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North Macedonia launches €2 million development fund to support Roma businesses

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Prime Minister of North Macedonia Zoran Zaev (pictured) today (30 July) launched a €2 million development fund in partnership with the Roma Entrepreneurship Development Initiative (REDI) to support Roma businesses and address the issue of unemployment in the community. 

The project 'Financial Support for the Development of Roma Entrepreneurship with Matching Fund' aims to create favourable business conditions for Roma entrepreneurs by facilitating easier access to business loans; offering coaching, business development services, and creating new jobs, formalizing Roma employment, and harnessing the Roma’s demographic dividend. 

Traditionally, Roma have been declined loan and business investment in Europe because of bad credit history, lack of collateral, lack of proof of business activity and racism. In addition, on average 80% of the mapped Roma entrepreneurs work in the informal sector. In the current COVID climate, one in two Roma entrepreneurs surveyed by REDI worry that they will not be able to pay their rents, and loans if the situation continues for longer than two weeks. Six out of ten businesses owned by Roma fear they will go bankrupt in the next two months in absence of urgent support, especially for their cash flow needs. The help is timely. 

Launching the initiative, Prime Minister Zaev said: “This Government recognized the potential of Roma entrepreneurship and their contribution for development of Roma community, which is why this first step is important towards building an economically stable community.” 

Alexander Soros, deputy chairman of the Open Society Foundations welcomed North Macedonia’s unprecedented commitment towards building an inclusive economy. “This initiative comes at a very important moment for the region. The regional cooperation spearheaded by PMs Zaev and Rama and President Vučić will open new possibilities for this initiative to succeed. Through this initiative, we can create, sustain, and grow the Roma-owned businesses and generate new job opportunities.”

Investing in Roma would pay high dividends for the Western Balkans, said Zeljko Jovanovic, Director, Roma Initiatives Office of OSF that initiated the creation of REDI. “There is evidence that Roma exclusion hurts economies in the region and this will only get worse due to the pandemic and demographic trends. Governments now have an opportunity to reverse this trend. Serbia already joined the initiative with an initial investment of one million euro in Roma entrepreneurs, today North Macedonia joins. More Western Balkan governments should sign up to the match funding development initiative.”

REDI has a track record of aiding Roma entrepreneurs. Muamed Malikovski, a young artist entrepreneur from Bitola, North Macedonia, received a start-up COVID relief grant of € 5000 from REDI and ERIAC in 2020 to put together his initial collection of traditional clothes for Roma women. He also received branding and digital marketing support from REDI. Today, despite COVID, Malikovski has managed to sustain his business and continue to serve the community.

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Another businessman Malik Maliki, owner of a pizza restaurant in Suto Orizari, who was repeatedly denied access to loan, received technical assistance from REDI in 2021 to apply for a government grant to grow his business. This helped him to employ more people and grow his business. In addition, he managed to get further business support from the government. 

Senat Jaja, Founder of Marchelo, a clothing company welcomed the news: “I have been an entrepreneur for over 15 years. At the beginning of my career, I worked as an informal entrepreneur (without registering a company) for the first five years, but I realized that I could prosper and expand my business much better if I registered it. Over the years, I have faced many challenges, but my main challenge was in 2020 when the COVID-19 virus appeared, which caused a pandemic and economic downturn, both in our country and around the world. I found it difficult to get a loan from commercial banks and was getting desperate. Fortunately, REDI stepped in to assist me in getting a loan. I managed to apply for an interest-free loan from the Development Bank with 0% interest. I got motivated to invest in my business and I feel more confident about the future. REDI in the Republic of North Macedonia is the first Roma NGO that unconditionally helps entrepreneurs, supporting them to succeed. I believe that the REDI fund as a new mechanism can help Roma entrepreneurs by motivating them to register their business and showing them that we can succeed.”

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