News Archive

The Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance Business and Trade Development Program (VEGA/BTD) sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is marking its successful completion after more than three years of supporting Bulgaria’s business development through technical assistance and trade facilitation activities and promotion of international linkages in industry sectors with high growth potential.

Media are invited to attend the event to celebrate the success of the program in the Grand Hotel Sofia on Tuesday, October 2 at 18.30 h.

The event will focus on two recent initiatives of the project, the launch of the informational site Informoney SME Clearinghouse and the expansion of hotels participating in the Authentic Bulgaria Quality Mark. USAID Mission Director Michael Fritz will speak at the event, which will bring together representatives of government agencies, donor organizations, banks, SMEs, and non-government organizations.

Informoney

The overarching goal of Informoney website (www.informoney.org) is to provide improved access to financing and business/ technical expertise to support further development and growth of the SME sector in Bulgaria. Its key components feature a searchable and comparable database of financing products enabling real-time access to current and detailed financing program information based on specified criteria; comprehensive consulting and business start-up services, provided by a pool of experts associated with the portal; a knowledge center provides links to definitions of various business and finance terminology, best-practices business templates, key business information and relevant news; a library; a FAQ file; and a forum for the exchange of ideas between portal users.

Authentic Bulgaria

Authentic Bulgaria (www.authenticbulgaria.org) is an independent quality mark in tourism awarded to accommodations that offer original and unique tourism product. The program started in May 2006 and was initiated by the tourism industry. It is designed to help smaller hospitality and tourism providers to develop better tourism products and attract high value tourists, as opposed to offering the mass-market tourist services common in Bulgaria. The newly established Authentic Bulgaria Association will continue the project after completion of VEGA/ BTD activities in Bulgaria.


For more information, please, contact:
USAID – Vera Petkantchin-+359 2 939 5759; E-mail: vpetkantchin@usaid.gov
INFORMONEY - BC Serdon +359 2 981 20 81; E-mail: serdon@bcserdon.com.
AUTHENTIC BULGARIA – Kamelia Kaloyanova +359 888 006 482.

^{Read the press release in PDF format.}

---

USAID Business and Trade Development Program Fact Sheet (USAID/BTD)

Duration: June 2004 – September 2007

Budget: 4, 100, 000 USD

Implementer: Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance (VEGA)

Primary Goal: To increase competitiveness through enhancing public private dialogue and providing focused assistance to sectors of Bulgarian economy with competitive potential.

USAID/BTD major areas of work and highlights of accomplishments:

Strengthened the capacity of Bulgarian business support organizations (BSOs) to be more effective and sustainable providers of market-based services:

• Supported innovative projects of 36 BSOs through small grants (up to 5,000 USD each). Projects focused on developing the capacity to provide services to their members, promoting initiatives for business support events and information campaigns.
• Eight volunteers from MBA Enterprise Corps provided long term advisory assistance to 10 Bulgarian BSOs and enterprises. As a result, they put in place marketing and long term development strategies, and added new skills and the capacity to provide specific services.

Enhanced competitiveness of the private sector:

• Assisted twelve Bulgarian software and ICT service companies in obtaining the internationally recognized certification for quality standard (CMMI) thus helping these companies achieve process maturity and gain competitive advantage.
• Through “Authentic Bulgaria,” an Independent Quality Mark developed by the project, assisted 92 small hospitality and tourism providers to improve their tourism products and attract high-value tourists.
• Launched www.informoney.org website to provide a searchable database of the most relevant financial products available for Bulgarian small and medium enterprises.
• Developed a methodology and practical tools to support business park development opportunities for manufacturing, logistics, and service industry users. On the basis of this methodology, a project for turning an old military base into a modern industrial park is well underway in the city of Dobrich.

Upheld and preserved a dynamic and efficient public-private dialogue in the economic arena:

• Provided advisory assistance to the Ministry of Economy and Energy in drafting amendments to the investment law for Bulgaria, making it clearer and more understandable to investors as well as adding new incentives to attract investment.
• Prepared Regulatory Impact Assessments for three laws affecting businesses in Bulgaria. These assessments will serve as a methodological model for the administration when undertaking legal initiatives.
• Developed a Communication Strategy to raise public awareness of the work of the Economic Growth Council, an important tool for public private dialogue.

^{Read the fact sheet in PDF format.}