Support to Micro, Small, & Medium Enterprises

The MSMEs Grants Project was funded by the European Union and the Ministry of Trade and Industry in Kosovo. It was implemented by IOM during the period of February 2014 – August 2016 with a total budget of 4 million Euro. The purpose of the MSMEs Grants Project was to address the difficulties experienced by Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in Kosovo in obtaining funding for development from usual sources of finance, such as banks and microfinance organizations, while the Government itself has faced challenges due to limited financial and human resources to provide alternative financing programmes to small businesses, similar to those existing in the EU. 

The overall objective of the action was to contribute to strengthening the local economy and reduce trade deficit in Kosovo by improving the capacities of Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSME) to upscale production in an efficient and sustainable way in line with European Standards and practices. Selected MSMEs contributed to improved production, economic impact and competitiveness in line with European Union (EU) standards.

In particular, the MSME Grants Programme has contributed to the achievement of the following targets:

• Foster development among micro, small and medium-size enterprises (MSMEs) in Kosovo, through giving grants for financing purchases of new production machinery, certification, marketing, etc.
• Improve productivity of local enterprises, strengthening local markets and reducing import needs as well as increasing possibilities of potential export of local products by implementing the grants as well as by finding synergies and complementarities with other ongoing initiatives.
• Generation of almost 300 new jobs, including an 68% increase in female employment and 11% in minority employments at beneficiary enterprises.
• Reducing risks of irregular migration due to lacking economic opportunities.

The Call for Proposals for enterprises aroused a vast interest from Kosovo central and local authorities, private entrepreneurs, business associations and media. As a follow up of the official launching event, IOM Kosovo organized eight Technical Info Sessions around Kosovo, in cooperation with the Regional Development Agencies, which gathered over 1 000 participants. The purpose of these technical info sessions was to provide the interested businesses detailed information on the criteria and the procedure of the open call for proposals. The significant interest in the call was reflected also by the amount of applications submitted by enterprises, which reached the impressive number of 784 applications. Ultimately, 36 enterprises were awarded grants with the available resources.

Facts and Figures

• Over €5 Million were invested in the 36 awarded enterprises as grant (€2.9 Million) and co-financing (€2.1 Million). The 36 awarded enterprises included 21 Micro Enterprises and 15 Small and Medium Enterprises.
• As a direct result of increased production capacities due to the machinery bought through the MSME Grant, sales have increased by 58%, while net profit has increased by 90% when comparing 2014 and 2016 figures.
• 284 new jobs were created representing a 60% increase in employment in the 36 awarded enterprises. Additionally, the number of female employees increased by 68%, whereas there was an 11% increase in minority hires.
• The sum of exports at the 36 awarded enterprises has increased over 150% since the end of 2014, or an increase of over €3 million in exports.
• A strong testament to the positive stimulus and confidence instilled after winning a grant: beyond the enterprises' required co-financing, the awarded grantees invested an additional €3.3 Million in their own growth during the course of the MSME Grants Programme.

For more information, please refer to the MSME Grants Catalogue (in EN, ALB, SRB), which gathers general statistics about the programme as well as fact sheets of all benefitted companies.