Projekat „Market of Entrepreneurship“

By implementing this project, team of NGO association "Putevima preduzetnistva" (ways of entrepreneurship) has acquired skills that have increased associations efficiency and promoted entrepreneurship in general and entrepreneurship within marginalized groups in Serbia. Our association is well known for our main event Novi Sad's Night Bazaar with over 40.000 visitors, where small entrepreneurs have a chance to exhibit their products in Novi Sad.

Acquired knowledge, primarily through organization of conferences upon mobility, was passed to existing association members and event participants and helped association to recruit new members involved in events organized by association.

From 06.09.2018 - 14.09.2018. Team of Association has participated in a structured course in Slovenia, organized by Zory Events. Mobility as an activity was important and beneficial from several aspects, first we had the opportunity to get acquainted with examples of good practice.

The center in which we have worked is a true indicator of socially responsible business, where young entrepreneurs invested and made a Hub by investing funds they have earned, and where young and creative people can socialize, create, develop their business ideas, earn and get the motivation to stay in their own country in which they will improve and earn money for a quality life.

This example has certainly given us the opinion that it would be good to work on developing a socially responsible business with our businessmen and in this way prevent the departure of the population from our country. It is also important to point out that we had the opportunity to meet with small producers in Slovenia who are reluctant to live in a different country, had similar problems as ours when developing their work, their experiences that they shared with us was useful because we will be able to pass it on to our exhibitors and we are sure that it will be easier to overcome the barriers on the development path of their small businesses.

For us, the methodology passed by Zori Jakolin is very important for us, it has been applied for 10 years and has achieved phenomenal effects. We looked at our way of working and found out what our mistakes were and decided to apply to our further activism everything presented by Zori Jakolin.

We also gained knowledge about using specific marketing tools, guidelines for what to use specifically within a communication channel, and with which campaigns the best results are achieved. We had the opportunity to get acquainted with the organizing one of the biggest events in Slovenia that gave us experience, we attended this event that takes place twice every year in the largest parks, is family-run, visited by over 20,000 people, large companies as partners and sponsors. Where families get the opportunity to spend a day in nature by hanging out, learning and strengthening their relationship with their children.

We also learned about the importance of the brand, how it is created, built and becomes recognizable

We learned the importance of contacts in business life and how important it is to create, nurture, and expand the base. Also, we realized the significance of work on self improvement, constant analysis of our actions, improvement of our mental state and better defining and accomplishing our goals

As a more effective way to reach greater number of entrepreneurs, association has changed a way of appearance and focused on organizing high quality conferences where entrepreneurs from all over Serbia, had a chance to gain new knowledge regarding their businesses such are doing business globally ("Business forum - my business in global village" conference) , marketing for their business ("Importance of marketing for developing your business idea" conference) and funding opportunities available ("Source of funding" conference). Association also has a plan to organize a large Entrepreneurship conference in October 2019.

Activities also included inclusion of marginalized groups in association's most visited event " Novi Sad's Night Bazaar" through out cooperation with associations like "Vera, ljubav, nada"(Faith, Love and Hope) and association "Cepom do osmeha" (Recycle cap for a smile), where we have provided them free space for promoting and selling their products on " Novi Sad's Night Bazaar" and all other support that comes with it.

Throughout the whole project period, all activities were well documented and knowledge and information were distributed through all available communication channels like national frequency medias, social networks, our website and events organized by association.

Free consulting upon request on any relevant matter is available to all participants of association's events by association members that participated on mobility and dissemination activities. Number of different participants on association events has reached over 1000 different entrepreneurs which is over 20% increase and their contacts are all significant asset in further association development.

Association has established strong partnership with a receiving organization from Slovenia with who will create new projects to further enhance our cooperation and create a platform to further educate and consult entrepreneurs to export their products internationally.

3 most significant new events organized are described bellow.

1. Business forum: My business in the global village 13.12.2018. Hotel Sheraton Novi Sad The forum was attended by over 200 participants in the field of micro, small and medium businesses. They had the opportunity to listen to more than 20 speakers, to learn from the best and most successful entrepreneurs as well as from top experts in many fields that affect the success of their business in the global village that surrounds us. The forum has opened all the important topics that can be useful for SMEs, from defining and developing a business idea, economic aspects of development, ways and possibilities of financing, through the importance of online marketing and financing. Two panel discussions were also held, one on the present sources of financing in Serbia at the moment, and the other on the experiences of young but already successful people in the business world
2. Conference: Funding sources 06.03.2018. Rectorate building Novi Sad The main reason for organizing this conference was to recognize the need for all entrepreneurs, especially those who are just starting out in business challenges, of lacking information on the available sources of financing for their business ideas, as it is not uncommon to miss certain competitions as well as subsidies from domestic and foreign funds precisely because of the lack of information of this type. The conference presented all available domestic and foreign donors as well as specific tools necessary for managing cash flow, and one segment also addressed the experience of entrepreneurs who have already used various sources of financing. The conference was attended by 150 participants, entrepreneurs, who came from different fields of business and from different parts of Serbia, and who gave very positive impressions after the conference, which is also mentioned by numerous news articles about this event.
3. Conference: The importance of marketing for developing business ideas 08.05.2019. Master centar, Novi Sad It is well known that marketing is the heart of any successful business. Whether or not the business idea will be successful - it all depends on how you present it to people. We have noticed that entrepreneurs who are just starting their business idea also lack knowledge on the importance of marketing for the development of a business idea. Our idea was to bring together all the leading experts in the field in one place, who will bring our participants closer and train them how to use the available tools and boost the marketing of their product because if they want to have a successful business, service or product they must become well known to the desired audience. The focus of the conference was on online and internet marketing, as the most accessible form of marketing today. The number of participants was 250, while the number of lecturers, eminent experts was 20.

Project results:

• Increased number of exhibitors for the main event - number of participants registered for our events increased from 850 to 1100 and continues to grow
• Increased percentage of regular exhibitors for the main event - regular exhibitors participating on our main event Novi Sad's Night Bazaar increased from 50% to 70% which shows improved quality of the event organization
• Biggest result is capability and knowledge to create new event types for entrepreneurs and education - association organized 3 new types of events which will be held annually and after the project ending("Business forum - my business in the global village", "Funding sources" and "Importance of marketing for developing business idea") and there is also Entrepreneurship conference planned for October 2019.
• New funding opportunities - after receiving funds on this project, we have implemented a system for regular project application on regional and national calls, applied for 6 and received funds on 4 different project applied
• Better cost control per event - resulted in 10% cost deduction in average per main event organized because of better networking and funding

Our organization has a plan to organize a large Entrepreneurship conference in October and after experience from this project we are starting to look for new partners from EU countries for strategical partnership.

*Detailed pictures and agendas available at the website https://www.bbfevent.rs/