RCI Replication of Activities

RCI, throughout its existence, has been innovative and often introduced different economic development activities that add value to existing country programs, are picked up as a new activity or are replicated in other countries. Some of these examples are presented here.

Regionalization  of  successful  bilateral  approaches  

Project Management (PM) Initiative – Serbia to the Region For workforce development RCI has supported local individuals to get PM training and certification and, as a result, double the amount of people receiving assistance. After the success of the pilot, RCI developed a report “Regional Project Management Capacity Assessment” (rciproject.com/rcibhreports.html) which highlighted needs and interest from several countries. RCI is now initiating a replication of the PM activities in Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and three more (Moldova, Macedonia and Kosovo) are interested to be included in 2011.

eBiz Projects - Macedonia to Bosnia and Herzegovina In 2007, USAID Bosnia and Herzegovina participated in the RCI Regional IT Conference, where one of the best practices shown was the Macedonia eBiz Project with activities in tex-tiles, shoe manufacturing and tourism. After this visit and further activity development in partnership with the Norwegian Gov-ernment, the eBiz program was replicated in Bosnia and Her-zegovina as the Excellence in Innovation Project (ei-bih.ba).

Quality Mark (QM) tourism standards – Bulgaria to Albania and Macedonia In 2007, RCI looked into the successful USAID program in Bul-garia on standards in tourism - the Quality Mark (QM), focused on small hotels and B&Bs. The QM added value to the old star system by standardizing a hotel’s service, management, and environmental policies. RCI developed guidebooks and held awareness events throughout the region. In 2010, the USAID Albania Rritje Project and Exploring Macedonia each took on the QM initiative. Other countries have expressed interest. In Macedonia, the EBRD TAM/BAS project contributed funds to start the program there.

ITMark / CMMI, IT companies’ training and certification standards – Bulgaria to the Region RCI has been a leader in the region in the development of the IT sector from the beginning of the project. In 2007, building on our successful program of IT training and certification of com-panies in ITMark and CMMI, the regional German assistance GTZ ORF Programme also supported these efforts. By cost sharing with GTZ, RCI was able to increase the number of companies and countries assisted. The RCI project is implemented by SEGURA/IP3 Partners.  

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RCI Western Balkans Supplement

RCI collaborated with National Geographic Traveler and USAID missions in the Western Balkans to produce this regional tourism promotion tool.

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Overview In partnership with National Geographic Traveler (NGT) and through cost-sharing with regional USAID missions and pro-jects, the RCI Project finalized in May 2010 the Western Bal-kans supplement “Land of Discovery: 46 Outstanding Ways to Experience Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Mace-donia, Montenegro and Serbia”. www.rciproject.com/tourismng.html The supplement was conceptualized and developed through roundtable discussions and familiarization trips throughout the region. The sites were chosen according to the following key themes:

• Historical / World Heritage Sites and ruins; • Unique villages / towns; • Churches, cathedrals, monasteries and mosques; • Art and museums; • Festivals and celebrations; • Local music / musical instruments; • Outdoor markets / specialty stores / boutiques; • Distinctive foods or dishes, cafes and restaurants; • Unique crafts, wood, glass, fabric, etc.; • Beaches, lakes, parks and gardens; • Resorts and spas, B&Bs, agri-tourism; • Outdoor activities (hiking, biking, skiing); • Wildlife, birds, fish, animals, etc.

Coverage The NGT Western Balkans supplement was disseminated with the May / June 2010 issue of the National Geographic Maga-zine and Traveler to about 240,000 subscribers from the UK, Netherlands and Germany. What next? Building on the success of the Western Balkans supplement, RCI is looking into continuing the cooperation with National Ge-ographic in several areas, such as possible supplement fo-cused on the Caucasus region and development of NG Geotourism web sites for the RCI region. The RCI project is implemented by SEGURA/IP3 Partners.

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Regional Competitiveness Initiative Website

Overview

In May 2010, RCI launched its website, www.rciproject.com. The goal of the website is to allow E&E missions, projects, and stakeholders to access and share information on regional competitiveness.

