EU4Business: SME Policies and Institutions Support (SMEPIS) Ukraine, EC

Project Description

Dr Pinto was commissioned to assist the SMEPIS Key Expert Team to participate in the inception phase and contribute to the inception report, with a focus on SME policy and institution building, SME resilience / recovery issues. Subsequently, will continue to be a medium term expert for the entirety of the SMEPIS project. Dr Pinto also wrote the winning technical proposal for the Ecorys, GIZ InS, CIVVITA and BRDO consortium.

He was subsequently commissioned to deliver support to the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine to undertake the national Entrepreneurship Promotion Awards 2023. Based on his advice and consulting support, for the first time, there was a competitive process, leading to the selection of two winning proposals which were not part of the governmental structures. He assisted the two winners and a reserve (i.e. Women in Business/VinLadyFest; UNIC SME anti-corruption and integrity; and CIVVITA, IMPACT) to strengthen their applications and the MoE to submit them to the European wide EEPA 2023 competition by the deadline in late July 2023.

Dr Pinto developed a roadmap for Ukraine to introduce annual EEPA national competitions using the diia.business digital platform, developing a process of awareness raising, soliciting EPPA applications and transparent evaluation system, leading to high profile annual entrepreneurship awards in the country. He is currently designing the Ukrainian and European EPA competitions for 2024.

Dr Pinto is led the review of 10 Ukrainian digital and physical Public Private Dialogue (PPD) instruments, assessed the international good practice in PPD and led the process of making recommendations for their reform as more effective tools for developing and implementing SME policies.

Dr Pinto is currently leading the process of reviewing the draft Ukrainian SME Strategy and revising it to better align with international good practice, as well as the requirements for negotiation of EU accession. This process is expected to occur during 2024.  

Services Provided

• Wrote the winning proposal
• Coordinated the SME components of the Inception Report
• Reviewed the draft SME Strategy
• Coordinated drafting of new SME strategy
• Led review of 10 Public Private Dialogue (online and offline instruments)
• Led selection of 2 Ukrainian EEPA applications
• Led the creation fo the Ukrainian EPA from 2024 onwards