The BAS Programme administered by the TurnAround Management (TAM) and Business Advisory Services (BAS) Programme Team at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, has been established in order to assist the development of small and medium-sized enterprises. The BAS Programme has gained considerable experience in providing practical business advice in many countries, and BAS Programmes have had a broad impact on developing the critical SME sector supporting over 3,000 advisory projects with enterprise clients so far.

The Programme works directly with enterprises to define their consultancy needs and assists them to specify terms of reference for services which will be provided by local consultants. BAS mentors and facilitates the consultancy service throughout the process of tendering and delivery, and provides a grant for a proportion of the consultancy cost on successful completion. BAS also helps to develop the skills of local consultancy services, so that if a service in demand is not available locally, BAS will seek to train local consultants to deliver the service.

BAS Programme Azerbaijan offers a wide range of professional consulting services to eligible SME's, paying up to 50% of consultancy costs for approved projects. Maximum BAS funding is EUR 9,000. To promote the development of SMEs in the regions of Azerbaijan, BAS Programme is implementing a differentiated approach and applying higher subsidy rates of up to 70% of consultancy costs.