QUARTERLY REPORT April 1 – June 30, 2019
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BELT DOO, BANJA LUKA BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA WORKFORCE AND HIGHER ACCESS TO MARKETS (WHAM) ACTIVITY QUARTERLY REPORT April 1 – June 30, 2019 DISCLAIMER “This report was made possible through support provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development. The opinions expressed herein are the sole responsibility of IESC and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.” CONTENTS 1 BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA WORKFORCE AND HIGHER ACCESS TO MARKETS (WHAM) ACTIVITY QUARTERLY REPORT 1 LIST OF ACRONYMS III ACTIVITY OVERVIEW 1 EXECUTIVE SUMARY 2 ACTIVITY IMPLEMENTATION 2 A. GRANTS 2 1. FOREIGN TRADE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (FTC) 4 2. CHAMBER OF ECONOMY OF FEDERATION OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (COE FBIH) 7 3. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF REPUBLIKA SRPSKA (COC RS) 8 4. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF UNA SANA CANTON (PKUSK) 8 5. REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY OF CENTRAL BIH (REZ) 9 6. SARAJ KOMERC D.O.O. 10 7. ATT D.O.O. 11 8. SINKRO D.O.O. 12 9. MIVIKO D.O.O. 13 10. TEM MANDEKS D.O.O. 13 11. STEP D.D. 14 12. INTERA TECHNOLOGY PARK (INTERA) 14 13. CHAMBER OF ECONOMY OF FEDERATION OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (COE FBIH) 14 14. SENEX D.O.O. 16 15. NOVA AMBIENTA 17 16. TERMOKLIMA 18 17. MALAK JANJ 18 18. MBT BH DOO TUZLA-GERMAN CENTER FOR ROBOTICS DKR 19 19. FACULTY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING UNIVERSITY OF SARAJEVO 20 20. GLOBAL METAL CONSTRUCTION (GMC) 20 B. VOLUNTEER ASSIGNMENTS 20 LEEKEI WAI HAN TANG 21 ŽELJKO MALEČIĆ 21 AJŠA HALILOVIĆ 22 C. REQUESTS FOR APPLICATIONS (RFA) 25 1. CURRENT EVALUATION 25 2. UPCOMING RFA 25 3. APPLICATION STATUS 25 KEY ACTIVITIES 25 FINANCES 26 CHALLENGES, LESSONS LEARNED, AND RECOMMENDATIONS 26 TIME TO PROCESS APPLICATIONS 26 SME ENGAGEMENT 27 GRANTS IMPLEMENTATION TIMEFRAME 27 ACTIVITIES PLANNED FOR THE NEXT REPORTING PERIOD 27 ANNEX A: LOCATION OF COMPANIES SUPPORTED BY WHAM 28 ANNEX B: LIST OF COMPANIES SUPPORTED BY WHAM 29 LIST OF ACRONYMS B2B Business-to-Business BAM Bosnia Convertible Mark BAS Institute for Standardization of Bosnia and Herzegovina BBB Bosnian Beech Board doo Visoko BiH Bosnia and Herzegovina CNC Computer Numerical Controlling CoC RS Chamber of Commerce of Republika Srpska CoE FBiH Chamber of Economy of Federation of BIH EMC Electromagnetic compatibility EU European Union FBiH Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina FTC Foreign Trade Chamber of Bosnia and Herzegovina FY Fiscal Year (October 1 to September 30) GACS Global Automotive Components and Suppliers GDP Gross Domestic Product GMC Global Metal Construction IESC International Executive Service Corps IMM Internationale Möbelmesse Fair ISO International Organization for Standardization IZB International Suppliers Fair LOP Life of Project PKUSK Chamber of Commerce of Una Sana Canton PREDA Agency for Economic Development of City Prijedor Q1/2/3/4 Quarter One/Two/Three/Four REZ Regional Development Agency of Central BiH RFA Request for Application RS Republic of Srpska SME Small to Medium-Size Enterprise UK United Kingdom USAID United States Agency for International Development USD United States Dollar WHAM Workforce and Higher Access to Markets ACTIVITY OVERVIEW The Balkan country of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is experiencing an estimated 3.2 percent annual growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP)1. Increasing exports and collaborating with market actors will further this growth, drive innovation, and increase opportunities for new employment and high-growth enterprise expansion. Closer interaction with the European Union (EU) and regional markets is key to the stability, growth, and renaissance of this important intersection for trade, relations, and culture between the East and West. The Workforce and Access to Higher Markets (WHAM) Activity is stimulating job creation by advancing BiH’s trade integration with, and expansion into, the EU and regional markets. The Activity is accomplishing this goal primarily via a grant program for BiH private enterprises. Grants prioritize high- growth, exporting, or export-ready enterprises aiming to expand capacity, reach more markets, and generate employment. The Activity’s efforts focus on BiH organizations and enterprises working in, or linked to, four main sectors: wood processing, metal processing, textile/apparel, and information and communications technology (ICT). The Activity includes smaller high-growth enterprises by ensuring qualifying participation criteria can be measured as a percent of growth, not just the overall value of growth. The WHAM Activity includes the following three key intervention areas: Intervention 1: Workforce Development. The objective