MASTER BUSINESS CENTER

 

MASTER Business Center is an associative, non-governmental, non-profit organization that has 157 SME members from Hunedoara County, among which 21 founding members. It was founded based on the civil sentence 92/PJ/1996 from the 8^th of October 1996 and it was registered in the Book of Organizations at Hunedoara County Court. The actual activity started in January 1997 and continued ceaselessly ever since. MASTER Business Center organized a wide range of activities, participated at a series of local, regional and national events and prospected for new financing sources in order to develop the organization.

Our mission is to support the small and medium size enterprises in the region, to sustain economic development in the region, to provide a wide range of business support services (consultancy, training, fairs and exhibitions, foreign languages courses) at a high quality level, using state of the art methods.

MASTER Business Center provides the following services for its members:

• creating a network of contacts within the business community;
• organizing and presenting seminars, symposiums and training courses;
• providing information about business and investment opportunities in our monthly newsletter;
• providing consultancy for establishing business contacts with companies from Romania and abroad;
• taking part at fairs and exhibitions organized by MASTER Business Center, as well as in other events both in Romania and abroad;
• consultancy for starting a new business.

The most important publication of MASTER Business Center is the monthly newsletter “Business Environment” which is sent by direct mailing and e-mail, both to the members and the business partners of the Center.

MASTER Business Center’s main activity is to provide consultancy for business and small and medium size enterprises management, but MASTER Business Center was also involved in other current activities together with its business partners, such as:

     - Granting micro-credits, collaborating with Cooperative Housing Foundation (CHF). Together we implemented the micro-credits program which offered solutions for an acute need in the private sector i.e. the access of small and medium size enterprises to accessible credits. CHF granted credits for the small and medium size enterprises that were members of MASTER Business Center, in order to support their development and implicitly that of the local community.
     - Organizing exhibitions, collaborating with EXPOTIM SRL from Timisoara, being their partner and representative in the county.
     - Developing and improving the activity of supporting the member SMEs by taking part in the activities of the two networks of business associations, where MASTER Business Center is a founding member: The Confederation of Business Associations Transilvania and The Regional Federation of Small and Medium Size Enterprises in West Region.
     - It organizes “in-house” courses at the beneficiaries’ headquarters, mainly for foreign languages (English and Italian), human resources and project management.

 

Ever since the year 2000, MASTER Business Center has implemented a series of projects as it follows:

EXEPRIENCE IN IMPLEMENTING PROJECTS

 

1. The project: “Consultancy and Business Development Center – INFOCENTER Brad” .It was implemented between the years 2000-2001 in the town Brad in Hunedoara County.

The project was initiated by MASTER Business Center and arose from the need to create a framework and to create a specialized institution which could respond to the solicitations and need for support of the small and medium size enterprises in the region. Throughout the whole implementation period a specific framework was created, whose purpose was to inform the small and medium size enterprises in the region by organizing a series of intensive courses for the management and the personnel of these institutions. Also, throughout the whole project implementation period, specialized personnel provided consultancy and support for creating new enterprises and obtaining the authorizations required for them to function properly.

The target group of the Consultancy and Business Development Center – INFOCENTER Brad consisted of new founded and already existing small and medium size enterprises, but also the ones that would be founded in the following years with the support of this center, individuals interested in long life learning as well as unemployed individuals which are interested in developing new skills.

The project was financed by ADR5 VEST (the Agency for Regional Development – Region 5 West) trough PHARE Program, Economic and Social Cohesion, Human Resources Development.

The project had the following results: 200 managers trained in elaborating business plans, management and financial management, 250 middle management employees trained in commercial correspondence (both in English and Romanian), foreign trade, applying for grants and marketing.

 

2. The project: “Cross borders Business Incubator”. It was implemented by MASTER Business Center in cooperation with DISTRIKT 0230 Kikinda – Yugoslavia in the year 2001.

The purpose of this project was to create an environment in which small size enterprises would have opportunities to develop. MASTER Business Center together with the Serbian partner has created a business incubator where small entrepreneurs can ask for support, the program’s purpose being to train the small and medium size entrepreneurs in the two countries to write projects so that they can obtain favorable credits.

The overall objective of the project was to create a business incubator who could help the entrepreneurs became economically independent.

The specific objectives of this project were:

• Raising public awareness for solving current economical issues;
• Initiating promotion campaigns targeted at the local authorities and financing sources, in order to persuade them to find mutual advantages in developing small and medium size enterprises;
• Encouraging other cross-border cooperation companies in the region by promoting the successful businesses;
• Promoting Banat as an experimental sub-region within the DKMT Euro-Region;
• Developing stable partnerships among the organizations that are involved in the project;
• Constantly encouraging entrepreneurial initiatives among the Banat inhabitants so that they can apply their own business plans ideas;
• Developing civic solidarity as a main beneficiary in the transition process in the region.

The target group was represented by small and medium size enterprises from both countries.

