The Business Council for the Diaspora session was held for many years at the Serbian Chamber of Commerce (SCC). Until now, it took the form of a forum, and this year for the first time it included three thematic panels. The Business Council for the Diaspora session 2024: Business Diaspora and Local Development, included the following panels: Innovative Entrepreneurship, Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence, Systemic Support for Business and Role of the Business Diaspora, and Women’s and Social Entrepreneurship.

The Director of the SCC Sector for Strategic Analysis, Services and Internationalization, Mihailo Vesović, said that, in addition to culture, what connected the motherland and the diaspora the most were business ties, and the SCC had taken on the role of engaging in that.

‘Please let us use this connection in the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Council as a potential platform for fast action and information. The Chamber of Commerce brings together and is open to all stakeholders, not only from the diaspora, but also to those wishing to engage with the diaspora,’ said Vesović.

‘It is the diaspora that best understands the concept of social entrepreneurship and why it is important to support social enterprises whose mission is to redistribute their profits to marginalized categories,’ said social entrepreneur Katarina Ejdus, founder of Women on the Way.

‘What is important to us from a program perspective is that the diaspora’s contribution is seen more broadly than just remittances, namely in the context of exchanging skills, knowledge and acquired experiences in the destination countries. Specifically, we support our experts from Germany to engage in institutions and organizations in Serbia and thus share their knowledge and experience acquired. We also support own business founders to connect their operations with Serbia, as well as organizations registered as non-profits in Germany, which can implement joint projects in partnership with associations from Serbia,’ said Jovana Stamenković, project manager at GIZ.

‘Returning Point, as Council member, continues to provide information to our business diaspora relevant to return, but also to maintain a community of successful returnees who create and work in Serbia after their return,’ said Uroš Živković, program director of the Returning Point organization.

The Business Council for the Diaspora session 2024 was organized by the Serbian Chamber of Commerce (SCC) with the support of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and Returning Point.

Source: CEMAFORUM.rs

Photo: GIZ Marko Risović