Western Balkan Enterprise Development and Innovation Facility-WB EDIF project

Project

Western Balkan Enterprise Development and Innovation Facility-WB EDIF project http://www.wbedif.eu/about-wb-edif/

The Western Balkan Enterprise Development and Innovation Facility - WB EDIF project is improving access to finance for innovative and high growth SMEs and offering complementary financial engineering instruments addressing the entire range of their financing needs. It is also addressing the challenges the regulatory framework in the region is posing on the operations of private venture capital and private equity funds. However, WB EDIF does not envisage support for building of national capacities to manage/implement these instruments. Furthermore, the investments that WB EDIF is aiming are of a large scope of up to EUR 1.5 million under EIF and up to EUR 10 million under EEF. On the other hand, the activities related to Result 1 and 3 of the Action are focusing specifically on improving the national capacities of the private sector financing and a smaller scale investment complementary to the micro and small enterprises that are making 99% of Serbian companies.

WB EDIF Guarantee Facility EIF signed an agreement with Unicredit Serbia in August 2014 for a portfolio of EUR 30m, the instrument has now been entirely absorbed by the market. Following the success of the first round of financing, a further envelope of EU funding was deployed via the same instrument by EIF during 2016, under the title WBEDIF Guarantee Facility II. WBEDIF Guarantee Facility II EIF signed an agreement with ProCredit Serbia in December 2016 for a portfolio of EUR 25m, the instrument will start being deployed on the market in early 2017 Enterprise Innovation Fund (ENIF) As fund manager for ENIF, South Central Ventures has invested in the following companies in Serbia: Drytools: the company operates in the software developing tooling sector, helping start-ups, product companies and software consulting companies cut costs and reduce development time to up to 4 times faster. The ENIF investment of EUR 300k will be used to expanding the company’s services and team. City Expert: founded in 2015 by six young experts, the focus of the company is on development of new technologies that simplify the process of lending and renting real estate, and expanding the business in other international capital cities. The ENIF investment of EUR 700k will ensure the introduction of even more technologically advanced features that will create value to customers. Work Puls: the company tackles one of the greatest challenges that many businesses have: keeping track of the most important asset – employee time. The solution stands out with the easy to use interface, reports on employees’ activities for management, easy installation and intuitive features designed to streamline the process ENIF invests in Work Puls together with StartLabs, a US based investment fund with offices in Belgrade and San Francisco. The investment will allow WorkPuls to grow the team and support the global expansion of the company. ebrd Internally managed and advised by the EBRD WBEDIF Enterprise Expansion Fund (ENEF) Delmax: is a specialized company engaged in the sale of spare parts for vehicles. The ENEF investment, including co-financing by the EBRD, amounts to EUR 1.8m, which will be used to finance the acquisition of a Serbian company operating in the same line of business. Gomma line: is a producer of technical rubber and plastic products for the automotive industry The ENEF investment, including co-financing by the EBRD, amounts to EUR 1.3m, which will be used to finance production capacity expansion. The following WB EDIF Support Services projects are in place in Serbialogobanner Small Business Act (SBA) monitoring: this project, run by the OECD, provides a monitoring tool which allows for a transparent and comparative way of ensuring that WB EDIF’s reform priorities can create regional synergies between government and donor efforts in supporting SMEs. The upgraded SME Policy Index methodology aims to deepen the assessment, to better capture policy performance and provide more detailed recommendations for Serbia. For more information please visit: http://www.oecd.org/globalrelations/smallandmedium-sizedenterprisessmepolicyindex.htm Road to Europe – Program of Accounting Reform And Institutional Strengthening (EU-REPARIS): this project, run by the World Bank, supports the implementation of corporate financial reporting frameworks in line with the EU standards in the countries of Southeast Europe with a view to promoting enhanced availability, transparency and reliability of financial information. Sound CFR provides systematic information to business management (better monitoring leads to greater efficiencies), supports a business environment that is conducive to access to finance, and helps reduce the burden of tax compliance. REPARIS furthermore provides essential support to beneficiary countries to help them ensure their financial reporting frameworks are in line with requirements of the EU acquis communitaire. For more information please visit: http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/ECAEXT/EXTCENFINREPREF/0,,contentMDK:23650584~menuPK:9755227~pagePK:64168445~piPK:64168309~theSitePK:4152118,00.html Venture Capital & Investment Readiness (VC-IR): this project, run by the World Bank, focuses on two areas of particular priority in Serbia; namely; Venture Capital: for the development of a framework for the assessment of and recommendations for reforms and a tailored technical assistance programme Investment Readiness: for the design, implementation and evaluation of the pilot Western Balkans Membership Assistance Programme (MAP) and generation of a pipeline of projects to be taken up by potential investors. Advice for Small Businesses (ASB); this project, run by the EBRD, helps SMEs to improve, grow and develop to a point where they are better able to attract investment. ASB provides direct support to SMEs in the WB economies by improving investment readiness of companies, introducing international best practices in accounting and financial management, strengthening human capital and expertise, enhancing innovation and assisting with export compliance standards, to name a few activities For more information please visit: http://www.ebrd.com/work-with-us/advice-for-small-businesses/serbia.html Support Services management and coordination; the EIB has been nominated as the WB EDIF Support Services Manager and Coordinator; whereby it centralises and harmonises monitoring, reporting and communication strategies, as well as measuring impact and identifying delivery gaps in the market.

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