The first "MENTORING FORUM" was held in Serbia

For the first time in Serbia, a Mentoring Forum was held, which gathered in one place users of mentoring services in our country in the period from 2016 to 2018, as well as representatives of the Japanese Agency for International Cooperation, the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Serbia, the Development Agency of Serbia and Regional Development Agencies - relevant factors in the establishment and development of mentoring in our country. The companies that used the mentoring service at this event were presented with a certificate and a special label as confirmation of the use of the mentoring service and business improvement. That mark will be prominently displayed in companies and will serve as an indicator that the company received a mentoring service and started developing its business.

Participants of the Mentoring Forum were addressed by: Katarina Obradović Jovanović, Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Serbia; Radoš Gazdić, acting director of the Development Agency of Serbia; Takashi Hibino, Deputy Permanent Representative of JICA Balkan Office; Ana Žegarac, director of the International Cooperation Sector of the Development Agency of Serbia and project director, as well as Danijela Čabarkapa, executive director of the Japanese Business Alliance in Serbia.

One ​​of the important modules of the mentoring service is the introduction of Kaizen in Serbian companies. Gabriela Zahan, a representative of the Japan Tobacco International company, presented her experiences in the application of Kaizen, and Masashi Yamanaka, a JICA consultant from Japan, spoke about Kaizen as a corporate culture that can be applied in all spheres of business.

A panel discussion was held within the forum, the participants of which were representatives of companies that have been long-term users of the mentoring service: Sanja Milosavljević - Production of pasta Waw Miloš, Belgrade; Vesna Njegić - Ključ Bakery, Belgrade; Maja Ilić - Milan Blagojević AD, Smederevo and Alen Vujić - Appletown doo, Jabukovac.

The mentoring service has been implemented in Serbia for more than 15 years and is the result of long-term cooperation between the Japanese Agency for International Cooperation and the Development Agency of Serbia. During that period, more than 2000 small and medium-sized enterprises, entrepreneurs, cooperatives and clusters used the standardized mentoring service, which means from 25 to 50 hours of free comprehensive business support. According to the data, a cumulative increase in business profit by 15% compared to the previous year was recorded in those economic entities. Specific results of mentoring in companies are: increased sales, greater presence on the market, improved organization of the company, increase in the number of employees, increase in the number of satisfied customers, introduction of a new distribution system, increase in the volume of production due to the elimination of unnecessary steps, participation in fairs in the country and abroad, opening of new markets,...

Joint work with the Japanese Agency for International Cooperation is realized through the project "Establishment and promotion of mentoring services for SMEs in the countries of the Western Balkans, phase 2". The main goal of that project is that mentoring services for MSMEs are implemented and expanded, within the entire region of the Western Balkans (Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Macedonia), and that MSMEs in the region continue to develop their business using mentoring services.