Public Competition for Distribution of 5.4 Million KM Soon

(Patria) - By the end of this week, a public competition will be announced for the allocation of non-refundable funds for small business development projects in the Federation of BiH in the amount of almost 5.4 million KM. The Government of the Federation of BiH, we remind you, adopted at its last session the Program of Expenditure with criteria for the distribution of funds from this year's FBiH Budget to the Federal Ministry of Development, Entrepreneurship and Crafts, in the total amount of 5,390,000 KM.

The relevant federal minister, Amir Zukić, says that such continuous investments, along with the almost adoption of the law on promoting the development of small businesses and on entrepreneurial infrastructure, will lead to the improvement and more organized approach to the development of small and medium-sized enterprises and the improvement of the business environment in the Federation of BiH.

"The regular allocation of grant funds is also in line with the efforts of the Government of the Federation of BiH to create the best possible conditions for doing business, primarily for small and medium-sized enterprises, on which our economy is based. This is also a strategic direction of the entire European Union, which, by developing business zones, stimulates and encourages investments in the development of small and medium-sized enterprises as a model in which, in an organized and systemic manner, normative, spatial, and infrastructural prerequisites for starting a business are created," says Minister Zukić.

Of the funds approved for this year, two million marks are allocated for the project of building entrepreneurial zones. For incentives for innovators - individuals, 40,000 KM is foreseen, 100,000 KM each for scholarships for students studying for deficit professions, improvement of institutional entrepreneurial infrastructure, and incentives for associations,
chambers of commerce, and educational institutions. For providing mentoring services for small business entities and for promoting entrepreneurship, 50,000 KM each is foreseen, for incentives for the survival of traditional and old crafts 200,000 KM, while 500,000 KM is allocated for incentives for the development of crafts and related activities.

850,000 KM is allocated for incentives for newly established small business entities through subsidizing the costs of purchasing equipment and raw materials, and 1,250,000 KM for strengthening the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises through technological modernization of business processes, and 150,000 KM for technical harmonization (introduction of ISO and HACCP standards and obtaining the CE mark). 

"Investment in entrepreneurial zones is particularly important. Analyses show that there is a need to improve the business conditions in these zones. The recipients of the funds are local self-government units, and these are joint investments of funds from the FBiH budget and local community budgets, which creates conditions for populating the zones with more entrepreneurs, their expansion, and thus an increase in the number of employees," explains the minister. 

Minister Zukić reminds that in the last five years, the ministry he heads has invested more than 13,000,000 KM in the development of business zones, which, together with the funds from local communities, makes more than 20,000,000 KM invested for this purpose. Women, persons with disabilities, and individuals under 35 years of age will have preferential treatment when scoring projects in the upcoming public competition, which will be published in the "Official Gazette of the Federation of BiH", on the website of the competent federal ministry, and in at least two daily newspapers.