AGEXPORT, along with the national NGO ‘Red Nacional de Grupos Gestores’ and the German organization SEQUA GmbH, was selected to implement a program funded by the European Union and the Guatemalan Economy Ministry. The program will focus on improving the competitiveness conditions of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and cooperatives.
Other beneficiary organizations of this program include the Association of Forestry Communities of Peten (ACOFOP, for its acronym in Spanish), the Association of Organizations of Los Cuchumatanes (ASOCUCH) and We Effect Guatemala.
With this program, AGEXPORT and its member companies will take actions to reduce poverty in Guatemala and promote a more inclusive and sustainable economic growth. This, by improving competitiveness conditions of SMEs and cooperative groups for their successful integration in local and international markets, said Mr. Moisés Mérida, AGEXPORT’s International Alliances Manager.
The official presentation of this program for SMEs and cooperatives took place on June 28, 2018. During the event, AGEXPORT’s CEO, Mr. Amador Carballido, signed the agreements along with representatives of the other executing institutions. Guatemala’s Economy Ministry Asisclo Valladares and Mr. Stefano Gatto, Ambassador of the European Union in Guatemala, also attended the official ceremony and signed the agreements.
The specific project to be executed under this program is called ‘More Competitive Cooperatives and SMEs’ (or MCC+) and will focus on four key components:
* Developing SMEs and Cooperatives and their business, commercial and productive capabilities, to be able to enter local, reginal and international markets.
* Developing and improving business development services offered for small businesses as well as cooperative groups.
* Incentivizing small companies to form business associations and value chains, build networks and get onboard trading platforms. Also, build alliances with other stakeholders and industries to improve the overall conditions of SMEs and cooperatives.
* Promote innovative entrepreneurships, mostly those lead by women and young entrepreneurs.
Among the activities planned for this project, we expect to help companies implement best practices in fields like production, product transformations, obtaining quality and food safety certifications, and implementing environmental management actions. Also, we expect to ease export processes and support them to successfully enter international markets with our expertise on the development of export plans, market intelligence, trade promotion, seeking potential buyers and export coaching, said Mr. Mérida.
