Development agency Savinja, Business support organisation

Address:
Ulica heroja Staneta 3, 3310 Žalec, SI- Slovenia
Telephone number: +386 (0)3 713 68 60, Fax: +386 (0)3 713 68 70
E-mail: ra-savinja@ra-savinja.si
Registration number: 1271148
ID VAT: SI 75119595
Account number: 6100 0001 4976 953
SWIFT: HDELSI22
IBAN: SI56 6100 0001 4976 953, Bank: Delavska hranilnica, Žalec
Authorised Representative: Stojan Praprotnik, Director
Status: public
Economic status: non-profit legal entity under private law which is not an NGO

Working hours:
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday    8.00 – 14.00
Wednesday 8.00 – 11.00 and 12.00 – 16.00
Friday 8.00 – 12.00
Working hours SPOTregistration:
Monday                                        8:00 – 12:00
Wednesday                                  8:00 – 14:00
or setting up pre-orders at    041 308 763
email: mirjana.bevanda@ra-savinja.si

Development Agency Savinja was founded in 1998. It is located in the Lower Savinja Valley (connects municipalities Braslovče, Polzela, Prebold, Tabor, Vransko and Žalec) , which is part of the Savinja region. Currently, the agency has a team of six professional staff.

Founding members:
the municipalities of Braslovče and Žalec
the Chamber of Small Business Žalec

Associate members:
the municipalities of Polzela, Prebold, Tabor, Vransko and UPI Adult Education Centre Žalec

Other partners:
the Employment service of Slovenia – Local office Žalec
the Administration Unit Žalec
the Regional Agricultural Institute.

The agency status
The agency is also included within promotion network of Slovenian public agency SPIRIT and gained a status of:
Slovenian Business Point – SPOT office,
lead partner of Local action groups (LAG) of the Lower Savinja Valley and
developmental supporting Institution of the Sub-regional Development Partnership of the Lower Savinja Valley.

Tasks
Development activities (coordination and preparation of a regional development plan for the area of Lower Savinja Valley, preparation and implementation of common partnership projects, common promotion)

Counselling and providing support for target groups (present and potential new entrepreneurs, innovators, unemployed, employees, young people, associations, experts, farmers, institutions on local, regional, national level) with:
obtaining financial support
developing business encouragements
drawing up business plans
drawing up and realisation of development projects
looking for business premises
counselling and increasing employment skills in the area (self-employment)

Training and education (for preparation and implementation of development projects, for the entrepreneurship and tourism, for the local tourist guides, etc.)

Vision
Agency is working with different target groups to unite all local and regional development potentials and to get development projects financed with national and EU resources. It stimulates local development and coordinates projects dealing with international cooperation, human resources, entrepreneurship, rural development, tourism, environment, agriculture and infrastructure, etc.

The vision of our agency is: Together with you we can fire up project ideas!

Within new program period (2014 – 2020) the Development agency Savinja, in cooperation with target groups, will be more involved in preservation and presentation of our natural and cultural heritage and in implementation of projects to obtain better quality of life for all of us, economic grown, new job opportunities, environmental protection, natural heritage conservation, sustainable tourism, biodiversity etc.

References
For many years, agency has been actively involved in management, implementation, co-design and participation of local, national as well as international project in different fields of works. Owing these experiences it has extensive knowledge, skills and practice of project planning and management.

The agency was/is included in:

* Promotion network of Slovenian Public Agency for Entrepreneurship Innovation, Development, Investment and Tourism – SPIRIT Slovenia SPOT office 2018-2021
* Lead partnership of Local action group (LAG) of the Lower Savinja Valley 2014-2020
* The European Network of Mentors for Women Entrepreneurs – Encouraging women entrepreneurs
* Establishment of Eco-Museum of Brewing and Hop Production of Slovenia
* Integrated arrangements of the water resources of the Savinja River
* Partnership projects with Serbia (Exchange project, bilateral co-operation)
* Preparation of integrated transport strategy for Žalec Municipality
* Project partner within SURF-Nature (2010-2013), INTERREG-IVc, Sustainable use of regional fund for nature conservation and biodiversity
                * Lower Savinja Valley Rural development programme
                * Phare 2003 Slovenia/ Austria – Biodiversity “Eco-tourist enrichment of the Vrbje Pond”
                * Phare PPF II “Project TRIO_ERE” Sustainable Collaboration between Economy, R&D and Educational Institutions, Finland
                * Phare 2003 – lifelong learning »Knowledge–a key to successful company”
                * Leonardo da Vinci “Quality in vocational education – QUTE”
                * Clustering of SME`s (national and local clusters)
                * Transfer of good practices – tourism, ecology, entrepreneurship
                * Resource Centre for Vocational Guidance
                * Information and guidance in adult education
and many other projects