USAID, in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), is working to improve the business environment in Belarus by increasing access to information and training, reducing regulatory burden and facilitating access to credit. The project’s activities focus on enhancing the capacity of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

The project objectives are:

• to improve SMEs’ competitiveness through training and better access to business information;
• to facilitate SMEs’ access to credit by strengthening collateral laws and creating a collateral registry;
• to simplify the regulatory restrictions affecting SMEs.

The project provides Business Edge^TM business and management trainings to SMEs through the local partner, Center for Business Communication Bel.Biz. IFC’s Business Edge™ is a world-class training system aimed at improving the business performance and competitiveness of firms and creating jobs in developing countries. The trainings aim to strengthen the management skills of SMEs and provide them access to Business Edge™ practical training solutions based on international curricula, which are adapted to the local business context.

Though only recently launched, the project has already trained 19 Belarusian trainers to deliver the Business Edge™ program. In the first project year, 403 private Belarusian firms were trained on management topics, such as Marketing, Finance and Accounting, Quality and Operations, Human Resource Management, and Personal Productivity Skills.

The project improves SMEs’ access to up-to-date business information and professional business advice by supporting the expansion and sustained functioning of the Bel.Biz webportal.

Project activities also contribute to reducing the regulatory burden on businesses associated with permits, licenses, and other complex administrative procedures. In particular, USAID support has contributed to the preparation of amendments to 13 business regulatory acts. As a result of the project advisory work, two legislative acts simplifying business operations were adopted in 2011.

The project also supports the development of a functioning collateral registry system that would improve financial institutions’ access to quality collateral information and to ease and increase lending to trustworthy SMEs.

BEST project is a part of a multi-donor effort, the Belarus Regulatory Simplification and Entrepreneur Support Project, co-funded by USAID, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and IFC.