By Bojana Gajic
The EBRD and the Enterprise Expansion Fund (ENEF) are providing a €2 million(US$2.23million) loan to support the expansion of TEM Mandeks, a leading producer of electrical installation accessories and based in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The EBRD has previously supported TEM Mandeks through the Bank’s business advice activities, which are funded by the European Union. This has helped the company to improve its warehouse management system and product tracking as well as to introduce a new management information system and enhance internal controls. As a result, over the past three years, the company has increased sales by 40 per cent and doubled employment.
EBRD Head of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Manuela Naessl said: “The EBRD is focused on companies where we see potential for future growth and is stepping up its support for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s small businesses. We hope that other enterprises will follow the example of TEM Mandeks and invest in digitalisation and management to raise their competitiveness.”
The loan is co-financed by ENEF, a €48.5 million fund supporting established small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with high-growth potential in the Western Balkans. The EBRD is also an investor in the fund, together with the European Investment Fund, the European Union, Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft, Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank and Italy. SMEs benefiting from ENEF investments also receive substantial technical assistance to help them to prepare for and implement the investments.
To date, the EBRD has invested €2.5 billion in 171 projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Boosted by the EBRD’s May 2019 Annual Meeting in Sarajevo, the Bank has registered a new record result for Bosnia and Herzegovina, with investments of €315 million in 20 projects last year alone.