A Center for Promotion, Support of Entrepreneurship and Innovation will be established in the Glubokoye district
Participants of the forum "Promotion. Support. Innovation," organized within the framework of an international technical assistance project for the creation of the center, discussed planned and already implemented measures, and the selection of the target audience. The result of fulfilling all its conditions, implemented within the framework of the European Union's "Covenant of Mayors for Economic Growth" initiative, will be the creation of several hundred new jobs.
The District Executive Committee acts as the project applicant, with assistance provided by partners: the District Council of Deputies, Vitebsk State University named after P. Masherov, and the local fund "Center for Promoting the Development of the Territory 'Ozerny Krai'."
– The university primarily provides theoretical knowledge, but thanks to participation in the project to create the center, our staff and students will be able to prove themselves as practitioners. I hope that the information provided by us will be useful for the development of entrepreneurship in the district, – noted Miroslava Bobrik, Vice-Rector of VSU.
Yulia Salakhova, General Coordinator of the project for the creation of the Center for Promotion and Support of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Glubokoye district, outlined the main goals and objectives of the project. Initial socio-economic research results helped identify the main difficulties faced by businessmen in rural areas, primarily those with low competitive advantages in the labor market.
Among the obvious inhibiting factors are the lack of entrepreneurial skills and the absence of a comprehensive program for the mutually beneficial use of investment capital. Currently, businessmen are more involved in trade and services, paying insufficient attention to innovation and social entrepreneurship.
The creation of infrastructure will help improve the business environment and master new types of entrepreneurial activities. The project implementation is carried out in three stages, the first of which, the preparatory stage, will be completed by the end of this year.
As part of the forum, a presentation of the startup project support office was held. In addition, the center's structure will include an office for promoting the development of small and medium-sized businesses, a school of business, entrepreneurship, and innovation, where 300 students will be trained over the next 2 years. In addition to training classes and offices in Glubokoye, 13 contact points have been equipped in the rural councils.
Training will be conducted in full-time and distance formats. Online consultations, including legal ones, thematic seminars, meetings, etc., are planned.
Center employees, who have undergone internships in European countries, using modern equipment and the latest software, will be able to provide highly qualified legal and informational support to local small and medium-sized business initiatives, and will help promote the products and services of novice entrepreneurs in domestic and foreign markets.
As part of the forum, established video communication with the multifunctional room of the Vitebsk branch of the center and the rural councils of the Glubokoye district was demonstrated. Future businessmen will also be trained in such close communication.
– Small business is the backbone of the economy in most developed countries. Therefore, we consider the creation of favorable conditions for organizing entrepreneurial activities to be one of the main strategic factors for the sustainable socio-economic development of our region, – emphasized the Chairperson of the Glubokoye District Council of Deputies, Galina Unukovich. – The center will allow us to identify and support talented people, giving them the opportunity to realize interesting initiatives and bring creative ideas to life.
The project will help businessmen become more confident in their abilities, but this does not mean that no work has been done in this regard in the region before.
According to the Chairman of the Glubokoye District Executive Committee, Alexander Shubsky, today there are 792 individual entrepreneurs and 168 commercial organizations registered in the region.
A council for the development of entrepreneurship operates under the district executive committee. The share of tax revenues from small and medium-sized businesses in the budget reaches 20%. Incidentally, several years ago, Glubokoye district was named the best for business among the regions of Vitebsk Oblast with a population of less than 50,000 people.
Glubokoye joined the European initiative "Covenant of Mayors for Economic Growth," which unites 6 Eastern Partnership countries, in 2017. The coordinator of this project in Belarus, Nataliya Yefremenko, was present at the forum. She spoke about the principles and goals of the initiative being implemented, which is aimed at unleashing business activity at the local level.
– Each territory has its own unique features, moreover, it can transform these features into competitive advantages that will give an additional impetus for the development of the private sector and, consequently, the economic development of the entire territory, – noted Nataliya Yefremenko. – But this is only possible when the authorities listen to the people, and businesses are ready to move forward together with the authorities.
By the way, over the past 20 years, 25 agreements and treaties on friendship and cooperation have been signed between Glubokoye district and regions of 11 countries.
And this refers not only to interaction in the sphere of culture but also to joint participation in cross-border cooperation programs and the implementation of significant initiatives. In particular, Glubokoye residents have repeatedly participated in the EU/UNDP project "Support for Local Development in the Republic of Belarus." And they are currently implementing several projects and continuing their work within the framework of the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy.
Representatives of the cities of Slavgorod (Mogilev region) and Bragin (Gomel region), also implementing international technical assistance projects within the framework of the "Mayors for Economic Growth" initiative, took part in the discussion of important issues. The presentation of a pilot eco-business model for local and regional economic growth and an agribusiness incubator interested the residents of Glubokoye.