SUPPORT TO SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES

14. October 2014.

Pursuant to the competitions for subsidies to private companies, the Coordination Body’s Office, over the past two years, helped the development and creation of new jobs in 37 companies in the municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja with 100 million dinar grants.

“Bici komerc” is a private company that received 3 million dinars through the Coordination Body’s Office’s competition announced in 2013. The company was founded in 1999 in Bujanovac and is engaged in the trade of building and insulating materials, paints and lacquers, ceramics and sanitary ware. In addition to trade, “Bici komerc” is engaged in the production of fresh concrete, and as of this year, in the production of reinforcing mesh. It is the subsidies of the Coordination Body’s Office that enabled “Bici komerc” to expand its production and supply. With 20 employees, who are from the municipalities of Bujanovac and Presevo, the company is orientated primarily to the domestic market.

“Fluidi” is a company founded in Presevo in 1994, which, through the Coordination Body’s Office’s competition announced in 2012, received 3. 98 million dinars for the improvement of its production and for hiring more employees. The company’s staff said that the funds received from that governmental body had significantly helped them in carrying out their business operations, primarily in terms of increasing the capacities. The company produces juices and soft drinks and has 64 employees. It is most proud of the quality of its products. The company’s plans for the next five years include the expansion of its working capacities and continuous work on the improvement of the production of fruit drinks. “Fluidi” is a company that is active on both domestic and foreign markets. It sells its products throughout Europe, the United States and Saudi Arabia.

“Petrovic” doo is a company from Krsevica (municipality of Bujanovac), which was founded in 1993. It produces upholstered furniture. At the time of its foundation, the company operated as a small tailor shop for the manufacturing of pillows, bed covers and children's toys. The company’s staff say that the 2.8 million dinars, which they received through the 2013 Coordination Body’s Office’s competition, were extremely valuable to them. The money was used for purchasing the equipment, which made it possible for their products to become competitive on the domestic and foreign markets, as well as to hire new workers, who are mostly residents of Krsevica. So far, they have established excellent business relations with their partners in Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, while their plans for the next five years include the selling of their products in the wider region.

These three companies sent word to the businessmen who want to invest in the municipalities of Bujanovac and Presevo to be creative, to realize their ideas and to invest more in this region, since it was possible to make safe investments in it.

Having jobs in these firms is certainly essential for the employees and their families, because of the financial security and stability. Zimber Redzepi has been employed at the “Fluidi” company for 12 years so far. He says that working in this business environment is a privilege for him, primarily due to the good relations with his colleagues and the company’s owners. Innovations in the production methods involve mastering new knowledge and skills, which further affects the motivation of workers. Vladimir Mitic and Dejan Dimitrijevic, who are employees of the “Petrovic” doo company, say that the equipment that they work with is constantly changed and improved, so that they have the opportunity to further learn and develop their skills, while Arton Junuzi and Muhamer Ljutfiu, employees of “Bici komerc”, add that their work increasingly relies on computers, for the production is digitized and computerized.

These are three companies, three success stories in a sea of others, which, by their examples and good business operations, send word to us that Bujanovac and Presevo cultivate a good business environment and have the potential for the development of entrepreneurship. We believe that a new competition for grants of the Coordination Body’s Office will be followed by even more such stories.

Source: Coordination Body