Timok Club Helps Serbian Youth Start Businesses
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe estimates that youth unemployment in Serbia exceeds 50 percent. The Timok Club, an NGO established in southeastern Serbia in
1997, recently began the "It's Important to Start" project to address this statistic in Serbia's Timok Krajina region. The project provides training and education to help unemployed youth increase their civic participation and contribute to local economic growth by starting their own businesses.
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| A poster urging youth to "be different" by increasing their community involvement and entrepreneurial skills through the "It's Important to Start" project |
With support from organizations including USAID-funded partner Freedom House, the Timok Club's project provides guidance through a series of 16 workshops on civic activism, democratic participation, and strategic business start-ups. Presently, the Timok Club is distributing 50 start-up small business project models to beneficiaries in four southeastern Serbia municipalities:
Knjazevac, Zajecar, Sokobanja and Kladovo.
Since October 2005, 146 youth have participated in the Timok Club's training sessions and 196 youth received technical and consulting assistance with business start-up ideas. By April 2006 the "It's Important to Start" project will have provided similar services to an additional 1,100 young people.
Two of those young people are Veselin Rakic and Bojan Nikolic, both residents of Sokobanja. After participating in the project's workshops, they decided to establish a company that provides surveillance systems. They contacted a local consultant to help them register and establish bank accounts for their company, which they named CESEC. The two are now finalizing a Web site and other promotional materials. During CESEC's official registration ceremony on January 24, 2006, Rakic said, "This is one of the most important days in my life. Only two months ago, I didn't have an idea of what to do. Now I have an opportunity."
Like many of their peers, Rakic and Nikolic were drawn to the project by two prospects: Greater economic security through self-employment and an increased voice in community decision-making. The "It's Important to Start" project responds by helping participants learn how to interact with their local government agencies and representatives, start their own businesses,
and actively seek employment.
Local and national media helped the Timok Club receive higher-than-expected registrations for its training sessions. The overwhelming response indicated the strong desire youth have to influence their economic future. Even after its training sessions have ended the Timok Club will continue to assist the region's youth through resources on its Web site. Two of the project's local partners, the Regional Agency for Small to Medium Enterprises and the Regional Chamber of Commerce, will continue to provide basic technical assistance to young people interested in starting their own businesses.
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