To strengthen Bosnia and Herzegovina capacity for generating growth and employment through support to competitiveness and innovation

The ILO, in partnership with UNDP and the German Development Agency (GIZ), implements an EU-funded project to give a financial boost to private companies, farmers and entrepreneurs in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Through the project, companies can apply for development funds. Local institutions will receive technical assistance to create a supporting environment for the private sector. Small and start-up businesses, young enterpreneurs, rural women and vulnerable groups will benefit with an overall goal to make them competitive, encourage innovation and job creation.

The overall objective of the project is to strengthen BiH capacity for generating growth and employment through support to competitiveness and innovation. Specifically, support will be provided to private sector development with a focus on export oriented, agro-rural and tourism sectors, as well as on enhancing the operational environment for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) including development of local digital entrepreneurship.

The goal is to achieve three inter-related results:
  1. MSMEs performance is increased due to better access and availability of well targeted measures and innovative business development services in competitive export oriented sectors;
  2. Business environment for development of new businesses and support to existing ones is improved; and
  3. Entrepreneurial initiatives in tourism and rural value chains for income and employment generation are increased.