Mentoring – non-financial consulting aid of SME Development Agency

Republic SME Development Agency realizes specialized type of non-financial aid for small and mid-sized enterprises through 20 free mentoring hours, intended for potential and existing entrepreneurs. Within 20 hours, an entrepreneur obtains diagnosis of the business situations, action plan for resolving of certain problems and aid in resolving of some of them, through consulting work, expert advices, information or training.

According to the announcement, mentoring contributes to the realization by entrepreneurs that the knowledge, skills and information, which they get on the market of consulting services, also have their values.

The project is realized in cooperation with Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and works with the Republic agency and regional agencies/centers since June 2006 on project for strengthening of SME support agencies.

- The project has two basic parts, Diagnostics of companies and Business training. The first training is intended for employees in the regional agencies, that is, centers, and in Republic agency, and it relates to analysis of small and mid-sized enterprises and giving of suggestions for improvement of their operations. The second training is a type of seminar, not only for those employed in the agencies, but also for managers in small and mid-sized enterprises. They cover two themes, Marketing and development of new products and Quality control - says Gaku Funabashiye, the expert from JICA Office to Belgrade.