The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the final allocation of MFSII funds at 16:02 on November 1. SPARK and BiD Network, together forming the United Entrepreneurship Coalition and the youngest organisation of all 19 awarded applicants, are pleased with the news and eager to continue investing in the hopeful economic futures of post-conflict zones ahead.

Boosting Entrepreneurship in former war zones

Over the next five years, the "United Entrepreneurship Coalition", a coalition of Dutch and International development organizations, will boost entrepreneurship and the creation of jobs by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs)  in former war zones. This innovative and young coalition has received 24 million euro from the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs to stimulate economic growth in Burundi, Colombia, Kosovo, Liberia, the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Rwanda.

The programme has been developed and will be implemented by 26 local organizations in the aforementioned countries, all of which specialize in entrepreneurial development. These are business associations, chambers of commerce, higher vocational schools and micro-finance institutions. Special attention will be devoted to assist youth and marginalized communities. Economic growth is an important element in the stabilisation of post-war environments as it lifts communities from poverty and increases the likelihood for a peaceful future.

The programme rests on two pillars: (1) strengthening the capacity of these local organizations to enable them to directly support entrepreneurs in starting a new company or increase the growth of existing firms and (2), cutting red tape for entrepreneurs, therefore creating more jobs and enabling economic growth.

The United Entrepreneurship Coalition consists of consortium leader SPARK and co-applicant BiD-Network, two organizations with extensive experience in the field of entrepreneurship in emerging countries and post-war  zones. The coalition is supported by six Dutch and American organizations that excel in entrepreneurship development. These are MDF, Triodos Facet, the Maastricht School of Management, the Netherlands, Intent, the African Business Council and Infodev.

Transparency, Getting Results and learning from mistakes.

The coalition works with a transparent and result oriented approach. The Alliance has not only taken the initiative to have all its activities externally evaluated, but places the full results on their website. Moreover, on the same website, it will be possible to review the details on how the Alliance is spending its subsidy. As such, the Alliance will be the most transparent development coalition in the Netherlands,  which  answers to the current debate on development cooperation in the Netherlands, calling for more transparency and results.

About consortium leader SPARK

Spark develops education and entrepreneurship so that young and ambitious people are empowered to lead their post-conflict society into prosperity. We build the capacity of local economic and educational institutions so they can empower their own populations. The SPARK headquarters are located in Amsterdam, and field offices are located in Belgrade, Jerusalem, Mitrovica, Monrovia and Pristina. A total of 50 professionals support entrepreneurship development every day. SPARK also promotes innovation in the Dutch development sector, for example through the "Annual Award for Brilliant Failures in the Development Cooperation", which it has instituted together with ABN-AMRO. For more information about our programmes, please refer to http://www.spark-online.org/

About Co-Applicant BiD Network

BiD Network contributes to sustainable economic growth by stimulating entrepreneurship in emerging markets. BiD Network focuses on small and medium sized enterprises and supports these entrepreneurs in writing their business plans by offering them coaching and providing valuable feedback to improve their plans. The best entrepreneurs gain access to investors in our network. Since 2005 BiD Network has helped start over 300 businesses and has matched them with over 9 million Euros from investors. www.bidnetwork.org

Note for the reader:

For more information, call Yannick du Pont, SPARK director at +.31.20.7530311 or mobile +.31.6.22603263 

Click HERE for a summary of our MFSII proposal.