Eurasia Foundation—The Eurasia Foundation has made available on its website a new publication, Equity Investment for Small and Medium Enterprises in the Newly Independent States. The report is found in .pdf format at www.eurasia.org/programs/SEAFReport.html. It was prepared by Tom Gibson, Chairman of Small Enterprise Assistance Funds (SEAF) of Washington, DC, with funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The report is based on SEAF’s experience in managing SME equity investment funds in nine countries, including two funds in Russia, as well as on the experience of many other small business investment vehicles operating in other developing countries and in economically depressed areas of the United States.
Small Business Forum (SBF)—SBF, a Moscow-based, nonprofit organization supporting small- and medium-sized businesses in Russia, held its inaugural meeting in November 1999. Helping the small business sector overcome multiple barriers in the Russian economy is SBF’s primary goal. SBF, which seeks to unite small business representatives active in Russia, hopes to fill an existing information gap by arranging business meetings and social events, providing consulting and administrative support, helping members promote products and services, and organizing seminars and workshops. To contact SBF, call Aika Jaxybaeva at tel: +7 (095) 917-0706, email: primest@cityline.ru or Chetwynd Bowling at tel: +7 (095) 792-5151, email: chet@alinga.com.