OSCE Mission to Serbia helps young businesses get off the ground

Starting a business can be complicated and risky. But since 2005, the OSCE Mission to Serbia has been helping to make it easier by supporting the set-up of nine Business Incubator Centres (BICs) in the Serbian towns of Kikinda, Novi Sad, Zrenjanin, Smederevska Palanka, Vranje, Medvedja, Valjevo, Prokuplje and the capital Belgrade.

The BICs are a valuable tool for fostering entrepreneurship, with the aim of strengthening the local economy by establishing the new businesses that are a prerequisite for sustainable economic development.

Immediate success

One of the BICs which has proved to be an immediate success is the Business Technology Incubator of Technical Faculties (BITF) in Belgrade. It was founded as a partnership between the four technical faculties of the University of Belgrade: Civil Engineering, Mechanical, Electrical and Technological/Metallurgical, as well as the Municipality of Palilula and the Democratic Transition Initiative.

The BITF, which is not-for-profit, opened in December 2007 with financial support from the OSCE Mission to Serbia of around 12,000 euros, the Government of Israel and the City of Belgrade.

"The 900 students who graduate from the University's technical faculties every year represent an enormous potential," says the BITF's Project Manager, Gordana Danilovic Grkovic. "Our vision is that the faculties should become a place for education, research and economic development and a knowledge base that also benefits the development of Belgrade."

Tackling brain drain

One of the problems the BITF aims to tackle is Serbia's brain drain. Many talented young people have left the country in recent years, unable to find suitable jobs due to the poor economic and political conditions.

By offering a stepping stone for young students wishing to start their own business after graduation, the BITF is encouraging them to stay in Serbia and reverse the trend. There are currently 20 young people working at the BITF, of whom four have returned from abroad.

"The various BICs reflect local economies and are particularly important for countries in transition," says the Head of the Mission to Serbia's Economic and Environmental Department, Dusan Vasiljevic. "They help lessen the problems faced by businesses by giving them access to know-how and reducing expenses."

High-tech solutions

The BITF's newly-renovated premises in Belgrade cover around 400 square metres and host teaching facilities, twelve projects and ten businesses, which focus on high technology solutions in such areas as information technology, communications and biopharmacy. Some of them have already successfully targeted foreign markets in Slovenia and Austria.

"These are some of the added values of being based at the BITF," says Dejan Dramicanin, founder of Bitgear Wireless Design Services. "In addition to providing us with incubator space and business support, it also facilitates networking opportunities so that we can exchange experiences with each other."

The BITF's Danilovic Grkovic points out that the centre also holds training sessions, including classes held by specialists in several areas such as marketing, planning, management and protection of intellectual property. "One of the major problems for young people who want to start their own business is a lack of knowledge of entrepreneurship, so we are teaching these skills at the centre," she says.

Before the end of the year, the BITF should grow by another five small businesses, with funding from the Serbian Government. Following that phase of the project, the BITF's management will focus on improving those enterprises which are already a part of the centre, and on expanding the model throughout Serbia.

Timely assistance

"Thanks to the timely assistance of the OSCE Mission to Serbia at the beginning of the project and during the first phase of development, we at the BITF have succeeded in turning our ideas into reality," says Danilovic Grkovic.

"We would greatly benefit from renewed OSCE assistance in order to spread a similar model in some other regions of Serbia, where the potential in knowledge and innovation is there already."