Updates of IMC Kosovo
The impact of consulting on the development of the private and public sector
Business Consultants Council (BCC) is the only association in Kosovo whose goal is to promote the consulting sector, maintain high ethical and professional standards of this industry as well as develop further the industry by attracting new consultants and existing businesses. BCC is a part of the global family as a provisional member and recently had an assessment for Full Membership at ICMCI.
Assessment visit for Full Membership: Meetings with partners and Donors, BCC Board, Executive Director
Past several years have shown an increased potential for Kosovo consultants with the market’s growing number of clients and their revenues. Nonetheless, compared to the larger economies and to the national markets in the region, there is ample room to improve and grow. BCC has developed report on perspective and challenges of the consulting market in Kosovo as well as BCC’s constant contribution in building local consultancy capacities which in turn helped Kosovo businesses in their further development. The report turns the anecdotal evidence into a purposive scientific and field study of the consultancy market in Kosovo. In particular, report draws on how clients and consultants itself expect the industry to change in the near future. Last but not least, report provides overview into the upcoming challenges and plans of the potential clients and how likely they are to seek for consulting services. To read more please upload the report at http://www.bcc-ks.org/projects/
Looking ahead 2018, the consulting industry faces with digital transformation, technological disruption and cultural shifts affecting it. Such change is influencing the way the industry evolves and therefore BCC is managing the digital demand to help consultants adapt the overall digital workplace vision. In regards to this, we have created a rating platform that helps businesses/advice seekers find and rate a consultant. The rating platform konsulenca.org is expected to enable improvement of the consultancy market in Kosovo by letting clients give feedback and deciding who the best and the most transparent consultants in Kosovo market are.
It also aims to serve as a professional reference tool for outsourcing services for all stakeholders who use consultancy services in Kosovo. Donors and companies talking about the benefits of using the platform: https://konsulenca.org/en/about
BCC with support of EBRD worked with government bodies respectively with Ministry of Education and National Authority of Accreditation to develop management consulting standard, that will be soon recognized as professional designation with all the compliance, competency and ethical obligations and privileges that come with being a top-tier individual professional.
On occasion of International Consulting Day, on June 2018, EBRD and BCC organized an event with public and private institutions to increase awareness about the impact and the value of consulting services in economic development and capacity building of private and public institutions and importance of recognition of consultancy as a profession. In addition, it also served as a networking event among consultants, donors and public institutions. Ministers of Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Education were present at the event.
BCC invited ministries to co-operate and coordinate activities related to the engagement of consultants in the implementation of public projects and support to the development of projects for the private sector. The event was also marked with the signing of 9 memorandums of cooperation between BCC and Innovation Center Kosovo (ICK), British Chamber of Commerce, IPKO Foundation, G7, CEED Kosovo, KAMA Association, STIKK Association, Metal Processing and Renewable Energy Association and the Wood Processing Association, which will contribute to the exchange of services, cooperation and development among the signatory institutions.
Further ahead, BCC will promote CMC as designation to improve competitiveness in the consultancy market. For that purpose BCC developed videos with English subtitles. The videos convey the message of What it means to possess the CMC®, A quality Mark, International Standards, Trust and quality at work, Increasing Confidence, Credibility and self-confidence at work, Elite group of consultants, how can you be certified? What are the certification criteria? What are the certification CMC® benefits in practice? Increasing competition in the market, Profiling of the activities and expansion of network, Advantage in the global market and CMC® in Kosovo. Please refer to the link to see the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju4aomyiG-4