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U.S. marketing expert Jeffrey Spear held a one day workshop for Serbian agribusinesses during which he highlighted strategies and methodologies needed to build brands and improve packaging. 

Spear, in collaboration with the USAID Agribusiness Project, has been helping Serbian food and beverage companies develop marketing strategies, build brands and design packaging that appeals to domestic and foreign markets for the past five years.  

The aim of the November 29 workshop was foster an exchange of ideas between agribusinesses and marketing professionals as to exploit untapped opportunities in Serbia and the region. 

Since 2007 the USAID Agribusiness Project has provided $840,000 in grants to 49 Serbian companies to develop marketing strategies, build brands, redesign packaging, and develop visual identities and product branding for foreign markets. 

Eleven women were awarded grants totaling US$160,000 (RSD 11.7 million) to launch their own agribusinesses.  The women were winners of a Business Plan Competition sponsored by the USAID Agribusiness Project.

The winners were presented certificates today by USAID Mission Director Susan K. Fritz 

The start-up grants will enable these entrepreneurs to launch businesses in a variety of pursuits, including milk processing and the cultivation and processing of fruits, vegetables and medicinal herbs.  They are among 300 women who completed an agribusiness training course organized by the USAID Agribusiness Project as part a program to promote entrepreneurship among rural women.  

The Women Entrepreneurs Program has held training sessions in Leskovac , Kragujevac, Čačak Kraljevo , Valjevo, Užice Šabac , Niš, Gadžin Han , Prokuplje , Zaječar, Pirot and Bor .

USAID is now expanding this program to involve all relevant institutions locally and nationally. The USAID Agribusiness Project will continue to provide support to all women entrepreneurs that have taken part in the training program and also will support implementation of the selected business plans with technical and advisory assistance.  

“Women are the backbone of Serbia’s rural population,” said Susan K. Fritz, Mission Director of the U.S. Agency for International Development in Serbia. “Their value as an engine of growth must not be overlooked.  Communities that create opportunities so women can own and operate enterprises grow faster and more sustainably.”

Twenty Serbian agribusiness companies showcased their products at the recent World Food Fair Moscow.  The firms made over 900 contacts and contracted export deals totaling €25 million.

For the first time ever, Serbian companies offered a selection of meat products to Russian buyers, achieving considerable success.  LTS Company signed a contract for the export of processed meat products valued at €1 million monthly. 

The USAID Agribusiness Project, in cooperation with the Agency for Foreign Investment and Export Promotion (SIEPA), supported the participation of Serbian agribusiness firms at the fair for the fourth year in a row.  

Serbian agribusiness companies this September doubled the value of their exports compared with last year.  Serbian companies, recognizing the excellent potential for trade with the signing of the free trade agreement with Russia, are showing increased interest in this event.

Serbian fruit and vegetable vendors included Agrar Commerce, Agroprom Kom, Fruitland Association, Kulfud, Frigogrand, Fruvela, Lgda Impex ITN, Jugprom, Mondi Serbia, PIK Juzni Banat, Planten, and Sikoberi.  Milk and meat product vendors included Neoplanta, LTS, Pakom International,Pajic Company Group,Sweet Art,Zdravo Organic and Foka.

Serbian producers featured a wide variety of fresh, frozen and dried fruits, including apples, pears, peaches, apricots, nectarines, plums, grapes, raspberries, blackberries, cherries, and sour cherries.  Among the vegetables on display were sweet peppers, cabbages, cucumbers, peas, and corn.  Processed meats, cakes and packaging for the food industry were also on display. 

World Food Fair Moscow, which just completed its 19th year, featured more than 1,200 exhibitors from 60 countries and was attended by 55,000 buyers and distributors.

The second Culinaria Fine Food Fair was opened today in Belgrade by U.S. Ambassador Mary Warlick, German Ambassador Wolfram Maas and the Assistant Minister of Agriculture Milos Milovanovic.

This event will last from the 28th to the 30th of September and features 105 companies from Serbia and the region. Over 200 professional buyer from all over the world are expected to visit Culinaria. 

Apart from USAID, the Culinaria Fine Food Show is supported by the Republic of Serbia Ministry of Agriculture, Trade, Forestry and Water Management, Serbian Chamber of Commerce, Serbian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (SIEPA) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

Five highly successful women agribusiness entrepreneurs told more than 100 participants at the Women in Agribusiness Conference how planning, financial management, and attention to packaging, marketing and sales made their businesses a success.  Today’s Belgrade conference attracted dozens of women entrepreneurs from throughout Serbia, as well as representatives of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, development agencies, women’s associations, and businesses.

The conference was organized by the USAID Agribusiness Project and the Office for Sustainable Development of Under-Developed Areas with to goal of encouraging Serbian governmental and financial institutions to support entrepreneurship and take additional action to encourage female entrepreneurship. 

The conference was opened by USAID Mission Director Susan K. Fritz; Professor and actress Mirjana Karanović; and University of Belgrade Economics Professor Dana Popović.

“Women are the backbone of Serbia’s rural population,” Fritz said. “Their value as an engine of growth must not be overlooked.  Communities that create opportunities so women can own and operate enterprises grow faster and more sustainably.”

Successful women entrepreneurs – owners of agribusinesses – discussed their challenges and successes in launching and sustaining their companies, providing advice and support to conference participants.  Several had taken business training classes offered by the U.S. Agency for International Development and received further support from the Office for Sustainable Development.

Conference participants also addressed by Dr. Sulejman Ugljanin, Minister Without Portfolio; Dusan Petrovic, Minister of Agriculture, Trade, Forestry and Water Management; Dragijana Radonjić Petrović, State Secretary within the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development; Dejan Jovanović, Director of the National Employment Agency; Miroslav Vasin, Executive Council of The Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Secretary for Labor, Employment and Gender, Svetlana Tolmačeva, Procredit Bank, President of Managing Board and Vladimir Vukotić, Opportunity Bank, President of Managing Board.

“Today, the Office for Sustainable Development of Under-Developed Areas will allocated RSD 3 million for the support of business plans originating from the areas within its authority and from those women that have undergone the first round of training organized by the USAID Agribusiness Project,” Minister Ugljanin  stated. He added that the Office for Sustainable Development and the USAID Agribusiness Project will conduct additional training for women in southwest and eastern Serbia targeting a hundred women entrepreneurs.

Minister Ugljanin also mentioned that the public call for applications for the allocation of funds for agricultural development in the six under-developed municipalities of southwestern Serbia has ended and that the Office for Sustainable Development of Under-Developed Areas will disburse RSD 78 million as part of this activity.

At the end of the conference it was concluded that partnership between the relevant institutions, as well as partnership between those institutions, the financial sector and businesses is fundamental for advancing entrepreneurship in Serbia. It was also agreed that better provision of information about assistance available to women and entrepreneurship education are key aspects that will form the basis for future cooperation of all relevant institutions involved.