Having a fruitful discussion with an expert as such, and particularly seeing how he connected three topics of our project, was very rewarding for our project team.
The fifth transnational project meeting (TPM) of GT4SME took place in a hybrid way in the middle of this month, September 2021. As the strategic partnership aims at improving knowledge and skills through exchange of practices, external guest speakers are always invited to project meetings. The theme of the last TPM was ‘internationalization’ in the context of SMEs and the consortium had the chance to discuss this topic with Alexander Medjedovic from the German-Turkish Chamber of Commerce.
Having work experience in Germany, Turkey and various Balkan countries, Mr. Medjedovic shared his experiences with SMEs and the business environment in these regions. He pointed out the difficulties that SMEs experience when they decide to go international and how culture, as well as incentives offered by the government, play a role in the ways such challenges are handled by SMEs. He also discussed how demand for digital transformation challenges SMEs and how advancements in technologies, as well as the Covid-19 crisis, have been pushing SMEs to do many of their daily operations online. Towards the end of his presentation, he emphasized the importance of access to funds for SMEs both in the context of internationalization and digital transformation.
Having a fruitful discussion with an expert as such, and particularly seeing how he connected three topics of our project GT4SME (‘internationalization’, ‘digital transformation’ and ‘access to funds’) in his presentation, was very rewarding for our project team. We wrapped up the session by asking Mr. Medjedovic his thoughts on the fourth topic of our project, ‘sustainability and impact’ and what ‘transformation towards a sustainable business’ would mean for the SMEs. He responded that companies will not have a choice; they will have to abide by the new sustainability frameworks and regulations, if they want to stay in the market and/or be successful in international markets.
Supporting start-ups and SMEs is part of our project’s (GT4SME) objectives. You can contact our project team and our German project partner to get more information and support.
Comments