On May 19, the EU flagship business support initiative, which guided the work of the Better Regulation Delivery Office and SME Development Office, summarised the results of its 5-year implementation in Ukraine. The regulatory and SME policy framework strengthened by FORBIZ will become a building block for further state and international donor efforts to improve the business environment in Ukraine.
“Through the EU4Business initiative, the European Union helps SMEs to get better access to finance, markets and skills, and aims to improve the overall business environment in the country. The work of FORBIZ was instrumental in the recent business environment and SME policy changes, and bringing the SME interests to the forefront of the Government policy-making. We will continue to support further steps towards better regulatory and operational environment for SMEs in Ukraine, in which SMEs can flourish and reveal their full potential., said Chloé Allio, Head of Operations Section – Economic Cooperation, Energy, Infrastructure and Environment, EU Delegation to Ukraine.
The FORBIZ project closure coincides with the Government announcement of the creation of the Office for Entrepreneurship and Export Development (EEPO), which represents a milestone in the institutionalization of the project SME policy support efforts and Government’s services to Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Ukraine. The new office builds on the work of the Export Promotion Office and will also integrate the SME Development Office (SMEDO), which until now served as an advisory body to the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture with FORBIZ project support. SMEDO’s piloting efforts to improve state services for SMEs will now be strengthened and further developed within the enlarged office. Such services included for example: entrepreneurs’ improved access to information through the SME Info-Portal, access to affordable financial resources via the Government’s 5-7-9% lending programme or factoring services to participate in public procurement, and more convenient general services, offered through 12 SME support points and 10 Business Innovation Centres.
“We are happy to launch officially the State Institution “Entrepreneurship and Export Promotion Office” for the further development and internationalization of Ukrainian SMEs. And would like to express our gratitude to EU support in the SME development progress over the last years through FORBIZ project and beyond,“ said Tetyana Miskova, Director of the EEPO.
The Better Regulation Delivery Office (BRDO) since its creation in 2015 has grown into a reputable better regulation think tank. The regulatory reforms supported by BRDO resulted in increased transparency, cost savings, removal of barriers for doing business, and improved regulatory policy decisions for business, consumers, and the public. The estimated business cost savings for the last five years reach around Euro 1 billion, thanks to regulatory improvements supported by BRDO. The main results of the Office also include: 66 Green Papers in various areas of state policy, 166 drafted legislation acts; 1.245 obsolete or unnecessary regulatory acts removed; 5 unique online tools for entrepreneurs, civil servants and local governments, used by millions of Ukrainians and thousands of civil servants. For these digital online tools, BRDO received 4 national and international awards such as Open Data Awards (2017-2019) and European Enterprise Promotion Awards 2020 (National Winner).
“Both the capacity building and the performance of BRDO evolved into a significant, internationally recognised success case, due to the swift and convincing delivery of practical policy guidance and economic results. Paramount to the success, is the overwhelmingly localised expertise, benefitting from BRDO experts’ high level of insight and understanding of context,” said Matthias Halder, FORBIZ Project Manager.
BRDO is committed to further support medium-term economic reforms that are not susceptible to political changes and to contribute more prominently and effectively to policy making efforts in collaboration with other NGOs.
“Last year, we had the largest policy successes to date. At the same time, Ukraine is facing a combination of hybrid challenges with weak societal institutions and public administration. This makes our roles even more critical: reform engineers, advocates, watchdogs, advisers, coordinators,” said Oleksii Dorogan, CEO of BRDO.
FORBIZ contributed to the development of the first ever National SME Development Strategy until 2020, and its respective action plan, thus forming the foundation for further SME policy updates, aligned with international best practices. Thanks to FORBIZ with BRDO and SMEDO, SME priorities were integrated into the Government’s Anti-Covid-19 Programme 2020-22, and the ambitious longer-term National Economic Strategy 2030. Both policy papers emphasize SME development and necessitate provision of new resources to support Ukrainian businesses.