Regional Development Agency, Rimavska Sobota, Slovakia
Empowering and supporting students and young unemployed Roma people

The Regional Development Agency (RDA) in Rimavska Sobota was set up in 1994 as a non-profit organisation, to aid the economic and social development of the area.

Its specific objectives are to create a supportive environment for local business, assist new entrepreneurs, and provide know-how and best practice, in order to secure better business survival rates. Cross-border cooperation with the youth enterprise centres in Budapest and Eger, Hungary, established with support from the EDW team, is a key feature of the RDA’s current development plan.

Partnership with EDW

From its links with the Neumann Youth Enterprise Centre in Eger, Hungary, the RDA learned about the EDW team’s youngbusiness.net support project and concluded that the comprehensive enterprise model we offer, in terms of training, business counselling and provision of incubators, would be an appropriate model for Rimavska Sobota.

Within the youngbusiness.net 2 project, led by the EDW team and funded by the EU’s Leonardo da Vinci Lifelong Learning Programme, the RDA set up youth enterprise services from scratch, including training and counselling services and incubation. In the current youngbusiness.net 3 project, also funded by the Leonardo da Vinci Lifelong Learning Programme, the RDA, with the support of EDW and the Neumann Youth Enterprise Centre in Eger, Hungary, will be working closely with the new Rimavska Sobota incubator to develop its IT services, as well as helping the Moldava nad Bodvou Regional Development Agency to develop it’s youth business incubation programme.

Future Plans

The RDA is keen to improve its training provision for the Roma minority and to pursue its aim to set up a Society in Slovakia to promote youth enterprise. Learning from the youngbusiness.net 3 model, the RDA also aims to link developments in the Rimavska Sobota incubator and in Moldava nad Bodvou, so that a network can be built up to encourage the transfer of knowledge and experience about youth enterprise throughout Slovakia. From its excellent links with local employers’ groups, schools and the District Labour Office, the RDA will also be able to play a central role in the overall dissemination of the youngbusiness.net 3 project’s outcomes.