In Latin America and the Caribbean, SMEs create more than 50% of the jobs. With this in mind, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has set the target of facilitating business for these, in order to create more and better jobs.
"One of the major problems we face is that only 13% of the products produced in the region are exported to countries in Asia and Europe, where the rate of international trade is more than double," said Ady Beitler, integration and trade specialist at IBD, during his presentation at Expoalimentaria 2014.
A comprehensive study conducted by IDB throughout the region determined that, in addition to the known problems of infrastructure and logistics, the major barriers that SMEs face to generate businesses are:
- Difficulty to find reliable business contacts in other countries.
- Poor understanding of complex international rules and regulations by SMEs that cannot afford the cost of specialised consultants.
- Lack of access to funding.
- "Latin America's access to the Internet has grown by almost 900% in the last decade and has the 10 most connected countries in the world. We are considering taking advantage of this situation to help SMEs generate more business."
In response to this, the Bank has created ConnectAmericas, the first business social network of the Americas in order to develop foreign trade.
This free and non-profit platform has the support of Google, DHL, Visa and Alibaba, and revolves around three fundamental aspects:
- Connect: You must first create a profile for your company, which will be verified to ensure its legality. Automatically, depending on their profile, they will receive recommendations of companies which may be suitable to do business with.
- Learn: Databases and on-line courses with video conferencing and online questionnaires.
- Finance: The entrepreneur can access clear and practical information on the various projects for funding, support and technical cooperation that the Bank is offering in your country.
The site was launched on 28 March this year and already has more than 9,500 users.
"We are very proud of the project and are confident that it will continue to grow," concluded Adi Beitler.
www.connectamericas.com