History

CEED Serbia was established in November 2008 as the sixth CEED center in SE Europe.

CEED is a legacy institution of USAID and SEAF, born out of USAID grant funding in SME equity investments made by SEAF throughout the Balkans, and EBRD in Slovenia.

With nearly 20 years of experience in SME investing, 200 SME investments and 300 technical assistance interventions in frontier and emerging market SMEs, SEAF is acutely aware of the challenges faced daily by entrepreneurs in the management of their businesses. USAID is equally aware of these challenges having participated in SEAF Equity Funds as well as Enterprise Funds throughout the region.

SEAF and USAID found that entrepreneurs were generally not as equipped as necessary to deal with rapid business growth. They frequently lacked knowledge and tools to assess markets or develop/implement strategies that would expand their business and make them more competitive.

SEAF and USAID believed there was an important need for and opportunity to sponsor a distinctive, more relevant, and time efficient format for strengthening entrepreneurs and their SMEs, resulting in the establishment of CEED centers (Center for Entrepreneurship and Executive Development).

To validate SEAF’s hypothesis, USAID and FMO funded in 2004-2005 feasibility studies conducted by SEAF in Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, and Macedonia.

If you would like to access the feasibility study and learn more about CEED’s research, please click here.