The website pools together a broad range of RCI resources. In addi-tion to background information on RCI, the website contains: • Sector-specific information on RCI activities in IT, tourism, agri-

business and workforce development; • Scopes of work for RCI and other USAID competitiveness pro-

jects in Europe and Eurasia; • All research papers produced under RCI, as well as agendas and

presentations from RCI events since 2005; • Archived RCI newsletters, as well as RCI news items on the front

page; • Front-page links to World Economic Forum competitiveness rank-

ings for RCI countries; • Competitiveness studies from various think tanks and research

institutes; • A thematic calendar of events to promote information-sharing and

coordination. Designed to serve the region, the RCI website is a work in progress that will evolve according to the needs of regional stakeholders. The interest of those stakeholders since the website’s inception has been very strong. In its few short months of operation, the RCI website has been visited 2023 times by 1146 different people. 63.82% of those visitors viewed more than one page. Other data collected about the RCI website include: Most Viewed Pages • 6,223 page-views, 4,643 unique views; • The most viewed page is the home page (43%), followed by the

Sarajevo event main page (5%), USAID scopes of work (5%), and Sarajevo Reports (2%).

Geographic Origin • E&E region (over 35%); • The U.S. (44%).

Traffic Source • 52% have come from direct traffic (e.g., clicking the link in email

announcements, or typing the address directly); • 26% from sites linking to the RCI website; • 21% from search engines. Keywords include “rci project”, “region-

al competitiveness”, and “rci usaid”. The RCI project is implemented by SEGURA/IP3 Partners.

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"#$!"%&%'()*!'+,!-+'./&0&!One of RCI’s tasks as a regional project is to research and analyze the most current economic issues, then present opinions and possible solutions to the regional USAID Missions, Projects and other local stakeholders. !

Below is a summary list of reports developed in recent years under the Regional Competitiveness Initiative: • At the 2008 RCI Annual Event in Budva, Montenegro, RCI

presented the report “Competitiveness in the Europe and Eurasia Region: Past, Present and Future”, by Neal Na-thanson from USAID Washington, who then updated the re-port into “Europe and Eurasia Region: An Overview of USAID Supported Competitiveness Projects”.

• At the 2009 RCI Annual Event in Kyiv, Ukraine, with the global economic and financial crisis affecting the region, RCI focused on this most urgent topic with “Causes of the Crisis, Its Transmission to Eastern Europe, and Impacts on Economic and Social Conditions”, presented by Dr. Paul Marer from the Central European University in Budapest.

• At that same event, RCI presented the reports “Technology and Innovation Competitiveness in Eastern and Southeast-ern Europe” by Goran Radman, former South East Europe Director for Microsoft and “Workforce Competitiveness in the Next Decade” by Dr. Eric Butler.

• At the 2010 RCI Annual Event in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Her-zegovina, Dr. Paul Marer presented an update on the global crisis with “The Global Economic Crises: Impact on Eastern Europe” and “The Greece-Euro Crises and their impacts in Eastern Europe”.

• Other interesting presentations were made on efforts to overcome the crisis by Dr. Krassen Stanchev from the Insti-tute for Market Economics, “Coming Out of the Crisis: Cau-casus, Moldova and Ukraine”, and by Dr. Dragana Radevic from CEED Consulting Montenegro, “Coming out of the Global Economic Crisis: Current Status, Effects, and Re-sponses - Sub-regional focus on the Western Balkans”.

• RCI also develops sector-specific reports. In 2009 for in-stance, at a workshop on workforce development activities in Macedonia, RCI presented “USAID Macedonia Workforce Development Assessment: Taking Steps toward a 21st Century Workforce” by Dr. Eric Butler.

All of these reports and many more can be found on the RCI website - www.rciproject.com. Feel free to use them in your work and dissemi-nate to your partners and clients. The RCI project is implemented by SEGURA/IP3 Partners.

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"#$!%&'()*+!,$-!./01)*/!!"#$"%#&' In May 2010, RCI, in collaboration with the European Software

Institute (ESI) Center for Eastern Europe, launched the website www.quality2it.org - a platform for regional capacity in IT Train-ing and Certification. The main objective of this website is to support the establishment of an Excellence Network for Eastern Europe and promote cooperation and partnership between IT training and certification service providers. The website features: • A catalogue of Excellence Centers and Service providers of

IT training and certification services; • The quality services that can be found within the network

are in areas of: Strategic Management, Operational Man-agement, Project Management, Software Development PI, ICT Services PI, Information Security, Vendor Specific and University programs;

• 31 quality service organizations as members of the net-work, which are registering more than 60 training and/or certification services;

• Organizations from 15 countries: Albania, Armenia, Azer-baijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Georgia, Croatia, Kosovo, Moldova, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey and Ukraine;

• A news section where registered organizations can share information about their events/ trainings, success stories, in-troduction of new services, project implementation, etc.

