March 2010

In order to preserve all good effects made from “Micro credit scheme for Young entrepreneurs In South East Europe” project, ALDA and LDA’s in Serbia made new successful meeting. Meeting took place in Niš, during 10th and 11th of March 2010. This two days meeting was key point of the whole negotiation process that organizations made, since the ending of the first project phase in October 2009.

Norway mission in Serbia

Major person in the meeting was Mr. Olav Reinertsen, senior advisor in Department of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway. He was here to evaluate whole process and to make a suggestion for another micro credit season. First phase of the meeting took place in LED office in Niš. During first meeting day Mr. Reinertsen had chance to meet with local stake holders in Niš. Local stakeholders that were attend this meeting are:

• Mr. Olav Reinertsen

Senior adviser in Department for European Affairs and Trade Policy, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairsž

• Mrs. Antonella Valmorbida

Director of ALDA Asociation

• Mr. Milan Ranđelović

Director of the Office for Local Development Department in Niš,

• Mrs. Marija Stanković

Project assistent in  HELP – German Non-governmental Organization in Niš,

• Mrs. Jasna Stevović

Chief of the Regional office Serbian Agency for the Development of Small and Medium sized Enterprises and Entrepreneurship, and President of the Niš Region Start-up Associations Union,

• Mrs. Dragana Vukadinović

Project manager in Niš Bussines Incubator Center

• Mr. Saša Marinkov

Delegate of the LDA CSS office,

• Mr. Marko Došljak

Micro credit consultant in LDA CSS office,

• Mr. Milan Bošnjak

Micro credit consultant in LDA Subotica office.

All good effects of the micro credit project were presented to Mr. Reinertsen during the first meeting session. Also, all participants took part in dialogue, representing their different types of activities in SME’s development. Participants discussed the possibilities for cooperation between their organizations. Major conclusion was that there is a great opportunity for cooperation between these institutions, and all of them have a same goal – development of SME’s and reducing unemployment in Serbia.

Second meeting session took place in LDA CSS office, in which two LDA Micro credit officers presented their work and good practice examples for 2009. LDA Subotica presented 3 very interested business stories, assumptions for micro credit realization in Vojvodina for 2010, and strategy that will be used in 2010.

DOWNLOAD POWER POINT PRESENTATION HERE:

• Microcredit scheme presentation LDA CSS
• Microcredit scheme presentation LDA Subotica

Second meeting day was dedicated for visit of two successful micro credit stories in Niš. Participants visited two clients:

• ELNI PROM ltd., and
• Hostel in Niš.

Conclusions of the meeting

General conclusion from Niš meeting is that the ALDA credit still is attractive for potential borrowers. Due to great efforts of micro credit consultants and Bank officers, this credit scheme is positioned in Serbian financial market, and there is a constant need for this kind of investment in 2010.

Mr. Olav Reinertsen made a several statements that should be taken into consideration for SME’s development. He said that Norway is ready to help and support all good business ideas in Serbia. Those ideas should be presented in from of business projects. Projects must relate with development aims of Norway in Serbia. These aims include 3 main pillars:

1. Traditional SME development (start-up businesses in particular)
2. Investments in energy and ITC
3. Agricultural development (particularly, investment in HACCP and ISO standardization, and creating market oriented producers)

Also, Mr. Reinertsen underlined the fact that there is a great need for synergy effect, which can be produced if all institutions are working together.

Milan Bošnjak

Micro credit consultant