The UNDP and the Ministry of Economy of Belarus have launched a competition for business ideas as part of the EU4Business project ‘Support for local economic development in the Republic of Belarus’, funded by the European Union.
The project is implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in partnership with the Ministry of Economy, and runs for 36 months, from February 1, 2019 to January 31, 2022.
The purpose of the competition is to define conceptual approaches to supporting the development of entrepreneurship in the pilot project areas.
Individuals and legal entities who are ready to further implement their ideas in the territories of the pilot project areas are invited to participate in the competition: Braslavsky and Orshansky (Vitebsk region), Bykhovsky and Khotymsky (Mogilev region), Braginsky, Khoiniki and Zhlobinsky (Gomel region), Kobrinsky and Berezovsky (Brest region), Lidsky (Grodno region), Molodechno and Borisov (Minsk region).
The presented business ideas will form the basis for capacity analysis of each pilot project rayon and will be considered at a meeting of the rayon business development councils with the participation of national and international experts. The best of them will be proposed for inclusion in the rayon SME development plans.
Funding at this stage of the competition is not provided. But the initiatives chosen to be included in the rayon SME development plans will subsequently be able to compete for financial support under the project under the following four calls:
1) Support for business incubators (the total indicative budget of the competition is $1.2 million);
2) Support for start-ups and cluster initiatives (the total indicative budget of the competition is $4.165 million);
3) Support for organisations interested in becoming providers of microfinance services (total indicative budget of the competition - $360,000);
4) Support for enterprises aimed at solving socially significant problems (total indicative budget of the competition - $1.8 million).
The deadline for submission of applications for the competition is 30 June, 2019. The application form can be filled out at the following link.