The results of the project were: a complete guide on starting your own business, a collection of data based on business resources and legislation, a brochure containing legislation and success stories in 3 languages (English, Romanian and Serbian), a virtual business incubator and a seminar in Kikinda to disseminate information, to present the project and to find financing sources for developing small enterprises.

The project was financed by the American Foundation for Development, co-ordinated by the Euro-regional Center for Democracy in Timisoara.

 

3. The project: “Info Touristic Management” which was implemented between the years 2002 and 2003.

“Info Touristic Management” is a project implemented by MASTER Business Center in partnership with Hunedoara County Agency for Labor Force Employment (AJOFM Hunedoara), which was financed by Phare 2000 - Economic and Social Cohesion.

The purpose of the project was to improve tourism management and public food services by providing more qualified employees in this field and better touristic offers that will reflect in the classification of the companies.

The project was implemented in Hunedoara County and had the following specific objectives:

     - To improve the management in the fields of public food services and tourism;
     - To encourage opening new rural inns and to train the personnel in order to manage such an activity.
     - To improve the training level of the employees in the fields of tourism and public food services;
     - To increase the quality of the touristic offer reflected by the increasing number of enterprises that are granted tourism classifications.

The target group was represented by: managers of the companies that operate in the fields of tourism and public food services, unemployed individuals from the areas with touristic potential - so that they can be employed at hotels and rural inns, the owners of rural inns.

The project had the following results: there were trained 30 managers, 30 owners of rural inns and 30 unemployed individuals specialized as “concierge”. We also organized a course of management in tourism activities, a course of management for rural inns and a course of “concierge”.

 

4. The project: “4 X Women in Management” which was implemented between the years 2004 and 2005.

The project was implemented by MASTER Business Center in partnership with Expert Consulting SRL Timisoara, the National Council of Small and Medium Size Private Enterprises from Romania - Arad Branch and the Activity Foundation from Resita and was financed by Phare 2002 - Economic and Social Cohesion, Human Resources Development.

The purpose of the project was to train and counsel the women in management positions in order to improve their managerial skills and to create specific services and procedures for personal development.

The project was implemented in Hunedoara County and had the following general objectives:

     1. To enhance the economic and social potential of the area that includes the towns Resita, Caransebes, Deva and Hunedoara by increasing the degree of employment of the labor force existing in the area.
     2. To develop the skills of the labor force in order to increase its adaptability at structural changes, in concordance with the needs for skills identified on the labor market.

The specific objective of the project was to train, guide and counsel a number of 50 women managers from the towns Resita, Caransebes, Deva and Hunedoara in order to improve their managerial skills by developing, at a regional level, a package of specialized services for determining the needs of training and counseling.

The target group consisted of 50 women managers from the companies in Resita, Caransebes, Deva and Hunedoara, the industrial area of Southern Banat and Petrosani region.

The results of the project were: 50 trained women managers, 50 psychological profiles which identified the development needs, a database with women managers in Hunedoara and Caras-Severin Counties, the “Guide of the Successful Woman” and creating The Club of Women Managers.

 

5. The project: “E-management for e-Europe” which is was implemented in the year 2008.

“E-management for e-Europe” is a project implemented by MASTER Business Center in partnership with the National Council of Small and Medium Size Private Enterprises – the Arad Branch, the “Polytechnics” University of Timisoara and S.C. Interlog Com SRL from Brad and is financed by PHARE 2005 Economic and Social Cohesion Human Resources Development.

The purpose of the project is to contribute to increasing the level of managerial competence by gaining knowledge and developing abilities that are specific to the modern management of the private enterprises in the region by training, counseling and mentoring 160 managers and operative personnel from the companies in the region in order to increase the performance of the organizations where they are employed.

The project was implemented in the West Region: the Counties Hunedoara, Caras-Severin, Arad and Timis, the towns Deva, Orastie, Brad, Hunedoara, Caransebes, Resita, Arad and Timisoara.

The specific objective of this project was: to train and counsel 160 managers and operative personnel from different companies in the towns Resita, Caransebes, Deva, Orastie, Brad, Arad and Timisoara in order to improve their performances by creating, at a regional level, a specialized training offer which will facilitate applying modern methods of management and using the new information and communication technologies.

The target group is represented by:

• The staff of private enterprises from the economic-financial, marketing, human resources departments, at least 70 individuals, especially women managers (minimum 60%);
• Operative personnel from the same private enterprises, at least 90 individuals, especially women (minimum 60%).

