Activity Programs

SME Serbia 2030: SME 100 Expo – Conference-exhibition on the contribution of Serbian SMEs to sustainable development and further opportunities

The event SME Serbia 2030: SME100 Expo was held on June 1, 2022 in MIND Park in Kragujevac, with the aim of highlighting the development potential of the domestic economy embodied in carefully selected MSP100, leading in Serbia and small and medium by international standards. This event was an opportunity to empower and inspire each other, talk and connect, and launch initiatives that will support the development of SMEs and direct their strength towards the achievement of goals for the whole society.

First of all, we take this opportunity to warmly thank the Ambassador of Germany, Thomas Schieb, as well as the Ambassador of Switzerland, Urs Schmid, who came to Kragujevac to see and open the exhibition with words of encouragement for the effort to gather and hear the voice of leading SMEs.

Furthermore, you can watch a video of panel 1 on YouTube (slightly truncated, due to technical problems at the very beginning), where the participants pointed out that “hidden champions” play an extremely important role in the development of a powerful industrial country such as Germany, and that it is important to hear about hidden champions, not to remain hidden, because in that way increase the interest of young people in employment outside large urban agglomerations – where Champions are more frequent employers. We have also heard that in Ireland, a country known for its success in its efforts to attract quality foreign investors, there is also a separate government agency dedicated to the development of SMEs, and their internationalization. Finally, we heard that the hidden champions in Slovenia organized themselves in the “Slovenian business club”, and thus achieved that their word is heard very clearly and loudly when making public policies.

Then, at three round tables (which were hard to break for lunch!), a list of proposed initiatives was discussed, which you can still find on the next link. You can also find information about SME 100 at this link.

In the second, final panel, we heard that there are already some reform efforts moving in the direction of the proposed initiatives. As the most interesting, we single out the words of Mr. Chadez, the president of the PKS, who believes that the time has come to establish a truly independent and strategically positioned development bank in Serbia. He also announced greater efforts to adapt teacher profiles in Serbia to the needs of the economy. From Mr. Miljan Ždrale, EBRD Director for Southeast and Central Europe, we heard that it is really an anomaly that Serbia does not support export guarantees in any way, as well as the importance and possibilities of further development of capital markets that provide far more opportunities in neighboring countries. financing its SMEs. From the Assistant Minister Mr. Obradović, we have heard how important it is for the economy to propose very concrete proposals, as well as that there is a site “Entrepreneurship” which can now be used to inform about everything that the state is doing to support SMEs.

Finally, the event ended with a very inspiring panel – a conversation that our celebrated journalist Jelena Zorić had with Rade Šerbedžija and Dragan Bjelogrlić (who do not need a presentation) about how film and culture can go hand in hand with entrepreneurship. You can take a look at the site in the gallery and we will continue to publish the materials from the conference on CEVES channels

Once again, we owe our gratitude to the Sustainable Development for All Platform implemented by GIZ with the support of the Swiss and German governments, without which this event would not be possible, as well as to MIND Park for recognizing the idea and believing in it from the beginning. . We are also grateful to the Embassy of Slovenia in Belgrade for additional support and media partners: NIN, Nova Ekonomija, E-Kapija, Diplomacy & Commerce.

 

You can find SME 100 initiatives here. 

For more information, you can visit the MSP 100 official website.

You can see videos of the conference panels on our YouTube channel.

CEVES and TOC – strengthening the perspective of local sustainable development

CEVES and TOC – strengthening the perspective of local sustainable development

Within the “Sustainable Development for All” Platform, CEVES and TOC held a meeting in the city administration of Pirot on February 28, 2022 with representatives of the city and the Regional Development Agency South (RRA South), and presented the document “Findings and recommendations for the localization of the economic dimension of sustainable development in the Mid-Term Development Plan of the City of Pirot”. Among those present at the meeting were Kori Udovicki, president of CEVES, Goran Radisavljević, director of TOC, Miloš Colić, deputy mayor of Pirot, Marija Đošić, head of the office for local economic development and Dragana Stojanović, director of RRA South.

Ten-month research, in cooperation with city representatives, showed that the key goals of local economic development are: 1) positioning Pirot as a center and driver of economic development; 2) diversification of the economy and development of the private, especially SME sector and 3) utilization of natural wealth for the development of tourism, agriculture and green energy while improving the quality of the environment. The presentation of the analysis on the integration of the sustainable development goals of the 2030 Agenda into the Mid-Term Development Plan of the city of Pirot was followed by a discussion on past and future plans, as well as the challenges that the city of Pirot faces on its way to achieving economic development and the 2030 Agenda. The discussion generated ideas for initiatives on how the development can be improved, some of which are the need to strengthen the system of inter-municipal cooperation, as well as the possible improvement of the regulation of cooperatives in order to facilitate cooperation between small and medium-sized enterprises based on the Italian and other models. You can view the presentation at the following link

You can see more about the meeting at the link.

 

 

The Economic Opportunity Monitor

This program aims to strengthen the coherence and lengthen the time-horizon of decentralized market action, and government policies, by filling a major gap in Serbia’s knowledge of its peculiar economic structure and performance, and by generating the knowledge needed to develop an evidence-based dialogue about development and sector strategy visions for the country.

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Microeconomic Factors of Succces

Studies factors of economic growth from the enterprise perspective to recommend policies that can enhance enterprise performance and growth, and to create a knowledge pool that will provide enterprises with specific solutions for some of their most acute problems.

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Institutional Design for Growth

This program covers a broad range of issues, regarding the institutional framework necessary to insure much greater stability of government policies, their design in support of growth, legal security, competitiveness, transparency and social participation. It pays attention not only to regulations and organizational structures but also to what people understand institutions to be – how they interpret and apply them.

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The Growth Incubator

Mobilizes and capacitates stakeholders to create/initiate both government and non-government institutional solutions and development projects in support of economic growth and decent job generation. Initiatives generated by this program can range from bringing together stakeholders to design and advocate for regulatory solutions that could be especially supportive of a particular kind of market undertaking, to providing content and know-how for technology parks and incubators.

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Outreach

Departs from standard dissemination of think tank work, by identifying and tailoring its communication to three kinds of stakeholders: 1. Experts (and policy-makers), 2. Business community & entrepreneurs, and 3. General public.

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