Europe

Project: Support to Health Reform and Strengthening of Primary Health Care

Location: Moldova

The goal of this EU-TACIS project is to strengthen the capacity of the Moldovan primary health care system in order to be able to address public health needs at primary health care level and contributing to the implementation of the relevant provisions of the Primary Health Care (PHC) strategy and the National Health Policy, together with improving the performance of the primary health care system, increasing use of PHC services and achieving better health status of the population.

Services provided under this project can be grouped into two main categories: (1) Improved efficiency and quality of the services at PHC level; and (2) Strengthened capacity of health management and medical personnel in PHC.

Project: Development of Masici Commerce for Production, Processing and Distribution of Meat and Milk Products

Location: Bosnia and Herzegovina

Masici Commerce was established in 1998 in Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina. The main services of Masici Commerce are wholesale and retail of meat and meat products. Company deals with procurement of cattle from diverse sources on the domestic market, although it cannot meet the highest standards to export manufactured goods to foreign markets.

Due to lack of funds, the Company contacted several commercial banks and managed to raise KM 200,000. Masici Commerce used these funds to continue its operations, constructed a barn connected to the butchery, rehabilitated power supply, and bought land from private owners for further project development. To expand its business, Masici Commerce needs to expand its working facilities, acquire more land, and obtain certifications for its products to be able to export to foreign markets.

Project: Business Development for Dusici Commerce in livestock industry

Location: Bosnia and Herzegovina

Dusici Commerce d.o.o. is engaged in production and distribution of fresh meat and livestock breeding. In addition, the Company has the most modern slaughter in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the capacity of slaughtering livestock on two separate lines of slaughtering, 200 pieces of cattle per day, 500 pieces of sheep/lamb per day, and 500 pieces of pigs per day. In Kupres, the Company has the parent flock of 570 cows, which is planned to be increased to 2,000. The company employs a total of 52 employees.

The company pays great attention to maintaining high level of hygiene according to HACCAP and ISO. However, to be able to export its products, the Company needs to improve and modernize its facilities according to EU standards. In addition to this, the Company needs to procure more equipment and livestock to increase final output of products. Therefore, the Company needs additional financing through fundraising.

Project: Business Development for RAKITNO d.o.o. Posusje

Location: Bosnia and Herzegovina

RAKITNO d.o.o. is engaged in breeding cattle for slaughter, meat and milk production. The company currently produces about 8,000 liters of milk per day and fresh meat – calf meat 5,000 kg/day, beef 7,000 kg/day and pork 6,000 kg/day. RAKITNO owns 5 butcher shops, 20 truck-refrigerators, 10 trucks for live-cattle and 150 employees.

In its business expansion, RAKITNO needs to construct sewage collector and incinerator for solid waste and wastewater. Therefore, the company is looking for financing partners to cover the cost of new construction.

Project: Health Financing in Bulgaria

Location: Bulgaria

The Project’s goal is to provide an extensive review of all sources of financing in the health sector from the equity perspective. The review includes assessment of policies and their implementation in different geographical regions of the country. The review led to specific recommendations for improving the poverty focus of the sources of financing. In addition to the review, some preparatory work for estimating actual costs of health services, especially hospital care, was carried out.

Project: Marketing Development for Sugar Company

Location: Belarus

The Consultant was recruited to assist sugar company producer in optimization of the production process and marketing with export focus. Scope of work included (i) analysis of a plant configuration, adequacy of the chosen configuration to a production plan; (ii) analysis of the chosen technical decisions concerning basic and auxiliary installations, analysis of compatibility of the equipment; (iii) definition of basic risks connected to plant operating; (iv) analysis and estimation of adequacy of construction terms; (v) analysis of compliance of final goods with declared quality standards; (vi) evaluation and analysis of capital costs of the project estimates on adequacy to market condition; (vii) assessment of working capital declared in the estimates.

Project: Environmental and Social Due Diligence Training and Monitoring of Belarus Financial Institutions

Location: Belarus

The objective of the training programme is to update the financial intermediaries on the EBRD’s (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development) environmental guidelines that were revised in 2008 and on the supporting tools available to help manage the environmental and social issues associated with on-lending and investment operations. 

UNICON will determine local environmental permitting and regulatory requirements which need to be addressed by loan applicants and investee companies. The target FI's existing credit and investment activities of the target FIs will be examined from an environmental and social perspective to determine the adequacy with which environmental and social due diligence is presently conducted by credit officers and how the Bank's environmental and social requirements have been met. UNICON will prepare materials to train target FI credit and management staff in the implementation of the environmental and social procedures based on the requirements of the new EBRD’s Environmental and Social Policy (2008) and specifically PR9. UNICON will assess internal environmental & social capacity/capabilities of the target FI, and will identify capable local environmental and technical experts who could assist the target FI in conducting environmental and social due diligence and monitoring, summarising their strengths and weaknesses.

Project: Financing to Expand Triple Broadband PINCOM ICSP Operations

Location: Bosnia and Herzegovina

Pincom is licensed as an Internet Service Provider, a regional network operator (Livno, Tomislavgrad, Posusje, Grude, Siroki Brijeg, Ljubuski, Citluk, Capljina, Stolac, Mostar) and operator of fixed telephony. Pincom is already recognized as the strongest brand in Internet services and it keeps leading positions in providing broadband services in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The company currently covers almost 100% of broadband services in Herzegovina region. It also provides almost all of the Internet content in the country.

Pincom’s chosen business model requires higher capital investments. Pincom needs additional financing to expand its network infrastructure in all municipal centers in Herzegovina. The network will be a combination of hybrid fyberoptic-cable networks and WiFi/WiMax network that can successfully reach the most distant and municipal points. Pincom also intends to develop a range of additional services, especially services and applications for small and medium-sized companies that have strong IT sectors, which will enable the companies to automate certain processes, as well as connection to "supply chain" systems of large operators, which will significantly improve their businesses.

Project: Expanding Production of Essential Oils for Morcchella d.o.o.

Location: Bosnia and Herzegovina

Morcchella d.o.o. is engaged in production of eco-food since 2005. The company is located on the southern part of Herzegovina, and operates throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The company wants to extend its current business line and set up three new lines for (i) production of essential oils, (ii) wild mushroom processing, and (iii) production of tomato, ketchup and soup. Essential oils will qualify for pharmaceutical, food and cosmetic companies that would use it for production of medicines, spices and breeders in the food and cosmetic industry.

Project: Capacity Building and Financing of Polyclinic H

Location: Bosnia and Herzegovina

Health authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina face growing challenges in inequality in access to health care. With 20% of the population below the poverty line and a further 30% just above it, much of the population remains uncovered by health insurance (17–35% in different parts of the country). A rural-urban gap and health insurance benefits that are not portable across the country further contribute to inequality in access to health care. Inefficient service delivery results from many factors such as an overextended and fragmented network of service providers, inappropriate mix of primary, secondary and tertiary facilities, a provider payment system without efficiency incentives, composition and quality of services at the primary health care and hospital levels and lack of economies of scale.

Polyclinic H is a private health care service provider, operating in Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2005. It provides wide range of health care services including diagnostics. The polyclinic has good medical practitioners, doctors and nurses who provide ambulatory care and acute care services. As of today, Polyclinic H lacks some of the necessary equipment and requires modernization of its existing equipment and facilities.