The site has a user-friendly interface both for the compnies that presents their products and services and for potential clients interested in purchasing them. The RCI project is implemented by SEGURA/IP3 Partners. !

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SIGMA-SB dooel – Skoje was founded in 1995. The firm has been successful in the development and the deployment of all-in-one systems -- planning, design, and implementation of complete cutting-edge IT solutions to improve the business processes of its clients. The technical excellence of the firm re-sulted in the rapid growth of its business, but on an organiza-tional level the company faced serious challenges.

A possible solution was to deploy a model which would provide improvement in the process of service delivery. The choice was made in 2007 to get the firm IT Mark certified, with the support of USAID’s Regional Competitiveness Initiative.

“We knew that for small-l and medium-sized enterprises adopt-ing world-class models such as CMMI was a lengthy and chal-lenging process, which required a lot of time and effort, and that deterred us from initiating a CMMI-based process improvement program,” said Slavcho Boujarski, general manager of the firm. “So when ESI Center Bulgaria in the framework of the USAID-funded RCI program presented to us the IT Mark methodology, which is based on the concept of subdividing the CMMI path into a series of smaller objectives, we recognized its affordabil-ity – we could achieve the milestones with moderate efforts and in a shorter period of time.”

Just after its first IT Mark certification, Sigma SB signed two new contracts in which the firm was able use its newly acquired skill to plan and guarantee product delivery to the client.

Major benefits reported by the company management included: increased customer satisfaction with the quality of work (less bugs and better fulfillment of the requirements); shortened re-sponse time; the ability to provide new higher-level services; and the development of new services.

Building on this success, the company continued its process improvement program after the project with RCI was complet-ed. In 2010 the company achieved a higher level of certification, “IT Mark Premium”, and planned to become certified for CMMI maturity Level 2 in 2011.

The RCI project is implemented by SEGURA/IP3 Partners.!

A small business in Macedonia talks about how training received with the assistance of USAID’s Regional Competitiveness Initiative helped improve the firm’s management, response time, and customer satisfaction.

RCI Improves IT Competitiveness Leveraging Resources to Improve IT Competitiveness in the E&E Region

One of the major objectives of RCI is to ensure the sustaina-bility of ICT activities and to obtain commitment from other stakeholders and donors in the region to the activities per-formed.

RCI and its regional IT partner ESI Center Bulgaria/Eastern Eu-rope have developed and implemented a specific model to support IT training and certification activities, while leveraging co-funding from other donors and partners.

RCI’s model is part of a systematic approach used to support regional competitiveness. It is based on the IT Competitiveness Pyramid, which is used to assist regional clusters of firms to improve their processes and obtain the internationally recog-nized certifications, CMMI and IT Mark. All activities are imple-mented in partnership with regional stakeholders from donor organizations, business associations, firms and individuals. These stakeholders provide a significant part of the financing for and offer further support after the initial pilot projects.

The participation of other stakeholders not only leverages the RCI funds spent on the program but also ensures strong com-mitment and long-term sustainability for the initiatives.

The first programs based on the IT Competitiveness Pyramid were launched in 2005-2007. They have impacted the whole region and proved their sustainability:

• After the completion of the USAID program in Bulgaria, oth-er programs such as EBRD Business Advisory Services Program and the Bulgarian Competitiveness Program, funded by EU, continued their support for the CMMI /IT Mark initiative. The ESI Center Bulgaria has become a re-gional excellence center in Eastern Europe and the Cauca-sus.

• The RCI IT program in Macedonia was recognized as a de-velopment model for the region. In 2008 the German GTZ decided to fund a large-scale regional program based on the original RCI model, which supported more than 50 firms from six countries.

• RCI activities in Moldova were implemented in partnership with local firms and the CEED project funded by USAID. This not only contributed to the overall competitiveness of the Moldovan IT sector but also resulted in the creation of the excellence center for IT QLab that will develop local ca-pacity for IT training and certification in Moldova.

The RCI project is implemented by SEGURA/IP3 Partners.

