The only European among the top 10 young world innovators according to the US science magazine 'Bio Space' is Bosnian-born Sana Alajmovic who grew up in Sweden where she fled from the 1992-1995 war.

Speaking to Radio Free Europe, the 32-year-old said five years ago she came up with the idea to form the ‘Sigrid Therapeutics’ – a company that invented its own biotechnology that helps people lower their blood sugar levels which, as a result, can lower the risk of diabetes type 2.

“We use nanotechnologies. We succeeded in inventing an entirely different material that was never used before. We patented it. The material moves through intestines collecting enzymes. It lowers blood sugar, cholesterol and obesity,” Sana Alajmovic said.

Her company is one of the leading ones in the market and the best start-up in northern Europe. Many investors from across the world are interested in their product and she claims that Chinese are the most prominent ones. Her company conducted clinical studies on humans in Sweden and Finland where they proved their product works, she said.

“I wasn't the one who came up with the idea. The idea was the product of the youngest professor in Sweden studying diabetes Tore Bengtsson. He's been studying this for 20 years and he patented his invention, but he's not an economist. He didn't have a vision of making a company which would deal with his invention – he focused on his research. When I saw it, I told him that his invention can change people's lives, that it could be a global product,” Alajmovic said.

“I suggested we join up, that I would look for investors and speak with authorities and that he would focus on research. We succeeded in organising ourselves. We've been in existence for over five years and we got SEK 100 million from investors,” she added.

Several pharmaceutical companies are fighting over their product. Two years ago they were offered to sell their company but they refused because they wanted to work and develop independently.

Sana Alajmanovic came to Sweden as a five-year-old, fleeing with her family from war-engulfed Bosnia. The beginning was not easy, she told Radio Free Europe, nor was the adjustment period, the new language and culture.

“Sweden is very well organised and structured country. Education and health care are free. When we first came here we were poor. Many Swedes helped us in the beginning,” she recalls.

All the studying paid off and she graduated from the Faculty of Economics in Stockholm.

Seven years ago, a Swedish magazine placed Sana Alajmovic among the top 101 Swedish super talents. The Genetic Engineering magazine named her among the top 10 under 40 leaders in 2019 in biomedicine. She said she and her company do like the awards, but that they are only at the beginning.

“It's nice that we got all the awards, and that's all fine, but my goal is to have a successful product on the market which people could use. I think we're just starting,” Alajmanovic noted.

Speaking about her roots, she said she is proud of her heritage, but she cannot ignore the fact she grew up in Sweden.

“When I was younger, I was ashamed of the fact I wasn't Swedish. Now I'm proud of having two cultures,” she added.

Her wish is to be the person that will connect Bosnia and Sweden. Her message to the youth is that, in the age of the internet, they can bring about the change they want to see.