OREANDA-NEWS.  August 24, 2012. At a conference on small business, the Citi Foundation and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) reviewed the results of their successful joint program, reported the press-centre of Citi.

The pilot program was launched in 2011 to promote the development of small business as a means for preserving the unique natural environment of the Altai Mountains. The aim of the program is to raise the level of employment among rural residents of the Altai Republic through a business basics training course and business plan contest.

Through this program 580 people completed the training course and 150 of them subsequently participated in the business plan contest. 30 business plans were then chosen for financing in the form of micro grants totaling 1.3 million rubles.

The initiatives receiving support were those aimed at developing environmentally friendly businesses: production of felt and felt products; vegetable and fruit farming; beekeeping; production of folk products; ecotourism; creation and equipping of "green" homes; work studios for fabricating national costumes; production of souvenirs made from felt, ceramics, wood and bones, etc.

This small business development program is quite unique thanks to its environmental conservation component and also the fact that the first stage entails mandatory training of the rural residents on the basics of running one’s own business, business planning, working with grants and much more.

Raising the standard of living of local residents as an alternative to subsistence based on unsustainable use of natural resource and poaching is an environmental conservation method that has been successfully used throughout the world.

At the conference, the Citi Foundation and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) also announced the continuation of this entrepreneurship development program in the Altai Republic and its expansion into the Republic of Tuva. As a part of this new phase of the program, more than 500 people will undergo training on how to open one’s own business with an emphasis on ecotourism followed by a business plan contest with subsequent financing of the best proposals.

"We believe that it is very important to give beginning entrepreneurs confidence in their abilities, to teach them the necessary skills and to demonstrate that they too can start their own business," says Tatiana Avramenko, Community Relations Officer at Citi Russia. "Boosting the entrepreneurial activity of Russia’s population, particularly in isolated and rural regions of the country, is vital for the sustainable economic development of our country, which is why supporting small business is a top priority for Citi’s social investments in Russia".

"Without a doubt, the economic effect and associated benefits in terms of nature conservation will only be fully apparent several years down the road, when the businesses achieve sustainability," says Alexander Bondarev, head of the Altai-Sayan division of WWF Russia. "Nonetheless, according to the analysis of the Sodeistvie Fund, the first results are already visible: the 30 projects which received support are considered sustainable; thanks to the program new jobs have appeared in the Altai Republic; the gross value of the goods and services created by participants of the project in the period from September to December alone amounted to 751,000 rubles. Through the sales of their products, the project participants received 300,000 rubles in additional income".

The main partner for this program in the Altai Republic is the Sodeistvie Fund, a microfinance support fund created in 2008 with support from the UNDP/GEF Project "Biodiversity Conservation in the Russian Portion of the Altai-Sayan Ecoregion".

Additional information:
The Altai Republic has a population of over 200,000 people, the majority of which are engaged in animal husbandry and live and work in the Altai Mountains and steppe. One of the biggest problems impeding the development of remote regions in Russia such as Altai is unemployment, which in some villages in the region reaches 90%. As a result, the standards of living for rural residents are very low and the income of many herder families is only USD1,000-2,000 a year. These factors contribute to the proliferation of poaching and the trade of plants and animals, which directly threatens the region’s biodiversity. This is why to ensure the protection of Altai’s unique natural wildlife standards of living of rural communities should be improved and alternative opportunities for the local population to generate income are needed.

The Altai Republic has a unique landscape and biological and cultural diversity: more than 2,000 plant species, over 80 animal species and in excess of 350 birds species can be found in the republic as well as a whole host of historical and cultural monuments. In the Altai Mountains there are two biosphere reserves, one national park, five natural parks and two nature reserves. More than 20% of the republic is environmentally protected land. The republic also boasts the Golden Mountains of Altai, a UNESCO world heritage site. The Altai Mountains are home to the world’s largest populations of snow leopards and Altai mountain sheep (argali), which are both included in Russia’s Red Book of rare and endangered wildlife.

Citi has already supported a number of WWF initiatives. At the beginning of November 2010, Citi and WWF announced the launch of a joint project to restore broadleaved-pine forests in the southwest of the Primorsky region in the Russian Far East. In spring 2011, with support from Citi, WWF volunteers planted one million Korean pine and Manchurian fir seedlings. Citi undertook this project to celebrate its one-millionth retail client in Russia, an important milestone reached in 2010.