For Ukrainian municipalities, creating Business Support Centres (Centres), which are an additional tool for the activation of small and medium-sized enterprises and the development of the local economy, is increasingly important. Experts Volodymyr Vorobei and Myroslava Dankiv worked with municipal officials from six western oblasts of Ukraine at an info session held at the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in the Zakarpattia oblast.
According to Volodymyr Vorobei, almost every municipality wishes to have its own Business Support Centre now, but they have to learn the procedure for its creation and the format of its operation.
“Such Centres first provide mentoring and consulting to businesses and then give them information about new opportunities and training or business events,” he added.
According to the expert, the Centres can be organised in different formats. Setting them up on the basis of an existing business support organisation or territory development agency is common practice. These can be existing municipal institutions such as Administrative Service Centres that include an employee responsible for working with the businesses among the administrators.
The Centre is sometimes set up as a service, contracting an entrepreneur, an NGO or a company to work with local entrepreneurs.
“In many municipalities, the Centres function as separate organisations. In any case, it is important that they are organised according to the needs of the municipality and the business community and respond to the situation on the ground. All this must be taken into account, including their legal form,” said Mr Vorobei.
The experts told the participants of the info session about the main stages of the establishment of the Centres and presented the key performance markers of these institutions: focus on the local business community, clear functionality, information curation, non-competition, etc.
“U-LEAD continues to build the capacity of municipalities in the “Business-Friendly Municipality” direction. We are committed to improving and introducing new tools for its support. The Centres are among these tools, and they are already operating in some municipalities, but most are only thinking about setting them up. Our experts are here to provide consulting support at all stages of the organisation of this institution,” said Mykola Siusko, Head of the Regional Office of U-LEAD in the Zakarpattia oblast.
The participants of the event also learned about the practical experience of creating Business Support Centres, studying the cases of the pilot project of launching it on the basis of Administrative Service Centres (FORBIZ) and Diia.Business in Bucha.