2020. The year we were all so eager to leave behind has taught us SO much. Right?
It put everyone and everything into perspective. It taught us that planning too far ahead is just wishful thinking, that not all agile teams are truly agile, that powerful stories can emerge even when least expected, that partnerships based on trust always prevail… and so much more!
Despite the year being one of the most challenging in the history of the modern world, we swam through it with hearts on our sleeves and minds on the same goal:
To preserve everything we’ve built and learn as much as we can from the given situation while staying as positive and connected as possible!
Before we get into all the glorious moments that painted the picture of our perseverance, it wouldn’t be fair to leave out the Mistral TOP 3 – 2020 scares:
1. Our culture will take a huge hit as we’re so keen on frequent (live) gatherings,
2. Many clients will put a temporary freeze on product development,
3. The general motivation for work will decrease Speedy Gonzales style.
Didn’t happen. The culture we spent a decade building ended up being stronger than we could possibly imagine, helping us pull through stronger. Only one smaller engagement was frozen causing almost zero-damage, while a few brand new clients were onboarded later in the year! And as for motivation and productivity – it skyrocketed. Everyone was eager to give their best in times as challenging as these. Kudos to the entire community!
As for the TOP 2020 awesome moments that marked this year, here are our favorites:
We Turned 10!
18 October 2010 was the date Mistral Technologies opened its doors to business.
Despite the pandemic, we had to mark our BIG 10th anniversary. As a token of love for our crew, we created gifts that are 100% organic, hand-made, and by our local artisans. Our CEO Mersed wrote cards for each individual in our crew! Here’s a recap on this lovely and important milestone. Oh, and we teamed up with Let’s Do It and planted 174 trees, on Bjelašnica (Dejčići), one for each Mistral person.
Strategic Partnership with the Golden OCP Crew
We are raising up the bar with our new partnership.
We’ve partnered up with the team of Olympia Capital Partners (OCP), a global independent private equity firm. The plan for the future is to integrate our business activities with the goal of creating new software hubs. This translates to expanding our businesses across Europe and the USA. This partnership will also be beneficial for the development of the IT industry in Bosnia and Herzegovina and beyond.
Deloitte Impact Star Award
Among many recognitions, this one we are extremely proud of.
We are a proud recipient of the Impact Star award by Deloitte as part of the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 CE 2020 competition! It is a special category that rewards companies that successfully combine excellent products or services with a positive impact on society, business, innovation, the environment, and/or diversity.
A Partnership Worthy of Red Carpet
Being movie buffs that we are, partnering up with SFF was a dream come true.
As we believe cross-industry cooperation creates the strongest partnerships, we teamed up with the biggest film festival in the region – Sarajevo Film Festival. In the next 5 years, Mistral powered ticketing system will elevate the festival experience for both staff and visitors.
Paragon Full Stack
We are aiming at revolutionizing IT education with our new visionary program.
We have launched Paragon! Mistral’s education team spent 6000 hours in creating a new program for absolute beginners – Paragon full stack! The new program for absolute beginners welcomes everyone who is 18+ and has a desire to join the IT industry as an entry-level full stack web developer.
Full-House of Community Influencers
Getting inspired by true stories and experiences is golden.
In our one-hour Break the Week sessions, we’ve hosted the most interesting individuals across industries. The goal behind was to get introduced to a new topic, or a new perspective. Some of them were Vladimir Grabovac (CEO of Biona, local healthy food brand), Eric Meijer (Senior Vice President for Europe Mach49, the Growth Incubator for Global Businesses), Edyta Jaworek (UX/UI at Google), Una Mesić (SOS DjeÔöÇ├¼ija sela BiH) and many others.
Emir Zec Legacy
In the loving memory of our late colleague, we implemented two important initiatives.
They are:
- Our First Scholarship Recipient
Joining efforts with Bosnia and Herzegovina Futures Foundation, we established a scholarship fund in the name of our beloved late colleague Emir Zec. We are immensely proud of Anes Hajder, the first Emir Zec scholarship recipient. This ambitious, hardworking young man comes from Jajce. Eager to learn and grow, he is currently pursuing his academic path in architecture.
- The Most Selfless Person
Chosen by popular Mistral vote – our one and only Hiba won the first Most Selfless Person Award in Mistral. She has been with us from the very beginning, over 9 years, and is most certainly one of the people that make us who we are. Hiba made a donation to the team Ispuni mi želju. Emir’s family also contributed to the donation, as well as another anonymous donor.
Thank you!
Amid the difficulties of 2020, there have been many fantastic moments and wins that we want to take into our 2021. Thanks to every individual across all our teams in Mistral, who really rose to the challenging year and really made the best of it. Thank you, our extended community, for being part of our journey.
Last but not least, here is a video of Mistral 2020 in a nutshell:
Here’s to a happy and healthy 2021!