Besides helping the small businesses sector, the project supports the regional development in Macedonia in respect of the decentralization agenda and the European Union's emphasis on regional economic development as part of the accession process.

Pilot Phase will be implemented in three phases in the period February- June 2014. In this period we will work on development of two types of product/gifts:

• Corporative products – gifts intended for collaborators, business partners and clients of the selected companies with exclusive and unique character, and
• Branded, mass consumption products – gift or a souvenir intended for wide range of usage (consumers)

The important aspect of the whole process is that the Macedonian craftsman (from the municipality of Prilep and the larger Pelagonija region) are going to produce this type of a products, where as the repro materials will be enabled by the micro and small production companies from Pelagonija, working with textile, metal, marble, wood, est. This certain production enables interlinking network among different creative and production capacities existing in Macedonia, thus stimulating domestic businesses and promoting craftsmen work, as well as the work of micro and small companies.
Goals:

• Development of a methodology for making branded cooperative product of the companies from community of Prilep;
• Linking and creating conditions for cooperation between craftsman and business sector;
• Supporting of handcraft and the local micro/small business sector;
• Better promotion and building an image of companies towards their clients and co-workers, as well their consumers; and
• Multiplication of developed methodology for communities and municipalities in Macedonia

Phase of implementation of the Project’s Pilot Phase for development of corporative and branded products/gifts:

•  Phase I – February, 15 – March, 31

The first phase starts with identification and meetings with potential buyers for the products to be created by the artisans. Lokomotiva will have meeting with the municipality of Prilep to identify the Prilep based companies most willing to divert some of their purchasing power to local artisans instead of buying corporate giveaways from China. In parallel, we will map out the artisans from Pelagonija and select the ones that have the capacity to work with them on the product development. Lokomotiva will also do a thorough scanning of all debris materials that companies are currently throwing away (such as the fabric and cotton leftovers from Comfy Angel) that could be used for production of some of the items, as well as companies that can enable and process the selected materials for production. The mapping will provide valuable information for the number and the types (sorts) of active craftsman, willing to be involved in the process of manufacturing the product, as well as the possibility to link their work with some of the mapped micro companies. This will determine the production capacities for making a specific corporative product and it’s volume of production, at the same time narrowing and specifying the initial list to a list of products that have a realistic capacity for production.

• Phase II – March, 31 – June, 1

The second phase will focus on product development, design and prototype production based on the feedback received from the companies. The products will be designed in various materials from wood, marble, textile and the leftovers that were identified during Phase I.

• Phase III - June, 1 – June, 15

The last phase relates to visiting the already identified companies and presentation of the products. Once they agree on the pricing and volume, the artisans will start producing the products for commercial use.

The working methodology will be first implemented in Prilep as part of the Pilot Phase after which same process will continue as follow up of the project, and applied in other cities of Pelagonija region.