The permanent secretary of the Council of Ibero-American Businessmen (CEIB) and CEO of CEOE International, Narciso Casado; the deputy general secretary of SEGIB, Marco Pinta Gama and the head of Economy and Business, Pablo Adrián Hardy; coordinated the implementation of the IV Ibero-American Forum of the MSME, during various meetings held in Brasilia with representatives of the Ministry of Economy; from the CEOE's homologous employer, the CNI (National Confederation of Industry); of SEBRAE (Brazilian Service to Support Micro and Small Enterprises); and from the Embassy of Spain.
The Spanish delegation met with the deputy secretary of the Secretariat of Industrial Development, Commerce, Services and Innovation; Antonia Tallarida Serra and with the general coordinator of the Ministry of Micro and Small Business Development and Entrepreneurship, Edivan do Socorro Fonseca. At the meeting, both representatives of the Ministry of Economy expressed the total support of the Brazilian government for the IV Forum of MSMEs, and their intention to turn it into a space for dialogue and experiences at the Ibero-American level, especially by making it coincide with the Week of the Competitiveness for SMEs in the country.
For his part, Casado stressed that the preparation of the Ibero-American Forum of MSMEs is one of the lines of work that CEIB and SEGIB develop to prepare the next Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government, to be held in Andorra in November 2020 , under the slogan "Innovation for sustainable development – Objective 2030". In this regard, he highlighted as preparatory acts of the Summit the Innovation Forum in May in Ecuador and the Talent Retention Forum in June in Portugal.
These events are just a sample of the work carried out by CEIB and SEGIB, and now joined by the Ibero-American Federation of Young Entrepreneurs (FIJE). In addition, these organizations have a common frame of reference for belonging to the largest business platform in the world, the OIE, which brings together more than 150 organizations from 140 countries. Casado also emphasized the collaboration with CIAR (Ibero-American Arbitration Center), which recognizes the benefits of international arbitration as an instrument to resolve international disputes, disputes or disputes (especially for SMEs) and the need to raise awareness and promote international arbitration in the region.
SEBRAE
In Brasilia, the Spanish delegation also held a meeting with the president of the Brazilian Support Service for Micro and Small Enterprises (SEBRAE), Carlos Melles and the deputy manager of the Institutional Advisory Unit, Débora Targino. In the course of it, the launch of the Forum, the situation of SMEs and Micropymes in Brazil and Latin America were analyzed; as well as the tools of the Institution to help the individual microentrepreneur (more than 10 million in the country), such as standardization programs, support for their internationalization, training and their workers or instruments to help with productivity and employment.
Casado, in turn, referred to CEPYME500, a Cepyme initiative that identifies, selects and promotes all of the 500 leading Spanish companies in business growth, both for their results and their ability to generate added value, employment, innovation and international projection. The main function of this initiative is to grant national and international recognition and projection to the companies that have been selected contributing to boost their growth potential.
Latin American Forum of MSMEs
During his visit to Brasilia, the CEOE and SEGIB delegation met with the executive manager of CNI (the CEOE's homologous employer), Joao Emilio P. Gonçalves and the director of Industrial Development, Carlos Eduardo Abijaodi. In their meeting, they talked about the IV Ibero-American Forum of the MSME, which will bring together the SME authorities of the various Ibero-American countries; representatives of business organizations of the Region, included in CEIB; to those of young entrepreneurs belonging to FIJE (Ibero-American Federation of Young Entrepreneurs); and entrepreneurs from Iberoamerica.
The Ibero-American Forum of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises is a space for reflection, exchange of good practices and discussion about the reality of Latin American SMEs, their support policies, new organizational models and the promotion of strategic alliances between countries. It is a joint initiative of SEGIB and the CEIB Ibero-American Business Council, which will be held this year the first week of June in Brasilia.
Likewise, during the meeting, they informed that in this edition of the Forum they will address issues related to public policies to promote Latin American MSMEs; digital transformation; impulse of business organizations to the development of MSMEs; the new financing instruments; or the Latin American space as an open innovation platform; among other topics.
Another of the meetings held by the Spanish delegation was with the director of International Relations of CONAJE (National Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs of Brazil), Marcos Días. The Organization promotes entrepreneurship, strengthening, creation and maintenance of companies – especially by young people – in the articulation and dissemination of practices that can increase the dissemination of new and solid businesses in Brazil. Through partnerships, it also works to establish practical public and institutional policies that include micro and small entrepreneurs in the first categories of the country's development strategies. More than 36,000 young entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs in the country are directly and indirectly related to the institution. At the meeting, the joint work with FIJE and the Young Entrepreneurs Associations of the different countries of the Region was highlighted, in the case of Brazil, CONAJE, and CEAJE in the case of Spain.
Finally, the representatives of SEGIB and CEIB met with the ambassador of Spain in Brazil, Fernando García Casas and the Economic and Commercial Minister, Isabel Rata, to inform them of the meetings held in Brasilia with the different institutions and about the implementation of March of the next Ibero-American Forum of MSMEs.
