1. Business initiatives for SMEs in Europe: East Invest 2 and RelBiz.net
March 9, 2018, Athens
Marina Kaas, Vice-President of EVEA –
Estonian Association of SMEs

2. About EVEA
EVEA, founded in 1988, is the oldest independent association of private companies in Estonia
EVEA is a non-partisan, non-profit NGO
EVEA has members all over Estonia (appr members in different areas of activity)
EVEA is a member of UEAPME and CEA_PME (European roof-organisations of national SME-organisations)
EVEA is financed by membership fees and project-based activities

3. Activities:
Representing, advocating and lobbying for SME´s and raising awareness of their problems in society
Developing business environment in Estonia and promoting entrepreneurship as a lifestyle
Serving as an interface between SME´s and the policy decision-makers and various social partners on state level
Providing members with information, councelling and training, as well as opportunities for networking both locally and internationally

4. Internationalisation – a bottleneck for SMEs!
Access to EU internal market
Access to new external markets
Capability to finance marketing
Need for low-budget support instruments

5. Consortium structure (Partners)
Total Budget:
6,5 milllion EURO (service contract)
Consortium structure (Partners)
EUROCHAMBRES (Lead, BSO component, overall coordination), UEAPME (SME Academies & PPD)
Timing
Sept 2014 – Dec 2017

6. Objective:
Developing a conducive economic environment and competitive private sector in the 6 Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova & Ukraine) while enhancing trade flows and investments between the EU and the EaP region.

7. Main activities For Business Support Organisations (BSOs):
Twinnings (long-term EU-EaP partnerships)
Exchanges (short-term EU<->EaP trainings/consultancies)
Academies (topic specific trainings)
Public private dialogue (round-tables, trainings /coachings)
For SMEs:
SME Academies (export/internationalisaiton trainings)
SME Roadshows (study visits, incl B2Bs to the EU)

8. Main benefits
Demand-driven activities, based on the needs of EaP BSOs and their members
Leaders of EU BSOs acting as experts and trainers, „first-hand“ knowledge transfer
Expert costs and travel covered by the project, + small lump-sums for meetings
Opportunities for developing deep bi-lateral relations with new countries and opening new markets for SMEs of participating BSOs

9. Outcomes
An interactive network of over 200 BSOs from the EaP and EU was created, which will facilitate future cooperation, interaction and sharing of experiences.
13 „twinning“ partnerships successfully implemented with more than 110 activities
24 SME Roadshows carried out to 17 EU MS, involving 11 EaP BSOs, 18 EU BSOs, 400 EaP SMEs and 1000 EU companies
More than 140 new services/initiatives implemented by EaP BSOs to support local SMEs thanks to the participation in the BSO activities (BSO Academies, Twinnings, Exchanges) of East Invest 2.
Lots of new friends and collegues found within „SME world“.

10. Business co-operation platform for SMEs in EU and 6 Eastern Partnership countries
Free use by members of participating BSO-s
Search for buyers, suppliers, investors, sales representatives etc.
Goal to include all EU and EaP countries.

11.
Contact:

13. THANK YOU! EVEA - 30 years of SME advocacy marina@datanet.ee