A conference “Roma Entrepreneurship: Challenges and Perspectives” organised

On Thursday, December 15, 2016, a conference “Roma Entrepreneurship: Challenges and Perspectives” was organized in Belgrade by the Institute for Territorial Economic Development (InTER) and Yurom Centre, in cooperation with the German-Serbian Development Cooperation implemented by GIZ (German Organization for International Cooperation, ACCESS Project), and with support provided by the Open Society Foundation from Budapest.

As an introduction to the conference, a part of the documentary on Roma entrepreneurship was presented, produced within the project “Roma Entrepreneurship: Challenges and Perspectives”. The opening session of the conference included the following speakers:
−    Dragisa Mijacic, InTER’s Director,
−    Dr Nenad Ivanisevic, State Secretary from the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs and the Chairman of the Council for Roma and the Decade of Roma Inclusion,
−    Meho Omerovic, Chairman of the Board for Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality in the Parliament of the Republic of Serbia,
−    Tomislav Knezevic, Senior Advisor at the GIZ Project for Support to Economic Development in Serbia (ACCESS)
−    Osman Balic, Director of Yurom Centre.

According to the key findings about Roma entrepreneurshi, the panels included discussions about the need for joint operation of Roma entrepreneurs, good practice examples of Roma entrepreneurs, as well as effects of support to the development of Roma entrepreneurship in Serbia.

Final conclusions of the conference underlined the fact that it is necessary to ensure continuity in support to Roma entrepreneurs, encourage associations of Roma entrepreneurs and work on changing the economic culture in the Roma community, all for the purpose of economic strengthening of this population of entrepreneurs.

The event gathered more than 40 participants – Roma entrepreneurs, representatives of state institutions, international organisations, NGOs and business associations, as well as professionals and academics. The conference was covered by Radio Television of Serbia, Radio Television of Vojvodina and the daily DANAS.