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SARAJEVO, December 22 (FENA) - FBiH Minister of Development, Entrepreneurship and Crafts Amir Zukić today signed contracts with 20 beneficiaries of grant funds within the project "Digital Transformation of Small and Medium Enterprises".
Grant funds in the total amount of 370,000 KM for the implementation of the incentive scheme were provided by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) through the DigitalBIZ project and the Government of the Federation of BiH.
“We jointly formed a grant scheme by which we wanted to support the transformation of small and medium enterprises in the field of digitalization. 370,000 KM has been earmarked for this purpose. A large number of companies were interested. 76 applicants applied to the public invitation of the Ministry, of which 59 met the formal legal requirements. This shows that a large number of our companies want to open the process of digitalization. Unfortunately, we had only 370,000 KM and we supported a total of 20 companies,” said Zukić.
He says that the total value of approved projects is 1,253,598 KM, i.e. small and medium enterprises co-finance this grant scheme in the amount of 888,698 KM, which is 70 percent of the total project value, although their obligation was to co-finance the project with at least 30 percent.
One of the important results of these projects is that about 60 new jobs will be created.
“Assistance to small and medium enterprises goes in three directions. First of all, assistance in improving the digitization process, training of staff who will manage these processes, and creating conditions for those who have not started digitization to start it. The maximum amount of grant funds is up to 20,000 KM per beneficiary,” Zukić added.
Head of the UN Development Program's (UNDP) Sustainable Growth Sector, Ismar Ćeremida, said UNDP resources had been made available to implement a scheme to support the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises.
“It is important that it is implemented because the business conditions are not ideal and especially due to the pandemic, there was a disturbance. Thus, digitalisation and the digital economy are something that is important for small and medium enterprises. That is why we are glad that we managed to realize this support scheme and get quality projects. More than 100 different software and hardware solutions will be financed through 20 projects,” Ćeremida pointed out.
(FENA) A. B.
