As part of the project “Job Fit: Economic empowerment of persons with disabilities”, financed by the American Agency for International Development (USAID), Mapping and analysis of available financial instruments for the development of entrepreneurship was carried out, with a focus on companies for professional rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities and social enterprises. The research was conducted by the Smart Kolektiv in the period January-May 2023.

The results of the research showed that the current offer of sources of financing for the target group of companies/organizations is very limited and that state forms of support through the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Affairs, the National Employment Service, the Provincial Secretariat for Economy and Tourism and partially – local governments dominate. When it comes to the private sector and foreign sources of financing, apart from three commercial banks, one foreign agency for international development and still insufficiently known and established crowdsourcing initiatives, there are currently no other providers of financial instruments on the market.

Entrepreneurs, micro and small businesses participated in the conducted survey, while medium-sized enterprises were poorly represented. There were no large companies among the respondents, which indicates insufficient capacity for growth and development of companies/organizations from the target group. More than a third of those surveyed declared that they are not financially self-sustainable and that they depend on external sources of financing. Nevertheless, the fact that the vast majority of those surveyed in the past year financed themselves from the sale of their products and services on the market, and one quarter through projects, is encouraging.

More about the advantages and limitations of available financial instruments, competitions and public calls for entrepreneurship, as well as social investment, is available on the website of the Youth with Disabilities Forum, which is also the publisher of this publication Mapiranje-i-analiza-finansijskih-elemenata-za-razvoj-preduzetnistva.pdf (fmi.rs).

The project “Job Fit: Economic empowerment of persons with disabilities” is financed by the American Agency for International Development (USAID), and is implemented by the Youth with disabilities Forum, with partners – the Ana and Vlade Divac Foundation, Smart Kolektiv, Caritas Serbia and the Center for independent living of persons with disabilities Serbia.