Belarus

LOCAL SKILLS MATTER Belarus

A study of good practice in the application of territorial governance tools to VET in Belarus, undertaken as part of the Entrepreneurial Communities initiative.

Short description:

In 2013, as part of its work on multilevel VET governance, the ETF launched its Entrepreneurial Communities initiative to identify and acknowledge local partnerships that foster skills, entrepreneurship and job creation. The goal was to explore and learn from examples in partner countries, in order to understand how these partnerships are formed, the impact they can have on communities and how they can inform VET policy.

This report describes how entrepreneurial communities can emerge as the result of top-down government initiatives. It describes in detail how a Minsk-based business incubator became an entrepreneurial community comprising 150 start-up businesses.

A 1992 Presidential Decree to encourage educational projects aimed at supporting entrepreneurial activity and small business development by young people led to the establishment of a business incubator by the Minsk City Executive Committee. Other actors behind the initiative included the Department of Entrepreneurship in the Ministry of Economy, a Parliamentary Commission on entrepreneurship development in the city of Minsk, a microfinance centre and two entrepreneurship support centres, ‘Igrika’ and ‘Biznes-Razvitie’.

This incubator differs from the standard model in that it has put in place innovative mechanisms to support collaboration between the members of the community, as well as between the community and the broader business eco-system, and with local providers of education, training and entrepreneurial support services. This helps the members in terms of training, mentoring and the development of business opportunities. The incubator also collaborates with local schools with a view to developing a culture of entrepreneurship. So far it has been visited by some 6 000 school students, whose teachers take them there to gain exposure to entrepreneurial activity and general business issues.

You may read the document below and see the video here.