On Thursday, June 28, the winners of the “Realizing Your Dream” business plan competition, organized under the auspices of USAID’s Contingency Planning and Economic Security program, will be announced at an award ceremony. U.S. Ambassador Michael C. Polt will preside over the award announcement.
On Thursday, June 28, the winners of the “Realizing Your Dream” business plan competition, organized under the auspices of USAID’s Contingency Planning and Economic Security program, will be announced at an award ceremony. U.S. Ambassador Michael C. Polt will preside over the award announcement.
The Economic Security component of the program was initiated in areas of central, south western and southern Serbia where there is high unemployment and a lack of adequate and accessible resources for people to adapt in the transition process towards a market economy. The program works to support private sector development, encourage entrepreneurship, and help vulnerable people such as chronically unemployed and redundant workers, IDPs and refugees, youth and the rural poor to improve their marketable skills to succeed in the changing market conditions.
In late winter of this year, USAID’s program conducted a competition to identify businesses with opportunities and to support private sector development in the program’s target municipalities: Kraljevo, Kursumlija, Presevo, Bujanovac, Medvedja, Novi Pazar and Prijepolje. Local business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs submitted more than 550 concept papers. Of those, 135 concepts were accepted to be submitted as full business plans. During March and April, USAID provided three-day training courses in business plan preparation focusing on overall business planning, marketing and communications and finances for the 135 entrepreneurs with “winning concepts” and other entrepreneurs showing strong interest. The enthusiasm of existing local business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs resulted in the submission of 108 business plans, out of which 41 were selected based on innovation, prospects for job growth and/or specific market opportunities. Winners are eligible for a variety of assistance from USAID’s project, including training, technical and/or other support which will help them realize their dream in the next six to eighteen months. Those that were not selected can use their sound business plans to approach other investors or banks.
The final selection of the Business Plan Competition winners was done by 13 business professionals and top notch experts in banking, finance, marketing and management who were recruited from: Alpha Bank Serbia a.d., Communis advertising agency, Copernicus Capital venture capital firm, Eurobank EFG Štedionica a.d., Findomestic Banka a.d., Hypo Alpe Adria Bank a.d., Idea Plus Communications advertising agency, authorized Pepsi Cola bottling company A&P d.o.o., Raiffeisen banka a.d. and South Balkan Fund (SEAF).