Business news

MINSK, 4 October (BelTA) – New business incubators will open in Baran, Glubokoye, Mstislavl and Gorky in 2019 within the framework of the UNDP project "Promotion of employment and self-employment of the population in small and medium-sized towns in the Republic of Belarus", project manager Marina Kalinouskaya told BelTA on the sidelines of the forum “Best practices of successful business incubators and accelerators. Russia” that is taking place at the Imaguru Business Club/Startup Hub in Minsk on 4-5 October.

The short name of the project is Small Towns. It is set to run in 2017-2019 and is designed to facilitate efficient employment and self-employment in small towns of Vitebsk Oblast and Mogilev Oblast. It is implemented by the UNDP and the Belarusian Economy Ministry with financial support of the Russian Federation. The budget of the project is $1 million, of which $300,000 was earmarked for physical infrastructure of the business incubators and training centers set up in pilot towns. The remaining amount was spent on various activities.

“There are 26 business incubators and over 100 entrepreneurship promotion centers in Belarus. Each of them offers consultations free of charge, runs training programs and provides fledgling entrepreneurs with the necessary resources to start their own company. One of the goals of the Small Towns project is to open new business incubators or training centers for entrepreneurs in six pilot towns of the two oblasts. In 2019 business incubators will open in Baran, Glubokoye, Mstislavl and Gorky. Training centers will be launched in Chausy and Krichev this year. They will be located at the existing entrepreneurship promotion centers. We help with infrastructure, events and consultations,” Marina Kalinouskaya said.

For example, an additional coworking space is now available in Krichev. A training course for fledging entrepreneurs and those who are just mulling over a business idea will be launched in Chausy in November this year. The training course will enroll entrepreneurs from Chausy District, Cherikov District, Slavgorod District and Krasnopolie District. It will include open meetings for interested residents with homework and a contest of business projects. Director of the Chausy Business Center Sergei Klimenkov said that the project helped considerably upgrade the building of the center and to create a learning space in one of its rooms. This space can be used for collective and individual training sessions. “I enjoy sharing the things I have learned during my 12 years in direct sales, I like educating others about practical aspects of starting or running a business. My major goal is to enable my students to write a viable business plan and to translate it into reality, and to forge new contacts for closer cooperation in the region,” Sergei Klimenkov said.

As a rule, business incubators and entrepreneurship promotion centers are not sponsored by the government or other investors; therefore they have to pay their way. At the two-day seminar in Minsk heads of leading business incubators from Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Tallinn share their expertise and knowledge in running up a business that helps other businesses grow. They tell attendees about new forms of work that are still not common in Belarus, like acceleration, including for social entrepreneurs. Several presentations are dedicated to cooperation of business incubators with international organizations, corporations and universities.

This forum is one of many in a series of awareness-raising and educational events that make part of the Small Towns project. The project includes seminars and training sessions, study trips to Russia, educational meetings, and publication of a book about business basics Small Business That Works and a textbook for entrepreneurs Franchising (the books are available on the project page in the Internet).

“Holding events in small towns, we see a very high interest in entrepreneurship there. It is encouraging that seminars in district capitals drew former students and pensioners who were inspired by the event and were willing to share this information with others. Giving their feedback, nearly 100% of the attendees said that such events are much needed. The majority of the respondents said that they mostly lack three major components for starting a business - consultations, training and financing. We are trying to meet these needs through our project, as well as by means of entrepreneurship promotion centers that are expected to provide similar services on a regular basis,” Marina Kalinouskaya said.