took the notion of being responsible for her own happiness seriously. She learned English within six months so that she could work and support herself while completing a degree in Communications and learned Bahasa Malaysia from her fellow undergraduates and flatmates.

“Then, I decided to stay here for a year or two to learn the ropes. I got my first job with Dataprep Holdings. Two years came and went, and I realised that Malaysia was home.”

She went on to work for a few other companies until she decided to start Swot Communications in 2005. At that time, she recalls, there were some 2,000 PR agencies around but less than 10 with technology PR capabilities, which was her strength.
“I truly wanted a consultancy agency that was not pigeonholed into a PR, social media or events. We don’t care which route(s) we need to take — PR, social media or on ground initiatives — it is the end goal that matters. And the end goal we like the most is a full-on engagement of target audiences and tangible business results,” she says, in a matter-of-fact manner.

And she is quite pleased with what Swot Communications have done so far.
“For the past two years, we have been exactly where I want us to be. We have worked with over 40 multinational and local companies to date, so it’s hard to be brief about projects we truly enjoyed working on.

“However most recently, YTL’s Yes, the Fastest 4G Mobile Internet with Voice, has been keeping our creative juices pumping. When you work with a great product like Yes, that you fully believe in, it’s easy to be infectious in spreading the excitement around.
“In the six months leading to the launch of Yes, we saw more than 500 stories in the media about it and 15,000 people were waiting at the doors of the Yes stores when they opened for business. I take pride in hearing people around me talking about how they think of Yes as the mobile broadband here that always works.”

A clear example of how Swot Communications blended PR and online communications, was last year’s launch of the Epson-sponsored Steve McCurry’s first exhibition here, titled A Common Faith: Steve McCurry’s Travels Through The Muslim World.

“We had a meeting of minds with Epson and went beyond the original objective, which was to hold a media conference to inform people about the exhibition. We went on to create an online photo contest called Faith And The Common Good, with McCurry as the judge. His rationale for the winning choices was a fantastic endorsement and the outstanding response from the Malaysian aspiring professional photographers. Then, we went a step further and held an eBay charity auction for McCurry’s autographed A2 size print, Ship Breaking Yard, Karachi, which saw some 50 bids. It sold for RM5,000, which was donated to Rumah Nur Salam. As a result, the exhibition was in the media almost every day for the whole three months of its instalment and it was very well received until the closing day.”
What of Dizdarevic’s future plans? After 19 years here, it is clear that Malaysia is her home.

“Swot will focus on providing depth of service to our clients and working with clients who want measurable results that make a difference and who believe in creating meaningful and engaging content instead of just stories.”
Personally, Dizdarevic will be dedicating part of her time to coach a few Bosnian orphans on how to change their lot in life but she has a feeling that it may grow into something bigger.

“I grew up surrounded by strong women and it was a blessing. We laughed a lot. I still believe that laughter is what keeps you young and happy. Their quirks and strength have taught me that imagination and creativity know no bounds. They made me hunger for success and taught me the determination to make it happen.

“All that shaped a lot of what I am today. I’ve been driven most of my life by the need to beat the odds and change my lot in life. Each time someone said ‘it cannot be done’, I wanted it. The women in my life taught me such mule-headed determination that I once completed a 10km run even after a Myvi ran over my foot in the third kilometre. The same sort of determination drives everything I do in life — business, relationships, learning to speak English, German and Bahasa Malaysia, losing 20kg, running my first half marathon recently, conquering my fear of heights and now, really enjoying rock climbing,” says Dizdarevic, with pride.

Edina Dizdarevic,

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