EU4Business for Competative and Innovative Local Economy – Entrepreneurship Development in BiH

Deadline: 17 May 2019

EU4Business for Competative and Innovative Local Economy has launched a call for proposals with an aim to support accelerate MSMEs and start-ups development, through creation of mechanisms that will enable provision of financial and non-financial (technical) assistance to end users (new or existing entrepreneurs from target categories) and creation or further development of entrepreneurial infrastructure on local or inter-municipal level.

Priorities

Project priority sectors and target groups are divided in two LOTs as follows:

LOT1 will be provided to promote entrepreneurship within the export sector, focusing on young entrepreneurs and creation of innovative start-ups (including digital solutions);
LOT2 will be provided to promote entrepreneurship within agro-rural and tourism sector, focusing on entrepreneurs from vulnerable categories (unemployed and inactive women, persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities, persons over 50 years of age).

Grant Information

The overall indicative budget outline under this Call amount to EUR 1,000,000 (EURO one million), distributed between two LOTs.
Projects eligible for this Call for Proposal are those whose requested grant contribution falls between the following amounts:
- Minimal amount: EUR 150,000
- Maximal amount: EUR 200,000.
Distribution between LOTs:
- For LOT 1 – total of EUR 600,000 available
- For LOT 2 – total of EUR 400,000 available.

Duration and location of the Project

The duration of the project can be between 12 and 18 months. Expected date of the signing of the Implementation Agreement is October 2019.
The projects must be implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Project implemented within inter-municipal cooperation is eligible for funding.

Eligible Activities

The projects have to provide innovative solutions for improvement of the business enabling environment and entrepreneurship development on local level. The illustration projects could contain a range of the following indicative activities:

Establishment/strengthening of new businesses (start-ups – MSMEs, artisans/crafts) through financial support (grants for new businesses) within targeted sectors for individuals belonging to targeted groups (end beneficiaries – youth, women, persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities, elderly persons), with emphasis on innovative and/or digital solutions;
Provision of technical (non-financial) support to new businesses and existing MSMEs accompanied with the high-end technical service (coaching, mentoring, and management training aligned with ILO methodologies);
Establishment, development and promotion of viable and sustainable business development services through partnership between local authorities, public employment offices, enterprises, education/ training providers, development agencies and NGOs, including capacity building of LEP members.
Establishment of new or improvement of the existing entrepreneurial infrastructures and their capacity building that will influence development of desirable business climate on local level.
Strengthening of entrepreneurial skills of youth and women through entrepreneurial learning, training and coaching to raise their interest in entrepreneurship and self employment.
Provision of management training based on the ILO methodologies and provided by certified trainers to ensure sustainable know-how and capacity building of relevant institutions and service providers.
Infrastructure works (including refurbishment of space and adaptation) are eligible activities, but its costs cannot exceed more than 15% of the total project budget.

Ineligible activities

The following types of actions are considered ineligible:

Actions concerned only or mainly with individual sponsorships for participation in workshops, seminars, conferences, congresses;
Actions concerned only or mainly with individual scholarships for studies or training courses;
Purchase of land;
Actions aimed at infrastructure investments at entrepreneurship facilities that are already well established;
Profit making activities;
Actions linked to political parties.
Actions started before the signature of a contract (including project preparation cost or technical documentation preparation costs);
Actions confined to charitable donations.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility of applicants

Applicants MUST apply in partnerships. Partnerships are made by participation of minimum five entities belonging to different categories as indicated below:
- Local self-government (one or more municipalities in consortium)
- Public employment service (entity/cantonal employment service or local employment office)
- Education provider (formal education providers(including VET schools and/or universities), non-formal education providers, as well as business development service providers
- Non-governmental or non-profit organizations (including association of citizens, especially those representing target groups, employers’ organizations, trade unions, chamber of commerce, artisan unions, development agencies)
- Enterprises
Inter-municipal cooperation is eligible for application. Proposal must target at least one municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
One entity will act as a Lead Applicant and the others will be Co-applicants. The Lead Applicant must be municipality or public institution (e.g. public employment service, formal education institution).
All Applicants, the Lead Applicant and the Co-applicants, must sign a Letter of Understanding establishing the partnership relationship between them.
The Lead Applicant is directly responsible for the preparation and management of the project with the Co-applicants and should not be acting as an intermediary.
Co-applicants participate in designing the Concept Note and participate in implementation of the proposed activities with the Lead Applicant, and the costs the Co-applicants incurred are eligible in the same way as those incurred by the Lead Applicant. The Lead Applicant is responsible for the costs of Co-applicants.