The AUMENTA project helps companies expand their boundaries

The slogan of the AUMENA project is “expand your borders”. In order to facilitate the process of expanding borders for companies, as well as to help them better understand the business culture of each target country (Morocco, Georgia, Uruguay), the project partners organize online events “Fact Finding Missions”. The aim of these events is to bring together organizations and companies from Europe and the target countries to explore joint business, cooperation and innovation opportunities. When creating new export relationships, it is very important to get acquainted with the business culture of the other country, its peculiarities and the opportunities offered. As a participant admitted in one of the webinars, “Culture eats strategy for lunch”. Therefore, each of these events is started with a comprehensive insight into the business structure model of each country.

This year, six online visits have been held so far, two of which were meetings with representatives from Georgia, two with Morocco, one with Uruguay, and one with Latin American representatives representing Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina.

Morocco, thanks to the rapid implementation of modern infrastructure and ambitious sectoral strategies, rapid industrialization and the development of green energy, has proven itself as a competitive country not only in the African economic arena, but also on a global scale over the past 20 years. The peculiarities of Moroccan business culture were shared in webinars by Mr. Adel Abbou Charradi (Business manager in the Athisa Group International) and Mr. Said Chafi (Head of the Support and Promotion Department at the CCIS TTA, Tetuán and Director of the Higher School of Commerce in Tetouan and Director of the Mediterranean Specialized Institute of Management). Mr. Said Chafi pointed out that Morocco offers very good conditions for investors both locally and internationally, emphasizing that Morocco is the best environment for new investments in the entire region, as the economy of this country is considered the most competitive. Speaking about the peculiarities of business culture, Mr. Adel Abbou Charradi mentions the understanding of time. “Punctuality is not considered a value in Morocco. However, arriving on time is important, even if you will most often have to wait for the meeting to start.”

Georgia is known for its hospitality in almost all sectors, including business. In recent years, its business model has increasingly become similar to the European model, making it easier to establish new partnerships. The time difference is also only 2-3 hours, as Georgia does not switch to daylight saving time, which makes it easy to schedule various meetings.

As Gvantsa Meladze (Gateway & Partners) admits, many meetings in Georgia take place in an informal atmosphere, which is explained by the fact that mutual respect and trust are very important to Georgians when conducting business. “Face-to-face meetings are valued more than communication by phone or e-mail, so it is advisable for a company to have a representative or partner in Tbilisi. Local clients also look more trustingly at companies registered in Georgia,” says Gvantsa Meladze.

Latin America, the land of opportunities, is becoming increasingly accessible to European entrepreneurs. Representing Paraguay in the webinars, its representative Federico Sosa mentions the simple tax system in the country, which is the most competitive compared to other Latin American countries. The representative of Paraguay, Martin Ruiz (Union Industrial Paraguaya), talked about business opportunities, mentioning how important it is to help various industries, because “the better the industry is, the better the country is.”

Uruguayan representative Maria Ines Mailhos (CPA Ferrere) mentions 3 success factors that allow for successful entry into the country's market:

1) Evaluate Uruguay as a potential access point for the rest of Latin America;

2) A stable working environment is ensured by a combination of a strong institution and a respectful attitude towards the political, social and economic freedom of the country;

3) The person themselves and human factors play an important role in building business relationships.

In order to strengthen and build new relationships between companies from Europe, the Caucasus, North Africa and Latin America, the AUMENTA project is organizing an online networking event, AUMENTA GLOBAL MATCHMAKING, which will take place on December 1-2. More about the event HERE .