“Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are the engines of the economy of the future and, as such, they embody the potential for growth. We must look to them, in particular, to get unemployment in this country down from its very high levels,” said the Head of European Union Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina and EU Special Representative, Ambassador Peter Sorensen, at the presentation of the Enterprise Expansion Fund (ENEF) held in Sarajevo on July 7. ENEF is a component of the Western Balkans Enterprise Development and Innovation Facility (EDIF) to which the EU contributed 60 million euro overall.
Ambassador Sorensen underlined that youth unemployment is a particular blight in Bosnia and Herzegovina and, at almost 60 percent, is the worst in Europe. “Sadly, just one in eight young people, aged 16-24, have a job in BiH compared to one in three young people in the EU,” he said adding that BiH is ranked 131st out of 189 countries in the World Bank’s Doing Business Indicators.
The ENEF will support established SMEs with a high potential for growth – those that are incorporated in the Western Balkans and those that will invest in projects in the region. It will provide equity finance to support the development and expansion. It was officially incorporated only in February of this year. The fund was created to meet a growing demand for financing for the capital expansion of local SMEs. Under the auspices of ENEF, enterprises could obtain financing of between 1 million and 10 million euro.
The general aim is to strengthen the balance sheets of SMEs and, at the same time, to provide the liquidity needed for growth.
Initial investors are the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), who will also manage the fund, the European Investment Fund (EIF), Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) and the Italian Government. The European Investment Bank (EIB) is a partner in a broader initiative.
Read the full speech by Ambassador Sorensen here:
For further information see: http://www.wbedif.eu/about-wb-edif/enterprise-expansion-fund-enef/
