ZIP
Zip center for youth-business incubator d.o.o. Pirot was founded in 2012 by the Municipality of Pirot in order to increase the employability of young people through support for self-employment.
The mission of the ZIP Center for Youth Business Incubator is to facilitate the establishment of start-up businesses and contribute to job creation in Pirot through comprehensive support for the micro, small and medium enterprises sector in the form of use of business premises and equipment, and the provision of incubation services to tenants of the ZIP center in the initial stages of their development.
The zip center consists of a service incubator and a regional Start up center.
The service incubator is located at Trg Republike 97 and is a modern business facility of 400 square meters of office space (13 offices and a common meeting room).
The regional start-up center is located at another location in the annex of the Kej sports hall and operates at the principle of a common working space of 300 square meters (common working space with equipped kitchen, conference room and meeting room).
Services
The services provided through the incubator are intended for both individuals in the phase of development of entrepreneurship ideas as well as legal entities in the initial stages of their development and can be presented through the next set of benefits:
- use of office space (offices or work units within the Start up center)
- business consulting in all phases of development of companies in the field of law, finance, management and bookkeeping, tax consulting
- strategic and business planning - product development planning, production, positioning on the market, financial planning, human resource planning ...
- education of tenants / users - set of entrepreneurial trainings (writing a business plan, basics of entrepreneurship, business communication, basics of bookkeeping and accounting, writing projects, business English ...)
- assistance in preparing financial and non-financial reports for competent institutions
- Consulting and / or operational assistance in the field of marketing - assistance in market research, public relations consultancy and operational assistance, organization and implementation of advertising campaigns on the site and social networks of the incubator, organization and implementation advertising campaigns on radio, television and other media, organization and implementation of presentations, assistance in creating a marketing strategy ...
- technical - technological support
- networking with institutions, legal and natural persons relevant to the tenants' business
- mentoring
- assistance in raising funds for starting or expanding a business (assistance when applying for budget funds, start-up loans, donor funds and targeting other favorable sources of funding)
- Assisting tenants to develop innovations through cooperation with the economy and relevant institutions (providing professional support for innovation development, assistance in fundraising for innovation development, etc.).
- use of separate spatial business units-offices
- use of common space and equipment (meeting room, conference equipment ...)
- free internet access and use
- Assistance in education and selection of staff for the residents of the Start up center.
The support provided through the services of the Start-up Center is focused on the development of the IT industry, while the users of the service incubator belong to the sector of other service activities.
All incubator capacities have been filled and currently 20 companies are receiving our support directly in the Incubator and Start up center while over 20 companies receive some form of support even though they are not ZIP residents center.
Mira Zlatkov
director of the ZIP center
BA with honours in Economy (Faculty of economics science, University of Nis, Serbia, Department: Business Economics). Financial expert with more than 10 years of experience in financial project reporting; over 5 years of experience in the research work through international research projects . More than 10 years in bank sector. Since 2019 is a legal representative of ZIP center. Fluent in English.
Ana Petrović
assistant
BA with honours in Economy, VII-1 (Faculty of economics science, University of Nis, Serbia, Department: Business Economics). Over 10 years of in experience in project cycle management ; Over 8 year of experience in the research work through international research projects; 7 years of experience in developing entrepreneurship on the local level (establishment and development ZIP center - business incubator in Pirot); Over 5 years of experience as Sale manager. Fluent in English.