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In May 2010, RCI, in collabora-tion with the European Soft-ware Institute (ESI) Center for Eastern Europe, launched the website www.it2business.org, a platform for cross sector links between ICT solution develop-ers and companies from other economic sectors. The goal of this website is the worldwide promotion in different econom-ic sectors of successful IT products and solutions devel-oped by regional (Eastern Eu-rope and Caucasus) companies. !

The website features: • 48 IT companies presenting 111 of their own products and

solutions for different economic sectors, including tourism and travel, agribusiness, furniture, food, textiles, medicine / pharmaceutical, banking / finance, building, manufacturing and automotive;

• Solutions presented by companies from 15 countries – Al-bania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bul-garia, Georgia, Croatia, Kosovo, Moldova, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey and Ukraine;

• A paper version of the web catalogue with a circulation 1400 copies. Of those, over 1300 copies are disseminated to companies and industrial associations in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus;

• Three companies, which shared feedback and acknowl-edgment that, through the IT2Business catalogue, they started successful business relations with companies from other countries or sectors.

Most Viewed Pages • 6540 visits; • The most viewed page is the catalogue and search page

(40%), followed by the home page (8%), welcome note (15%), and resources repository (10%).

Traffic Source • 62% have come from direct traffic (e.g., clicking the link in

email announcements, or typing the address directly); • 20% redirected links from partners sites - RCI, ICT associa-

tions and companies in Moldova, Armenia, Bosnia and Her-zegovina, Romania, the ESI Center Bulgaria site, www.quality2it.org0 etc.;

• 17% from search engines. • The average time spent in the site is 3.25 minutes with a

peak time of 24 minutes. !

The RCI project is implemented by SEGURA/IP3 Partners. !

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RCI: Excellence in IT !"#$"%#&'

One of RCI’s most strategic sectors is information technol-ogy (IT). RCI is a leader in de-veloping IT in each country and enhancing competitiveness in the Western Balkans and the Caucasus. One of the main activities RCI supports is the excellence of IT companies through training and certifica-tion. The result is that the IT companies improve their or-ganization, processes and products, which leads to higher productivity and expanded business opportunities. !

Events and Statistics RCI, in cooperation with its partner the European Software In-stitute (ESI) Center for Eastern Europe, has three kinds of events related to excellence and certification: awareness, train-ing, and appraisals. The events took place in 13 countries in Southeast and Eastern Europe and the Caucasus.

Summary statistics for the period June 2005 – October 2010: • Excellence events: 67 • Companies involved in the excellence events: 413 • Companies certified: 37 • Excellence trainees and participants: 1,777 • Qualified individuals: 827 • Associations involved in the excellence activity: 11

Feedback from participant companies: • 82% of companies increased their competitiveness by more

than 20%; • 85% of firms reported increased client satisfaction and 58%

reported decreased “time to market”; • 37% of companies reported sales increase of 20%-50% due

to the CMMI / ITMark implementation program.

Testimonials from Beneficiaries “The most visible result we have seen is having real-time re-porting on what is really happening within our company. Our managers have online access to all of their projects and can instantly see which tasks are on time, which are lagging behind schedule so they can push the team or add more resources to the team to get the task done on time.” IT Company from Macedonia

“When implementing ITMark and as recommended by CMMI we introduced a new practice in our work with banks: When we receive requirements we create a prototype of our vision of the product and then discuss it again with the client. In 80% of the cases our vision appeared to differ a lot from the client’s vision. Previously this created a lot of rework. Now we can assure a correct vision of the requirements and final product that are un-derstood correctly by us and the clients.” IT Company from Moldova !

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RCI Events !"#$%#$%&'(%)'*)"&")%#($+,&-'+.)*(,/)"-&-#$0)&1223&

RCI is contributing to the regional dialogue on competitiveness by holding regular events ranging from roundtable for 10-15 practitioners on a specific topic (agribusiness, tourism, etc.) to annual events with over 100 participants.

Overview One of the main strategic goals of RCI is to share knowledge and information across borders and regions. RCI implements this through electronic media such as the RCI web site, quarter-ly Newsletters, bi-weekly tourism & agribusiness information, and the bi-monthly InfoShare. To add more value, RCI’s most successful tools are the events that bring stakeholders from all countries and regions together to share their experiences and learn from each other. Evaluation General assessment of the usefulness of RCI events is over-whelmingly positive.

