State foundation of SME development in the Murmansk region

In the framework of realization of Developing EXcellence – DEX project the state fund for SME development of Murmansk Oblast (FORMAP) was selected for the role of Excellence center assisting the government of Murmansk Oblast in developing and promoting the cooperation projects related the Good Neighbors programs.

The state fund for SME development of Murmansk Oblast (FORMAP) was founded in 1995.

The main purposes of the Fund activities are:

· developing and supporting SME in Murmansk Oblast;

· financing programs, projects and activities aimed at the development and support of SME in Murmansk Oblast;

· developing infrastructure for SME;

· assisting the establishment and development of business contacts among the subjects of the small-scale entrepreneurship.

Since the year 2001 the program of the micro-crediting for SME is operating in Murmansk Oblast, which was organized by the state fund for SME development (FORMAP).

This is a socially-oriented program and is primarily aimed on supporting the entrepreneurs with limited revenues, nevertheless aspiring for the success in business. The offices of FORMAP are also operating in the towns Apatity and Mochegorsk and the entrepreneurs from adjacent towns and villages can also obtain a loan from the Fund.

The problem is that the majority of the banks (about 30) operate in Murmansk city, and there are only 2-3 banks, operating in Oblast. It is often difficult for entrepreneurs to get a loan, especially for those lacking credit history or assets for a pledge. Besides, banks are not financially interested in micro-crediting, because of its low profitability. FORMAP

FORMAP has found a niche, in which banks do not operate, because crediting the small-scale business is risky and the entrepreneurs do not have assets for a pledge.

Since 2001 under the program of micro-crediting more then 2000 loans were provided in amount of more than 125 millions rubles. The clients of the Fund are entrepreneurs (both legal entities and non-legal entities) registered and operating in Oblast. They operate mainly in trade business, but the share of those operating in manufacturing and services is growing. The entrepreneurs, who got financial support from the Fund, retained or created no less than 1000 jobs.

It is a common situation that entrepreneurs do not know how to submit a proper application for the loan, demonstrating the prospective provider of the loan that the entrepreneur will repay the loan in time and completely. Many entrepreneurs also lack the skill for formulating properly the idea of their project in a written format. The absence of the applications for funding projects, fulfilling the requirements of investors, is a serious obstacle for getting loans.

In 2003-2006 with the purpose to help entrepreneurs to resolve this problem FORMAP has organized for them seminars and trainings on the issues of business planning in various towns of Oblast, in which more than 200 entrepreneurs has participated. FORMAP was able to support the projects because of the financial support, provided by Eurasia Foundation. The next task is to create the infrastructure for supporting “start-ups” and the criterion for success will be a number of new entrepreneurs.

The SME supporting infrastructure in Murmansk Oblast is rather limited. These are mainly business-centers affiliated to the placement service, supported by grants from TACIS, STPP and its branches, SPP, the Agency for the Support of the Small-Scale Business, NGO “Kola North”, FORMAP.

The existing infrastructure is mainly aimed at resolving issues, related to getting grants, some specific events, or narrowly specialized activities of the organization.

In 2006 FORMAP has started creating the system of the territorial centers for informational and legal support of entrepreneurs. This network of info-centers is supposed to be organized on the base of the existing infrastructure for the small-scale business support in the towns of Oblast, which includes:

· offices of FORMAP;

· “Technological Park Apatity”;

· informational centers of the Department of placement service;

· the facilities of educational organizations;

· libraries.

The centers for informational and legal support will be created with the direct assistance of the municipalities, participating in the project. The centers for informational and legal support will supply the new entrepreneurs with informational materials and documents of the local governments, consultations of experts on legal, taxation, and financial issues, and on the issues of relationship between entrepreneurs and local governments. If needed, the individual consultations will be provided on the issues of conducting business, and elaboration and realization of business plans. Frequently asked questions of entrepreneurs and the answers of experts will be placed at web-sites of FORMAP and municipalities.

The organization on the basis of permanently operating informational centers, educational and training classes for the entrepreneurs could resolve the problem of investments in SME projects.

The participation of FORMAP in DEX project could significantly increase the chances for success in organizing the centers for informational and legal support, because the Fund would be able to use the resources and the previous experience of the similar projects realized in Finland.

In 2005-2006 FORMAP jointly with Kola Research Center (Apatity) and Norwegian technical parks participated in the project for the development of the conception for creation of innovational “Barents business park” in town Apatity.

The main idea of the project is creating at the territory of Murmansk Oblast the structure supporting innovational ideas and projects of the enterprises and entrepreneurs of Oblast, especially the projects, related to the crossborder cooperation with SMEs of the province Finnmark. In the framework of the project it is planned to organize two structures: innovational school and business incubator.

Innovational school will use the experience of the Alta Business School of Finnmark university and Kola Research Center. The activity of the Innovational school will be aimed at the managers and the owner of the operating enterprises, developing and realizing innovational projects for the development of their business and at educating of the trainers-consults, which later will help businesses to develop and to realize innovational projects.

The topics for teaching in the Innovational school will be following:

· Project management

· Risk management

· The model for the border zone business for Murmansk and Finnmark

· The sources for financial support for innovational projects

· Presenting the experience of the successfully operating business

· Using TV, video and web-studios for education

· Exchanging experience by the educators from Norway and Russia

· The basic knowledge in the sphere of personnel management

It is planned to create a business incubator for the innovational projects on basis of business incubator in the town Apatity.

On June 27-28, 2006 in Murmansk in the framework of the seminar of the project DEX the representatives of the Department for economic development of Murmansk Oblast presented the strategy of regional development and the program “The development of entrepreneurship in Murmansk Oblast in 2005-2008”. The representative of the Department for economic development of Murmansk Oblast informed about Murmansk Oblast participation in the programs of international cooperation, including the Neighborhood Program KolArctic. There was a discussion of the strategy of international cooperation and strategic approaches for implementation of the model of SME support in the region.

Contacts:

Head of the organization: Kamenetskiy Aleksandr

Tel.: 42-86-46, 42-86-38;
Fax: 42-86-39
E-mail: formap@polarcom.ru