Eastern Europe and Central Asia—BIZPRO

BIZPRO supported businesses in the contiguous countries of Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova. In Belarus, we organized professional accounting programs and engaged a local think tank to provide economic analysis. In Ukraine we helped enterprises compete in foreign and domestic markets by working at the enterprise, sector, and policy/legal levels. We contributed to the economic development of Moldova by providing assistance that improved the ability of small businesses to operate and compete.

Sample Activities

• Develop a roadmap for subsectors in Ukraine—furniture and home furnishings, tourism, fruit and vegetable processing, construction materials—to identify gaps in value and supply chains, problems and constraints faced by businesses, opportunities in the marketplace, and skills needed to seize those opportunities.
• Study the information technology sector in Moldova and identify growth and export potential, regulatory constraints, and opportunities for enhanced collaboration with the country’s business sector.
• Survey the Belarusian economy and develop an empirical model, disseminating the research to public and private sectors and academia.

Select Results

• In Ukraine, assisted the Kashtan garment factory to compete against foreign brands; the company nearly doubled domestic sales to 38.4 percent of total output in 2005 compared with 20.8 percent in 2004, with domestic sales increasing by 47 percent, or $300,000.
• In Moldova, identified business regulations that were then referred by the Moldovan government, which substantially reduced the 300 million Moldovan lei (US$24 million) that businesses were once required to dole out annually in government fees.
• In Belarus, assisted 31 accountants to earn Certified Accounting Professional certificates by completing examinations in financial accounting, managerial accounting, and tax and law that were developed and scored by the Certified International Professional Accountant Institute based in Moscow.