Will not give in small: Hastor with his wife Mirsada at the Sarajevo Film Festival 2016.
Image: mauritius images / Jasmin Brutus
Volkswagen supplier Prevent paralyzed parts of VW production in 2016 in the dispute over payment terms. Since then, an argument has raged – and VW even considered asking Schröder and Putin for help on the matter.
Nijaz Hastor is rarely seen in public. The Bosnian entrepreneur handed over the day-to-day business of his extensive branch empire to his sons Kenan and Damir years ago. Last year, however, when his Prevent Group celebrated its 20th anniversary, the company patriarch was there too. In front of more than 6,000 employees in the industrial city of Zenica near Sarajevo, Hastor recalled the beginnings of the company with a few dozen employees and the rise to one of the most important suppliers to the automotive industry with locations in Europe, Asia, South America and Africa.
Correspondent for South Eastern European countries based in Vienna.
Participants reported that Hastor had cheered the employees on to further top performances “so that we could celebrate the next anniversary in the Koševo stadium”. This testifies to healthy self-confidence: The Koševo Stadium in Sarajevo, where the Olympic Winter Games opened in 1984, is the largest sports arena in the country with almost 35,000 seats – a voluminous stage for a company party. In fact, Prevent is going through difficult times because the Bosnians have lost their major customer, the Volkswagen Group, which has been their most important customer for many years. And this in a dispute, the progress of which is not only spellbound for the German automotive industry.