The EXPO2 Export Acceleration Program came to an end on May 26th, when a final workshop event was held in Rome, that saw the participation of the programme’s SMEs and speakers from international financial players and consultants. The program, which lasted three months, was organized by INSME in partnership with the Bulgarian Agency for SMEs Promotion (BSMEPA), with the main goal to support Bulgarian enterprises in their internationalization process, providing them with key competencies and supporting them in developing their international marketing plans.
To support these goals in relation to the internationalization of SMEs, SIMEST’s Head of Indirect Channels, Carlo De Simone, and CONFAPI’s Director of Marketing Communications, Annalisa Guidotti, not only praised SMEs for their potential and resilience in the face of the need for adaptability, but also proposed initiatives to lift even higher these qualities and visions, as well as managing strategies in the international network when it comes to interact with global value chains.
After the assessment from the institutional point of view, the Bulgarian SMEs had the opportunity to introduce themselves and explain who they are, what their operating business model is, as well as what they learned thanks to INSME and BSMEPA’s combined efforts during the seven workshops and two mentoring sessions with international experts. From the oil excellence of Gourmoli to the innovation of Water Fuel Engines, from the sustainability of Foodobox to the ideals of VIP Softwares, each one of the 15 Bulgarian participants, both online and in person, helped each other in creating most importantly a network, scaling up their competencies and acquiring the ability to develop an effective export strategy in order to expand their reach beyond Bulgaria.
To end this final workshop, this last theme “Identifying partners in international markets for mutual support”, was picked up by the delegates Federico Maria Bega, Chief Strategy Officer of Promos Italia, and Giorgio Calveri, Marketing Coordination Officer of Italian Trade Agency, who as a last note highlighted how internationalization and digital development take time and can be arduous, but other partner companies or institutions such as INSME or BSMEPA are there to help each other along the way, towards a better future for all.
You can find the presentations of the participants in full here.
Source: INSME Secretariat
