Next to the Ministry of Economy, the main institution for the realisation of the policy and for providing support for SMEs in Montenegro is the Directorate for Development of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (DDSME) which was established in 2000 and officially started its operation in February 2001. Its area of activity is twofold: On one hand, it provides support for SMEs at the executive level through the realisation of activities and projects in the area of developing support institutions, promoting information flow with SMEs, providing necessary consultative business services and education, securing grants for SMEs, stimulating competitiveness and export, internationalisation of SMEs, supporting research and also promotion; on the other hand, it plays a leading role in coordinating the implementation of SME policy within the framework of other sector policies, in the parts which deal with the development of entrepreneurship and also in activities of other entities which, within their sphere of activities, support the development of SMEs (DDSME 2010: 16).

Furthermore, the Directorate for Development of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises pays special attention to entrepreneurship education. According to development orientation of Montenegro, new entrepreneurship programs will be defined in those sectors that represent comparative advantages – tourism, wood processing, and agriculture.

The Directorate for Development of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises together with the Ministry of Economy is also responsible for creating and implementing strategies and support programmes for the SME sector. Within the DDSME, a network of 11 regional/local business centres has been established, which aims to provide various types of business information, consulting and business services, as well as training tailored to the needs development level of SMEs.

DDSME provided credit and loan support through the following programmes for SMEs: “Encouraging Entrepreneurship” in 2006, “Encouraging Competitiveness and Export” in 2007, and the “Programme of State Aid and Support to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises” in 2008 and 2009 (MoE 2010a:16). A special focus is thereby given to start-ups, entrepreneurs planning to start up new production or services and SMEs being operational up to one year through the programme “Encouraging the Beginners in Business-Start-up”.

Additionally, DDSME implements the project “Grant Scheme for Reimbursement of Expenses” which provides support to enterprises in market presentation, coverage of the expenses for marketing activities and building of the capacity of enterprises of a more successful management of business operations (e.g. by introduction of IT) (MoE 2009: 41)

DDSME created Strategy for the Development of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises 2011-2015. To this end, the strategy pursues the following strategic objectives:

·         Improving the business environmentincluding comprehensive reform of regulations to simplify administrative procedures, creation of a permanent system of quality control, and the establishment of an one-stop shop for enterprise registration in 2011

·         Strengthening financial supportthrough improved access and availability of loans, grants, credits, etc. (implementation of special credit lines, establishment of micro-funds, grant schemes, credit guarantee schemes, etc.) and the stimulation of the use of available CIP/EIP financial instruments.

·         Strengthening the competitiveness of SMEs and promotion of entrepreneurship including improving local and regional business centres (reorganisation, capacity building, coverage of whole territory, establishment of a online portal of SMEs, etc.), development of technology parks, internationalisation of SMEs, strengthening the role of EIICM, improving and enhancing education and consulting services for SMEs (promotion of entrepreneurship in education, enhancement of entrepreneurial learning programmes, establishment of Fund for Adult learning etc.), increasing investments in research and development of SMEs (co-finance research projects, tax breaks for SMEs investing in research, etc.), enhancing relationship between SMEs and universities (introduction of voucher schemes, etc.), enhancing the application of ICT (development of e-Government and e-Business portal, co-finance procurement of hardware/software, etc.), increasing export (services for export-oriented enterprises, export-development programme for target markets, fairs, trade missions, etc.) and enhance the potential for cluster development in Montenegro.

·         Support for Beginners in Business – Start-upsincluding strengthening institutional infrastructure to support start-ups, improving quality and availability of financial and non-financial support (credit line to support start-ups, publication of guides, training, etc.)

Contact

E-mail: direkcija@nasme.me

Phone:  +382 20 406 302, +382 20 406 303

Fax: +382 20 406 326, +382 20 406 323

Address: Novaka Miloševa br. 42; 81000 Podgorica; Montenegro

Contact persons:

Department of strategic and development projects

Nataša Batricević, Head of Unit for strategic and developing projects

Phone: +382 20 406 319

E-mail: natasa.batricevic@nasme.me

Nikola Vujosevic, senior adviser for development projects

Phone: +382 20 406 307

E-mail: nikola.vujosevic@nasme.me

Ljiljana Belada, EIICM Manager

Phone: + 382 20 406 310

E-mail: ljiljana.bozovic@nasme.me

Ivana Zecevic, Adviser for Competitive Enhancement and export promotion, NCP SME

Phone: +382 20 406 311

E-mail: ivana.zecevic@euroinfo.me