Smart Kolektiv participates as a partner organization in Serbia in the four-year regional project Invest for Change, funded by the European Union and implemented by Impact Europe in partnership with local organizations across the Western Balkans.

From March 2025 to February 2029, the project focuses on systematically strengthening financial and social inclusion, promoting impact investment, supporting the green and digital transition, and investing in social enterprises and impact-driven businesses. In Serbia alone, €300,000 in grants will be awarded over the next two years to social enterprises and impact-driven businesses through financial support to third parties.

Building on its extensive experience in developing the impact ecosystem, Impact Europe, together with Smart Kolektiv and other regional partners, works to advance the social economy, social entrepreneurship, and impact investment in Serbia and across the Western Balkans.

The project seeks to improve understanding of social economy and social entrepreneurship, as these concepts remain insufficiently recognized in the region. Social enterprises are often narrowly associated only with activities for vulnerable groups, such as persons with disabilities or individuals with low employability. The project promotes a broader approach, including impact-driven businesses focused on addressing social, economic, and environmental challenges.

The Invest for Change project has four key objectives:

  • Improving access to finance by supporting the development of new and existing financial instruments that address the financing gap for impact-driven businesses.
  • Strengthening management capacities of partners, social enterprises, cooperatives, and business support organizations to sustain and scale their operations.
  • Increasing collaboration at regional and local levels through participation in regional and European impact investment events, educational programs, and the development of impact investor communities across the Western Balkans.
  • Enhancing public dialogue and raising awareness about the social economy, social entrepreneurship, and impact investing.

Through the Invest for Change project, Smart Kolektiv and its partners will contribute to economic and social development, foster inclusion, and strengthen the impact investment and social economy ecosystem in Serbia and across the Western Balkans.