New programs for helping small companies in March and April – Support to entering supplier chains and promoting export

The Development Agency of Serbia (RAS) has prepared two new programs of support to domestic companies, primarily the sector of small and medium enterprises (SME), which will begin with public invitations planned for March and April 2020.

This is an entirely new Program of Support to Promotion of Exports and Program of Support to Companies for Entering Supplier Chains of Multinational Companies, which was first launched in mid-2019 and is already getting praise from domestic companies – the first beneficiaries of the program, it was announced on the RAS website.

The public invitation for the Program of Support to Entering Supplier Chains of Multinational Companies will open on Monday, March 2, 2020. It is meant for the manufacturing industry (machine, metal, automotive, electronic and electrical, rubber and plastic), and the budget is RSD 290 million.

The program primarily pertains to interventions a company needs to improve its performances and potentially become a supplier for multinational companies. The interventions can take various forms, from addressing problems in operations and management, through acquiring certain certificates or investing in equipment and modernizing the production. After it is determined what needs to be improved in the operations of the potential supplier, funds are set aside within the program for the targeted area.

– We currently have 19 users of the program from the first cycle, with which agreements were signed in December 2019. The first reactions by domestic companies are positive, and it's especially apparent how dedicated the companies are to the activities which are part of the program – RAS says.

The Program of Support to Promotion of Exports is a whole new program of RAS, which provides institutional support to export-oriented companies in the food industry and the wood industry (furniture industry). The program envisages support of RSD 250 million, and the official opening of the public invitation is expected in April.

This program is designed to enable companies to upgrade their operations in three key areas: marketing, production processes and logistics and sale, which the companies themselves previously highlighted as the spheres where they lack knowledge for more successful operations with the world. This means that local companies stand to get a percentage of the money to re-fund the activities within these three areas, which can pertain to branding, digital marketing, educational business trips, development of a new product, IP protection, testing and certification, financial management, conditions of doing business in a foreign market, customs and tax aspects of doing business abroad and so on.

The aim is for companies to learn about how to market their products, about an effective production process and how to find contacts for penetrating foreign markets, while also stimulating the connecting of export-oriented Serbian companies in order to exchange information and make joint ventures in certain international markets.

– What makes these two new programs of support to SMEs different from all the previous programs that RAS has carried out for the SME sector is that a phase of diagnostics of the business performances has been implemented, preceding the decision on allocating the funds. We have thereby managed to identify the companies and sectors with the biggest potential for growth and see what the users' needs are and to then provide them with a support package which gives the best results regarding the upgrade of their performances and creating the opportunities for contracting new jobs – RAS emphasizes.

Razvojna agencija Srbije

RAS

support to small and medium enterprises

Program of Support to Promotion of Exports

Program of Support to Companies for Entering Supplier Chains of Multinational Companies