Free mentoring program for SMEs

BELGRADE - A free mentoring program for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is available to SMEs in Serbia implemented by the National Agency for Regional Development (NARR) in cooperation with the Japanese government through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The program is being realized in cooperation with accredited regional development agencies and SME development centers.

The 2015 mentoring program is an integral part of a new project, dubbed Project on Establishment and Promotion of Mentoring Service for Small and Medium Enterprises in the Western Balkans (Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro), implemented by the NARR in cooperation with the Japanese government through the JICA.

The project, whose implementation period is 2013-2016, is the first regional project funded by the Japanese government.

More than 420 firms in Serbia were involved in the mentoring program in the country from 2010 to 2014.

Independent surveys by the NARR show that users of mentoring services programs have increased sales, profit and number of employees by an average of 10 percent.