With funding from

Co-funded by

implemented by

  • CATEGORY: Project
  • PERIOD: November 2018 – ongoing
  • CLIENT: Austrian Development Agency

ACCESS implements a series of facilitating interventions that respond to market constraints that hinder pro-poor growth in Kosovo’s market systems. The interventions are tailored to trigger systemic changes in behaviors, capabilities and relationships of key market system actors that benefit people living in poverty. The Inclusive Market System Development (IMSD) approach guides this project towards delivering the outcomes, facilitating stakeholders’ activities and delivering systemic impact.

The main factors preventing market access and inclusive market development in Kosovo are related to limited enterprise growth opportunities, weak economic and business governance, lack of access to BDS, lack of access to and cost of finance, traditional attitudes that do not favor women in business, etc. Poverty reduction requires providing physical access to markets, remedying failures in markets that make it difficult for people to obtain the resources needed to invest and innovate. Systemic change in the market is required to tackle these challenges and is at the center of this project.

The overall objective is to reduce poverty and exclusion of the poor in Kosovo owing to higher incomes and employment opportunities in more sustainable market systems. ACCESS contributes to strengthening competitiveness of private sector companies and increasing their income through reliable market access and stronger regional and cross-border linkages. Such measures will increase productivity and profitability due to diversified and improved business development and digitalization services (BDS). Key institutional stakeholders throughout Kosovo will be supported to improve and adapt their services and policies to ensure sustainability and inclusion of the poor. The expected outputs are:

  • Relevant new digital tools and services are available to and used by Kosovo’s Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)
  • Kosovo MSMEs improve their digitalization level and establish market linkages
  • Business consultants provide effective and affordable digitalization services to MSMEs.

With measures aiming at granting access to new markets, improving gender-equal access to BDS services and market information as well supporting the business formalization, the project tackles barriers and also promotes several facets of women’s empowerment in business and entrepreneurship. Project activities include:

  • Increasing business efficiency through facilitating e-commerce, e-IDAS, and cybersecurity.
  • Provision of digital services for start-ups and MSMEs through establishing a Founder Service at MIET.
  • Digital transformation of MSMEs through the provision of targeted Business Digitalization Services.
  • Internationalization of Kosovo SMEs through export promotion and market access activities.
  • Improvement of Business Digitalization Services through certification of consultants.

As a result, 150 jobs will be created/maintained, up to 4,800 private sector companies, their employees, and the wider (poor) population in Kosovo will benefit from project activities. Further beneficiaries are government and business support institutions such as Ministry of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade (MIET), Ministry of Economy (ME), Business Consultants Council (BCC), Kosovo Enterprise and Support Agency (KIESA), Kosovo Business Registration Agency (KBRA) etc.

ACCESS has started in November 2018 with an eight-month inception phase. The 36-month implementation phase commenced on 1 July 2019. The project is implemented by ECIKS, funded by the Austrian Development Agency and co-funded by MIET and ME. The Austrian Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs, the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKO), the Austrian Institute for SME Research, the Technical University Graz and the Danube University Krems are some of the key partners in this project.

Activities

Increasing business efficiency through facilitating the implementation of e-IDAS

Given the rapidly evolving digital revolution and its impact for economic development, this activity aims to address the digitalization barriers that Kosovo MSMEs face while doing business at national level and across borders.

With this activity, ACCESS intends to facilitate the implementation and application of e-IDAS (Electronic Identification and Authentication System) by providing legal consultation to ME, and by conducting a Feasibility Study on the Informatization of Postal Services in Post of Kosovo JSC to promote, among others, e-commerce, and by drafting the NIS Directive and accompanying sub legal acts to promote cyber-security.

Provision of digital services for start-ups and MSMEs through establishing a Founder Service at MIET

This activity aims to facilitate the establishment of a Founder Service platform within the KIESA website which will provide new and relevant digital tools/services to Kosovo micro, small and medium enterprises. This platform contains 13 new digital services/tools such as online brochures on different business topics, self-assessment tools, online tools, basic templates, e-courses.

The activity aims at triggering market system changes by introducing new business development tools that will provide easily accessible and inclusive services, thus increasing awareness and demand for the users of BDS, improving the efficiency of public and private sector, and improving the start-up business performance and competitiveness.It is expected that in total 6,000 MSMEs will benefit from using the digital tools/services provid-ed through Founder Service. Equal opportunity, diversity and non-discrimination will be promoted online and offline to support inclusive participation, especially women’s full participation, including in digital spaces.

 

Digital transformation of MSMEs through the provision of targeted Business Digitalization Services

The activity is foreseen to facilitate the establishment of Digitalization Empowerment Initiative (DEI) to offer efficient business digitalization services for enabling digital transformation of micro, small and medium enterprises with the aim of developing sustainable enterprises, increasing competitiveness, improving their market access, and fostering job creation.

The focus of the DEI is to support private sector companies that have potential to develop new – or integrate into existing – local value chains of products and services produced by women, young entrepreneurs, women and men in rural areas, and those from minority groups. Overall, this will induce the enhancement of performance and competitiveness of MSMEs, improve their local, regional and international market access, and ultimately increase the awareness and demand of business digitalization services.

DEI will provide as least 5 different business digitalisation services, from which 75 MSMEs will benefit until the project end in 2022. Having defined the business digitalization services, KIESA will be supported in drafting an operational manual consisting of inclusive criteria, hence, it will have a specific target for women-run businesses and enterprises located in rural areas.

Internationalization of Kosovo SMEs through export promotion activities

The main focus of this activity is to improve market access and networking opportunities for Kosovo ICT service providers and enhance the overall image of Kosovo as a reliable and attractive market for ICT services. The project intends to support KIESA in setting up and promoting a database of export-ready ICT service providers. ACCESS will achieve this by hiring a service provider that will identify 50 ICT service providers and develop their profiles.

The developed profiles will be added to the already existing Kosovo Exporters Directory which is run by KIESA and serves as point of reference for international companies who wish to do business with Kosovo ICT companies. As one of the main beneficiaries, the MTI will be supported in establishing a coop-eration agreement with Austrian Partners for organising one B2B meeting for ICT service providers in Vienna. ACCESS will support women-owned or managed ICT service providers, who will increase their competitiveness through the exchange of know-how with their international potential partners.

Improvement of Business Digitalization Services through certification of consultants

This activity intends to facilitate the development of new Business Digitalization Services (BDS) certification mechanisms which will increase the overall quality level of digitalization services provided and raise the competitiveness of digital consultants locally and internationally.

The project aims to further develop the Business Consultants Council (BCC) institutional capacities by introducing a new BDS certification mechanism that will improve the quality of consulting services in the market and enhance the level of digitalization among micro, small and medium enterprises. Initially BCC will be supported by Harl Consulting to train 25 consultants and certify 20 digital consultants. In parallel, BCC will receive capacity development support and be enabled to provide future trainings and certification on its own. Therefore, the second round of training 35 and certifying 30 consultants will be carried out by BCC using in house knowledge and built capacities.

ACCESS will facilitate BCC to promote specific support measures/incentives for female consultants to complete digitalisation training and obtain certification. This activity will be implemented in line with the Digital Empowerment Initiative (DEI), whereby the certified digital consultants will provide the digital services designed under DEI.