Organized by the Business Center, the Economic Council and the Municipality of Nikšić, a conference entitled "Partnership for an Innovative Future" was organized in the town under Trebjes, which brought together businesspeople, local institutions, the academic community, representatives of state institutions, chambers of commerce, international organizations and the non-governmental sector, all with the aim of trying to use national and international programs through joint cooperation and to achieve better results, both in the local community, at the national level and beyond.
The Municipality of Nikšić formed the Business Council in March 2023 with the aim of improving cooperation between the local government and the business sector and eliminating existing business barriers. According to Darko Žugić, President of the Business Council and Business Center, the reasons for the low number of businessmen joining together are mutual distrust, as well as the lack of free time of businessmen.
Thus, as he pointed out, out of a thousand companies from Nikšić, only four supported the Economic Council. The solution for joint action that can benefit both the local community and business entities, according to Žugić, is the formation of clusters that would also enable companies to use the funds available through the funds.
"We have already created the most comprehensive database of funds in Montenegro. We have a database that has over 300 funds and in the coming period we will ensure that the economy of Nišić is the best informed economy in Montenegro," said Žugić.
According to him, the formation of a project sector is in preparation, which will prepare key projects, both for local governments and institutions dealing with entrepreneurship, and for companies that have recognized the importance of strategic cooperation. Programs for small and medium-sized enterprises on access funds are also planned. All of this, according to Žugić, was made possible thanks to the companies that supported the Economic Council.
The President of the Municipal Assembly (MA) of Nikšić, Nemanja Vuković, who opened the conference, presented them with the "Pride of Nikšić" awards, which are awarded by the Municipality of Nikšić.
"Through the Economic Council and its activities, we will be able to achieve the goal we set for ourselves in 2023, which is to network the economy, the academic community and the local government, to combine knowledge and to work together to create an even better economic environment in Nikšić. What is particularly important to me is that half a year ago we had one of the initial meetings to launch the initiative to invest in the Innovation Fund and that the most important companies in our city responded. Of course, all companies are equally important, but when you have the support of companies that generate the largest turnover, when you work and create together with them, when they also want to help develop the economy in the local community, when they, as the biggest brands or one of the biggest brands in Nikšić, help and encourage those who are just starting out, who are starting out, to exchange knowledge, to exchange experiences, then I believe that we all agree that we are doing the right thing," said Vuković.
The Vice President of the Municipality of Nikšić, Zoran Tomić, emphasized the importance of cooperation between local government and business people.
"When we started establishing the Economic Council, we believed that we could achieve a good result for one reason - there are no local businessmen without local government. If you don't have the support of local government, you can't develop either. We are committed to that direction and everything we have done in the past four years proves that we want the best for Nikšić," said Tomić.
The Assistant Director of the Employment Service of Montenegro, Aleksandar Rakočević, introduced the conference participants to two important and current projects that they are implementing - support for entrepreneurship through grants and the Youth Guarantee Program. He recalled that the entrepreneurship support project began six years ago as a pilot project, that it cost more than three million euros, that 450 new companies were opened, and that a large number of these companies are from Nikšić, and that 71 percent of these companies are still active.
"Through this program, we have also favored some categories of people that we all recognize as important, and these are young people in business, women in business, and innovations in business," Rakočević pointed out, adding that 15 new companies were founded in Nikšić last year and the year before last.
According to him, the Youth Guarantee Program is being implemented as a pilot project, in cooperation with local governments, in Nikšić, among other municipalities.
"We did not choose Nikšić by chance, as a representative of the central region, but rather we carefully analyzed whether it would be able to function here - such as the capacity of the local bureau, the capacity of the local administration, the organization and the capacity of the economy that would be able to help and provide a chance to young people, of whom, according to our records, there are currently 750 at the Bureau," said Rakočević.
The Director of the Innovation Fund of Montenegro, Bojana Femić Radosavović, reminded that the Fund has been in existence for three years and that it is the best-rounded support system the state has. She pointed out that they provide grants worth up to 200 thousand euros, and that mentoring or non-financial assistance is often more important than financial.
"During our three years of operations, we had as many as 466 applications for our support. Of these, we were able to finance 165 different projects and the total value of these grants for these three years is around six million euros. We expect our numbers to grow year after year, because when we enter the European Union, we will be the first to be able to immediately use the structural funds and by then we need to build capacities to have a strong absorption capacity for these funds," emphasized Femić Radosavović.
Executive Director of the Trebjesa Brewery, Sanja Ćalasan, pointed out that the company has been an active member of the Economic Council since its very foundation and that the idea of investing in innovation infrastructure and activities was born through the Economic Council. According to Olivera Đurković from the Niksal company, innovation is not only the result of technological progress, but above all the fruit of vision, exchange of experiences and open dialogue between everyone – businessmen, local authorities and state institutions.
Big Fashion is the only one to submit an offer for the purchase of land in Nikšić
"I can say that Big Fashion has come to Nikšić, that we will have a large business entity, that we will have new opportunities for our city, new jobs and new opportunities for our fellow citizens," said the President of the Municipal Assembly, Nemanja Vuković, emphasizing that the aforementioned company is the only one that submitted an offer for the purchase of construction land in Nikšić.
He reminded that on February 7, they issued a public call for the sale of construction land measuring 42.201 square meters at a price of 35 euros per square meter. The value of the land is 1.477.000 euros.
The Deputy Mayor of the Municipality, Zoran Tomić, said that Nikšić was once the largest industrial center.
"Today we are in a situation where we are fighting for one job, one job that means life. And Big Fashion will create over 300 jobs for us, so we will certainly provide a better life for 300 families in our city," said Tomić.
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