Summer Programs in Serbia

When we got requests to support programs in the summer of 2021, our first thought was: "it is quite bold to organize programs when everyone is thinking about upcoming vacations and to cool down from the heat." We were wrong. Programs organized in summer 2021 in Serbia showed us that startup founders are always ready to grab valuable learning opportunities, no matter the time of the year.

We supported summer programs for the first time because of the COVID-19 pandemic which interfered with the usual timeline of activities in the Serbian ecosystem. Due to the uncertain spring time, organizations decided to embrace the opportunity and release their programs in the summer months.

This experiment proved that a program's quality doesn't depend on the format or timing but solely on demand from the end-users—startups. It also showed us that Partner Organizations can be courageous in plotting different aspects of programs and their activities.

The first organization that wanted our experts to share their knowledge with their community was Startit. Their acceleration program called "Growth" aimed at helping startups grow their number of clients, users, and revenue.

The program attracted a lot of the relevant startups we were targeting. Eleven teams entered the program, and 10 finished the three-month agenda. We are pretty happy with their responses to the organized activities.

Ana Trifković, Entrepreneurship Development Coordinator at Startit

Since the program was tailor-made for teams who already have traction and plans to expand to other markets, our sales STE Fil Guijarro was the perfect fit. Fil worked with teams as a lecturer and mentor and shared his vast knowledge of sales processes.

Startit had done similar programs earlier, but in 2021, but never in the summer months.

This program was our pilot with this approach. Since the teams and we were satisfied with the program, we will continue with our accelerator program next year.

Ana Trifković, Entrepreneurship Development Coordinator at Startit

Another organization that organized a summer program was Razlivalište as part of their regular participation as Serbian representatives to the Global Social Impact Award competition.

This is the seventh year of implementing the Social Impact Award program in Serbia. We are delighted with the implementation and success we have achieved. The overall response is very similar to previous years, and we had no trouble choosing ten teams to participate in the program.

Sara Čortan, Project Manager at Razlivalište

The program encourages young social entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams and develop sustainable businesses around their impact-driven ideas. The most important part of the program is mentorship. Our Milena Milić was one of the mentors who supported young entrepreneurs. Interestingly, the team Milena mentored won the competition.

The fact that the program was organized during the summer did not affect the organizers' plans. With a hybrid program (mixture of online and offline activities), they managed to achieve their goal: to help startups improve their businesses.

We plan to keep effective online and offline work elements and combine them. Also, in the coming period, we will put much focus on fundraising to increase the quality of the program.

Sara Čortan, Project Manager at Razlivalište

Startit and Razlivalište will keep organizing their programs during the summer—and completely change our perspective. Instead of considering July and August as activity-free months, we will, from now on, consider them to be quite active.

The Serbian entrepreneurial ecosystem has proven to be mature enough to provide a suitable audience for different types of programs, regardless of how and when they are conducted. We are proud to be a part of that change.