The project was a success and all the indicators were achieved and over-achieved. The table listed beneath shows the foreseen indicators and the achieved ones:

Indicators that clearly show that the objective of the project was reached - FORSEEN	Indicators that clearly show that the objective of the project was reached - ACHIEVED
40 counseled managers and operative personnel; 160 trained managers and operative personnel; 2 new authorized suppliers of vocational training on the labor market, 6 authorizations from CNFPA for 4 new courses, 2 authorizations for each of the 3 suppliers	54 counseled managers and operative personnel; 228 trained managers and operative personnel; 2 new authorized suppliers of vocational training on the labor market, 6 authorizations from CNFPA for 4 new courses, 2 authorizations for each of the 3 suppliers
Indicators that show how to measure and to what extent the project achieved the provisioned results - FORSEEN	Indicators that show how to measure and to what extent the project achieved the provisioned results - ACHIEVED
1 data base; 160 trained individuals; 160 training materials; 4 new courses authorized by CNFPA; 4 new training materials; 2 new authorized suppliers of vocational training; 1000 distributed leaflets for presenting the project; 800 posters; a new instrument created: printing the brochure/guide; 12 published articles; 4 new or improved websites, containing the summary of the project and the courses offer.	1 data base; 228 trained individuals; 228 training materials; 4 new courses authorized by CNFPA; 4 new training materials; 2 new authorized suppliers of vocational training; 1000 leaflets for presenting the project distributed in 7 towns in the West Region; 800 posters for informing the business environment , posted in the 10 cities in the region; 1000 brochures/guides “Managerial Performance Using E-Business”; 30 articles published in the local and regional newspapers among which 1 in a national magazine (Economy and Administration); 4 new or improved websites, containing the summary of the project and the courses offer.

We had organized 12 training sessions for the following 4 authorized courses:

     - Accessing Structural Funds;
     - Kaizen Management;
     - E-Business for a Modern Management;
     - Advanced Use of Excel Tables for Management;
      in the towns: Deva, Orastie, Brad, Hunedoara, Caransebes, Resita, Arad and Timisoara.

We also provided counseling and mentoring for a number of 54 managers and operative personnel from the target group and published the brochure “Managerial Performance Using E-Business” that was disseminated to 1.000 individuals from the target region.

All these results entitle us to state that we successfully implemented the project and that we have contributed to accomplishing the overall objective, i.e.: diminishing the economical disparities among the counties in the West Region by developing the managerial skills of the individuals in the target group and training them to face the challenges of the Common Labor Market.

 

THE ACTIVITY OF ORGANIZING COURSES AND SEMINARS

Even before Romania joined the E.U., in the fall of the year 2006, MASTER Business Center was involved in activities of informing the companies in the West Region about the possibilities of developing their business using European funds.

In the year 2007 we have organized the following seminars and courses concerning European funds:

• European Funds for the Rural Areas - Infrastructure, rural tourism and agro-tourism, which took place in May 2007 at Geoagiu in collaboration with The County Office for Consultancy in Agriculture;
• Developing project proposals - from idea to action in January 2007 in partnership with Team Consulting SRL Deva;
• Manager in Tourism Activities Activities from June to December 2007 in collaboration with Managerial Training in Tourism from Brasov;
• Structural and Cohesion Funds 2007-2013. The Methodology of drawing up a financing proposal in June 2007 in collaboration with Constrain SRL from Bucharest;
• How to Write a project Proposal on Structural and Cohesion Funds 2007-2013, in July 2007 in collaboration with Team Consulting SRL Deva;
• Project Manager in October 2007 in partnership with Team Consulting SRL Deva.

In 2008 and 2009 we continued to organize courses and seminars at a regional level, both the ones financed through “E-Management for E-Europe” project and the following ones:

• Public Procurement Expert - January 2008 - authorized course organized at Deva in partnership with Interactiv Ro Consult from Bacau;
• Project Manager - February 2008 - authorized course organized at Deva in partnership with Team Consulting SRL.
• Project Manager - May 2008 - authorized course organized at Deva in partnership with Lexim SRL.
• Cost-Benefit Analysis for Accessing Structural Funds - Deva, August 2008.
• Cost-Benefit Analysis for Accessing Structural Funds - Deva, October 2008.
• Public Procurement Expert - November 2008 - authorized course organized at Arad.
• Cost-Benefit Analysis for Accessing Structural Funds - Timisoara, January 2008.
• Cost-Benefit Analysis for Accessing Structural Funds - Arad, February 2008.
• Public Procurement Expert - February 2008 - authorized course organized at Deva.
• Public Procurement Expert - March 2008 - authorized course organized at Timisoara.
• Public Procurement Expert - April 2008 - authorized course organized at Timisoara.
• Public Procurement Expert - May 2008 - authorized course organized at Oradea.
• Cost-Benefit Analysis for Accessing Structural Funds - Cluj-Napoca, June 2009.
• Public Procurement Expert - August 2009 - authorized course organized at Sibiu.
• Cost-Benefit Analysis for Accessing Structural Funds - Predeal, September 2009.

We are also providing services for developing project proposals and we are looking for partners for implementing new projects in the future. If you are interested, please contact us at:

MASTER BUSINESS CENTER
Phone: +40254/218.111
Mobile: +40722398356
E-mail: office@centrulmaster.ro, cursuri@centrulmaster.ro, centrul.master@gmail.com.