• Relevance: 96-100% indicated that they found RCI events relevant to their work

• Meeting expectations: 92-100% of attendees said that events have met their expectation

• Continued interest: 93-100% of respondents are likely to attend RCI events in the future

The different aspects of RCI meetings receive very positive rat-ings (excellent or good at a rate of 86-96%).

Statistics From 2005 to 2010, RCI has organized about 50 events attended by a total of over 3500 participants, which have included representatives of the private sector (over 40%), local governments, and USAID projects and missions.

The RCI project is implemented by SEGURA/IP3 Partners. &

Global Engagement Initiative in Action “Regional Opportunities for Growth Conference” 28 June, 2011 Izmir, Turkey

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Turkey is the fastest growing market in the region. This event helped strengthen Southeast Europe – Turkish business contacts and highlighted opportunities for increasing trade and investment.

On June 28, 2011 in Izmir, Turkey, at EBILTEM (a local university entrepreneurship center), CEED Global and its local partner BATI-BINOM (Western Anatolia Chamber) implemented a two day ICT business-to-business matchmaking event - "Regional Opportunities for Growth Conference." The B2B event was made possible by the Global Engagement Initiative with the support of the Regional Com-petitiveness Initiative (RCI). Informatics, Electronics, and Telecommunication were among the key new technological industries represented at the event. The goal was to establish a platform for effective collaboration and regional integration among ICT companies from the South East Europe region. A total of 60 companies participated at the B2B company matchmaking of which 19 were from Eastern Europe where CEED has offices (Bulgaria, Kosovo, Slovenia, Romania, Macedonia, Albania, BiH), and 41 were local firms, universities and organizations. In the morning opening session, Dr. Serdal from TEMEL presented information on business and trade development in the Izmir region. This was followed by a presentation by Mr. Peter Statev, Chairman at the Bulgarian ICT Cluster who spoke about the IT market situation in Eastern Europe, and based on his personal experience, provided the audience with the business know-how on how a foreign company can open a representative office in Turkey. Later, one of the leading Turkish producers, VESTEL Electronics, spoke about its R&D management, presenting a video demonstration on new areas of technological involvement. The last speaker from the Bulgarian IT Association, BASSCOM President George Brashnarov, spoke on the topic of internationalization and cooperation. The afternoon program continued in the form of "Speed Networking" to increase communication and collaboration opportunities by having prearranged face-to-face meetings with individual companies. These 15 minute meetings (80 in total) allowed company representatives to exchange information and created the opportunity to talk in further detail about actual business ideas. The event resulted in 15 potential co-operation connections and post-event contacts. Following the success of the event, the two organizing partners CEED and BATI-BINOM agreed to continue this regional collaborative work, and do another follow-up event focused on estab-lishing further business partnerships. The participating companies themselves also expressed the need for continued and deeper in-volvement so that the regional ICT networking could further expand and flourish.

 

 

Innovation Grant Fund recipient Ms. Blerta Thaçi of Eduapps LLC, together with USAID Mission Director Maureen Shauket and Acting Ambassador of the Norwegian Embassy Jon Hansen at the Awards Ceremony  

SIX KOSOVO COMPANIES RECEIVE USAID-FUNDED GRANTS TO SUPPORT INNOVATION  

The US Agency for International Development and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs work together to finance business innovation and job creation in Kosovo  

 

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“We came to ICK as a group of young students with ideas. ICK helped us develop into a functioning company with products that are ready to be offered in the marketplace." Innovation Grant Fund recipient Ms. Blerta Thaçi of EduApps LLC.

 

 

