Within the European Union’s support for economic growth and employment opportunities in Bosnia and Hercegovina, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) organised several workshops to introduce the globally recognized methodology Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) to a number of trainers coming from various municipalities across Bosnia and Hercegovina. As a result, by mid-2021 over 500 future entrepreneurs from vulnerable groups - youth, women, long-term unemployed, persons over 50 years of age and persons with disabilities, received a SIYB training, developed a business plan and gained access to funding of their business ideas. Furthermore, over 100 new businesses were registered and they will continue to receive mentoring in line with the SIYB methodology.

The aim of the SIYB methodology is to provide support in establishing and improving the running of small businesses. The trainings covered several SIYB modules: How to get a business idea (Generate Your Business Idea), How to start a business (Start Your Business) and How to improve a business (Improve Your Business).

Bosnia and Herzegovina is the first country in the Western Balkans in which this methodology was implemented. Thanks to the “Train the Trainer” workshops organised from 2019-2021 within the EU4Business project, Bosnia and Herzegovina has now 14 certified SIYB trainers. EU4Business project is co-funded by the European Union and the German Government and is jointly implemented by the ILO, German Development Cooperation GIZ and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

U and ILO will continue to support the fourteen certified SIYB trainers in sharing knowledge on best business development practices in local communities within two other EU funded projects aiming to mitigate unemployment and support local businesses in BiH - “EU Support to Local Employment Partnerships - Phase II (LEP II)” and “EU4BusinessRecovery”. The trainers will continue to provide entrepreneurship training through local employment partnerships in 25 locations across the country. Trainings will be offered to unemployed individuals willing to enter the entrepreneurship world, specifically targeting those who became unemployed as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic. The approach will further contribute to development of the local economy.

If you are looking to start a business or need support in running one, here you can find detailed resumes of all 14 certified SIYB trainers.

SIYB programme  

SIYB is an entrepreneurship-training programme with the aim to support establishment and growth of small businesses as a strategy to create more and better jobs for women and men, especially in developing countries. It has its roots in the 1970s when the ILO reworked the initial form of training, developed by the Swedish Employers' Federation, into the How to Improve Your Business (IYB) programme. IYB is part of a range of four training modules within the SIYB programme. Other three are How to get a business idea (GYB), How to start a business (SYB) and How to expand a business (EYB).