More than 300 representatives of companies from the food, metal, construction, ICT and tourism sectors from 25 countries participated in the online bilateral meetings CONNECTO 2020.
The meetings within the European Entrepreneurship Network (EEN) were organized by the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and the Mihajlo Pupin Institute in cooperation with partners from the region.
As many as 82 companies from Serbia participated in the virtual meetings from July 28 to 30, and the participants have very positive experiences after talks with potential business partners, the SCC announced.
The meeting was organized in cooperation with colleagues from the EEN network from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region, and during three days, the statement said, all companies had the opportunity to easily and efficiently identify business partners, customers, and suppliers and schedule online meetings.
“The importance of this way of connecting plays a key role during the Covid-19 pandemic and the problems faced by companies and the economy as a whole. Most business meetings are organized online, which is a challenge for both the organizers and participants, and our goal is to let’s support companies to stay in touch with business partners and find new ones,” said Katarina Momcilovic Matic, from the Serbian Chamber of Commerce.
The owner and director of the company “Znam Ko”, Milun Stanojevic, which deals with the export and import of parts for the automotive industry and agricultural machinery, points out that his company is partially aligned with the new reality, and that technical adjustments and education for this type of communication in the future.
He points out that PKS reacted efficiently and enabled the company to stay in the global economic race, it is said in the announcement.
“Since March of this year, when the more intensive use of new technologies and digital tools began, we have definitely seen that it is a perspective and imperative in business. Online meetings help to find new partners in the new reality,” Stanojevic pointed out.
Now, according to him, the focus is on online business arrangements with partners as before at business forums and other gatherings.
Ivana Cukanovic, the owner of the company “Golden Teas”, has experience with online meetings, which, as she points out, can help a lot in finding new business partners.
“It is especially easy to communicate with foreign business partners who are used to concise and specific conversations. I think it would be very useful to organize such meetings by activities such as food production-distributor-wholesale – retail – shipping – caterers. These are related activities which can be directly connected,” said Cukanovic.
The European Entrepreneurship Network is the largest network that supports small and medium-sized enterprises and helps them to improve and innovate their business through partnership, information and professional assistance.
In the previous 12 years, over 17,000 domestic companies have used the services of this network, and the greatest interest was in various trainings, advisory services, as well as participation in bilateral meetings and company missions.
EEN services in Serbia are provided by the Consortium coordinated by PKS, and the partners are the Business Incubator Novi Sad, the Innovation Center of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Belgrade, the Mihajlo Pupin Institute, the University of Nis and the Development Agency of Serbia, Dnevnik reports.