On March 1 2013, the Innovation Centre Kosovo (ICK) recognized six startup companies that received USAID grant support to build their innovative businesses. The awardees include an internet service provider, a developer of educational software for kids, and a developer of videogames for Facebook, iOS, Android and Windows Phone. Designed to propel business innovation and create jobs in Kosovo, the USAID Innovation Grant Fund provides support, on a competitive basis, of up to $5,000 to selected ICK incubator tenants to develop their product or service and bring their innovation to the market. USAID Mission Director Maureen Shauket and Norwegian Acting Ambassador Jon Hansen both spoke at the event, highlighting the importance of accelerating business growth in Kosovo. “I am very pleased to be able to award grant certificates to the first six ICK tenant companies, two of which have women co-owners. With these grants, you will be able to promote your businesses, test your new products and services, and launch your products in the market.” said Mission Director Maureen Shauket. The ICK Foundation was established and operates with funding from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and managerial and technical support from founders Athene Prosjektledelse Norway, the Kosovo Association of Information and Communication Technology (STIKK), and the main implementing partner Crimson Capital. It is designed to assist entrepreneurs in developing innovative and commercially successful companies that create future-oriented jobs. ICK provides workspace, mentoring, and training to select entrepreneurs, and has already supported 19 companies on a cost-shared basis. The USAID Innovation Grant Fund is made possible via a grant from the USAID Regional Competitiveness Initiative (RCI) to ICK as a center of excellence, and is an example of close donor cooperation and co-financing. Under the grant, ICK is also providing training in Computer Aided Design (CAD) and iOS programming to local professionals.

CEED Albania started its second generation of the Top Class program by organizing Team Building.

Opportunities are just around the corner

Sometimes people conduct their search in multiple directions including a variety of industries and tools, but in many cases solutions are found much closer

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Many entrepreneurs today have products and services ready to be used, but they lack connections and networks through which to channel them. CEED’s main objective is to enable entrepre-neurs and their management teams to develop their companies by gaining practical know-how, mentoring, peer-to-peer learn-ing, and regional and international business cooperation.

In Jan. 2013, CEED Albania launched its Top Class Program targeted to small and medium enterprises, aiming to increase their business knowledge, and expand their networks in order to create new business opportunities. The main goal of the event was to introduce the participants to each other and to create a positive atmosphere in which new business relation-ships would breed.

This activity afforded participants the opportunity to spend a whole day in a relaxed business environment getting to know each other, and thus sparked many business possibilities. Even by the end of the first event, the participation in the Top Class Program enabled some of the entrepreneurs to look at new business opportunities. Impress Studio, a graphic designing company made an agreement with the company BTC, which is the authorized dealer of Kaspersky computer viruses for Alba-nia, and Elite Travel, a tourism operator, for exchanging prod-ucts and services according to their current needs.

“I am very satisfied with the organization of this first event and people I have met. I am grateful to CEED for creating this pro-gram and enabling me to meet with new business partners” said Arvid Tartari, the representative of Impress Studio.

Andi Bogdani from BTC also felt that this first event exceeded his expectations; “I have found a new partner. Impress Studio will prepare the marketing materials for my company and at the same time agreed to use the antivirus services that we are providing” said Bogdani.

RCI/CEED Trip to Israel and Jordan under the Global Engagement Initiative Entrepreneurs hit the ground running, not ducking

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Twenty entrepreneur members of the USAID-sponsored CEED program journeyed to Israel, Palestine, and Jordan to immerse themselves in three different entrepreneurial ecosystems.

From 01-07 December 2012, the CEED leadership team from SEAF led a group of 20 entrepreneurs from Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, Romania, Slovenia, the United Kingdom, and the United States to Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan to map the land-scape and meet visionaries, technologists, financiers, and entrepre-neurs in three technology clusters. With the help of the well-known Israeli investor, Yossi Vardi, and Dr. Glenn Yago, Director the Milken Institute in Jerusalem, CEED was able to introduce members of the group to a Who’s Who of change makers in Israel. Erel Margalit (Founder of Jerusalem Venture Part-ners), Bob Rosenschein (founder of Answers.com), and Jonathan Medved (Founder of Our Crowd) were just a few of the marquee names among the 40+ people who met in intimate surroundings with the group to share their stories, compare experiences, and discuss their outlooks for the future. Many sessions included new and experi-enced entrepreneurs pitching their businesses and meeting with our group to look for synergies and ways to work together. In Ramallah, the team visited with entrepreneurs, investors, and gov-ernment officials over a working lunch at the Movenpick Hotel. The meetings opened up the team’s eyes to a wealth of talent, especially in ICT, that the West Bank has to offer. In Jordan, Samer Asfour, the Senior Economic Counselor to His Maj-esty, King Abdullah II provided us with an excellent overview of the booming tech sector in Amman. Over the next two days, the delega-tion met with investors, entrepreneurs, and industry facilitators who all made a convincing case to the group that Jordan can be their gate-way to the Arabic-speaking, Middle Eastern market. Participants left with a platinum Rolodex of contacts in all three clus-ters. They also acquired a perspective on the opportunities and chal-lenges involved in doing business in the Middle East. “Being exposed to the differing ecosystems in the region was very interesting. Juxtaposing the Israeli model with the Jordanian model created a very tangible and visible difference in their levels of sophis-tication, government support and general evolution. This was a fan-tastic event!”—Jon Mooney (United States)