of this intervention is to help the BiH workforce gain the skills needed for employment in high-growth enterprises. Intervention 2: Access to Markets. The objective of this intervention is to support high-growth enterprises in identifying and accessing new customers in existing or new markets to increase exports from BiH. Intervention 3: Product Quality and Capacity Building. The objective of this intervention is to enable enterprises to meet the product and quality requirements of target markets in the EU and the region. The WHAM Activity is a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded activity implemented by the International Executive Service Corps (IESC), in conjunction with local sub-recipient ENOVA. The WHAM Activity is governed under Cooperative Agreement No. AID-168-LA-17-00001. The period of performance for the award is June 9, 2017 to June 8, 2020. This quarterly Activity performance report is submitted in accordance with Attachment A, Section A.5 Reporting and Evaluation, of the Cooperative Agreement. This report covers the period of April 1to June 30, 2019. 1 The 3.2 percent average GDP growth includes 2015 actuals, 2016 actuals, and 2017 estimates, and 2018 forecasts. Source: World Bank’s June 2018 Global Economic Prospects report. 1 | WHAM QUARTERLY PROGRAM PERFORMANCE REPORT, APRIL 1– JUNE 30, 2019, FISCAL YEAR 2019 USAID.GOV EXECUTIVE SUMARY During this reporting period, the Workforce and Higher Access to Markets (WHAM) Activity continued supporting the implementation of 20 active grants, nine of which were signed during this reporting period as described below. Grant beneficiaries created 68 new jobs during this quarter, bringing the total number of new jobs created to date to 924. The Activity signed nine new grant agreements with small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that submitted grant applications in response to Request for Applications (RFA) 2, RFA 3, RFA 4, and RFA 5. These public calls were published concurrently in the first quarter of the 2019 fiscal year. The total value of grants awarded to these nine SMEs is The public call for RFA WHAM-AID-168-LA-17-006 Access to markets to prepare and participate in fairs and trade shows closed on January 30, 2019. WHAM received 35 concept notes, of which nine were asked to submit full grant applications. The WHAM selection committee approved six applications and submitted them for USAID approval. USAID approved four applications and consequently the WHAM Activity signed grant agreements with these four recipients. On March 13, 2019, the Activity published RFA: WHAM-AID-168-LA-17-007 New and innovative product development. This open call was opened until April 17, 2019, with a total potential funding pool of USD. WHAM received 61 grant applications. Upon the selection committee evaluation, 11 applications were approved. The WHAM Activity also fielded two international expert volunteers: Mrs. Leekei Wai Han Tang as a textile sector expert; and, Željko Malečić, an automotive and metal expert. These volunteer experts provided new perspectives for WHAM Activity beneficiaries and partners to increase their marketability and production capacity as well as new linkages to potential EU and United Kingdom (UK) clients. On May 21, 2019, through an Agreement modification, the Information Communications and Technology (ICT) sector was added to the WHAM Activity target sectors. ACTIVITY IMPLEMENTATION A. GRANTS The WHAM Activity provided continual support to 20 active grant awards this reporting period. The active grants are listed below: LIST OF ACTIVE GRANTS Name of the grantee RFA number Location Grant start date Grant end date Foreign Trade Chamber of WHAM-AID-168-LA-17- Sarajevo Center March 27, 2018 June 30, 2019 Bosnia and Herzegovina 00001 USAID.GOV WHAM QUARTERLY PROGRAM PERFORMANCE REPORT, APRIL 1– JUNE 30, 2019, FISCAL YEAR 2019 | 2 LIST OF ACTIVE GRANTS Name of the grantee RFA number Location Grant start date Grant end date Chamber of Economy of WHAM-AID-168-LA-17- Sarajevo Center March 27, 2018 March 28, 2020 FBIH 00001 Privredna komora RS WHAM-AID-168-LA-17- Banja Luka April 11, 2018 April 10, 2019 Chamber of Commerce & 00001 Industry of RS Chamber of Commerce of WHAM-AID-168-LA-17- Bihac April 11, 2018 April 10, 2019 Una-Sana Canton 00001 Regional Development WHAM-AID-168-LA-17- Zenica October 11, 2018 September 30, 2019 Agency for Central BiH 00001 (REZ) SARAJ-KOMERC WHAM-AID-168-LA-17- Gornji Vakuf- February 15, 2019 April 14, 2019 00002 Uskoplje ATT WHAM-AID-168-LA-17- Gornji Vakuf- February 15, 2019 August 14, 2019 00002 Uskoplje SINKRO WHAM-AID-168-LA-17- Ilidza February 15, 2019 August 14, 2019 00003 MIVIKO WHAM-AID-168-LA-17- Posusje March 6, 2019 March 5, 2020 00005 TEM MANDEKS WHAM-AID-168-LA-17- Siroki Brijeg March 6, 2019 July 5, 2019 00005 STEP dd WHAM-AID-168-LA-17- Novi Grad March 8, 2019 September 7, 2019 00005 INTERA Technology Park WHAM-AID-168-LA-17- Mostar April 8, 2019 March 1, 2020 00002