INVESTORS FLOCK TO SARAJEVO FOR USAID “SEENOVATE“ ACCESS TO FINANCE EVENT USAID is attracting investors to open businesses in the SEE region

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The event gathered close to 200 participants including representatives of more than 30 international investments funds, some of which were visiting Southeast Europe for the first time.

At “SEEnnovate,” an Access to Finance Forum in Sarajevo held on June 19, 2012 that was organized by RCI in coordination with USAID projects FIRMA, FARMA, PARE, PFS, and RCC, with additional support by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and Centers for Entrepreneurship and Executive Development (CEED), twenty entrepreneurs from Bosnia and Herzegovina presented their businesses to investors who attended the conference. At least two of these presentations will result in investment deals.

The event gathered close to 200 participants, including representatives of more than 30 international investments funds, some of which were visiting Southeast Europe for the first time. Two of the investment funds present at the event-- Meta Group from Italy and Globe Forum from Sweden-- have decided to expand their businesses in order to support early stage financing instruments in the region, including further developing the venture capital industry and business angels’ networks.

The event also announced launch of the Enterprise Development and Innovation Facility Platform (EDIF), a new EUR 142 million (USD 192 million) instrument to support innovative SMEs in the Western Balkans, and the EUR 100 million (USD 192 million) Venture Capital Investment Program (VCIP) for early and growth stage companies operating in the technology sector. RCI is actively working with its regional partners at the institutional and local levels to prepare them to apply for the incoming funding from EDIF.

     

Success Story: Western Balkans MapGuide Portal  

SUCCESS STORY: Western Balkans Geotourism MapGuide Portal Promoting the Western Balkans as a Tourism Destination

In June, 2012, the Western Balkans Geotourism Stewardship Council in partnership with National Geographic Maps Division launched in the Western Balkans Mapguide portal (www.balkansgeotourism.travel) an effort supported by RCI/ USAID

Just a few months since its launch, Google demonstrates positive results for the effort– many attractions uploaded to the portal appear on the first page of search results

Comments on attractions posted on the portal: “It is not just for the great canyons of 8 waterfalls and the fantastic rafting experience we had, but through this adventure you can really feel the Albanian hospitality and the spirit of the commitment of the team. U guys rock! We'll come back soon.”; “Hotel Manastir is one of most authentic hotel in Macedonia. My Folk Seminar is always in that hotel every summer.”

Overview The Western Balkans (WB) Mapguide website is a regional portal designed by and co-branded with National Geographic. The MapGuide project took one year to complete. It is the first regional joint effort to promote the Western Balkans as a single destination by highlighting the rich natural and cultural wealth of the area. The effort was supported by the USAID RCI project, and was implemented by the National Geographic Maps Division and the Western Balkans Geotourism Stewardship Council (WBGSC). WBGSC is a regional partnership of representatives from the six participating countries - Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. WBGSC has assumed ownership of the Mapguide and will be responsible for its continued management.

WB Mapguide is an interactive information platform that highlights the natural, culturaland historic attractions of Western Balkans destinations. It provides travelers with an online map that authentically captures and conveys the region through the eyes of the local people.

During its first nine months of existence (data as of 4 March 2013), the portal was visited 28,088 times by 23,826 different people from more than 100 countries. Other data collected about the regional portal include:

Most Viewed Pages

• 70,268 page-views; 57,446 unique views • The most viewed page is the home page (18%), followed by the Macedonia main page (5%), and the Interactive Map (4%).

Geographic Origin

• WB Countries – 41.12% • U.K. – 4.6%; Germany – 3.6%; Italy – 2.52%, Netherlands – 2% • US & Canada – 13%

Traffic Source

• 57.34% have come from search engines (keywords include different events and attractions from the region) • 29.36% from sites linking to the WB Mapguide Portal; • 13.30% direct traffic

WB MapGuide Portal

• 219 nominations in 11 categories