News

20 Oct. 2015
SME Competitiveness: Why it Matters - Session summary
by ITC News

SPEAKERS

H.E. Axel M. Addy, Minister, Ministry of Commerce and Industry of Liberia

Mr. Stefano Arganese, CEO, DHL Freight Central, Eastern, Southern Europe & Americas, Middle East and Africa, Switzerland

Ms. Anabel Gonzalez, Senior Director, Global Practice on Trade and Competitiveness, World Bank

Mr. Dato Dzulkifli Mahmud, CEO, MATRADE

Mr. Tunc Uyanik, Chief Executive Officer, World SME Forum

Jennifer Freedman, Freelance Journalist, MLex Market Insight

ITC presented its new annual flagship publication, the SME Competitiveness Outlook.This year’s theme was: Compete, Connect, Change. The report contains rich data for trade and investment institutions and investors.

WHY SMEs MATTER

Marion Jansen
“If you do something about SME productivity, you will do something about wages for 70% of your workforce.”

H.E. Axel M. Addy
“SMEs matter to Liberia because people matter. If we are to bring these people out of poverty, we must pay attention to SMEs.”
“SMEs bring innovation local solutions for local problems… that can go global.”

Anabel Gonzalez
"We identify two problems of SMEs in developing countries: small firms do not grow and small firms are not productive."
"Access" matters for SME competitiveness; access to finance, to the right business environment, to innovation, to skills…”

RECOMMENDATIONS & NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS

Policy recommendations to support SMEs: Identify constraints, sequence them, ensure relational support (mentoring, investor support), develop a continuum of services to support the entrepreneurial cycle, and focus on the broader ecosystem.
Ms. Anabel Gonzalez

“Liberia’s annual SME forums are putting an accent on quality.”
H.E. Axel M. Addy

“Nurture and develop export-ready SMEs.”
Be prepared for e-commerce, to help SMEs break into international markets.
Mr Dzulkifli

“We are the first country to highlight SMEs at the G20/B20 and are proud of this.”
Address five SME challenges: Access to international markets; access to entrepreneurial skills and talent; innovation ecosystems and the digital economy; business reforms for an SME-friendly environment.”
Mr. Tunc Uyanik

“Places in the world that are the most connected are those which have the least conflict.
Global connectedness is stronger in richer countries, which are more productive and competitive. This is not playing in favour of small SMEs in developing countries.”
Few companies know as well as DHL what goes on at borders… We are ready to share that knowledge.”
“SMEs don’t need to be big to compete in the global village.”
Mr. Stefano Arganese

“For SMEs, translate toolkits in as many languages as possible.”
From the audience
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speakers
Xin Liu

Vikrom Kromadit

Ursula Wynhoven

Shouwen Wang

Shinto Nugroho

Patricia Russ

Lubna Shaban

Kolin Low

Joseph Wozniak

H.E. Maithripala Sirisena

Zoritsa Urosevic

Zahra Maafiri

Wolfgang Arlt

Susan Stone

Shamshad Akhtar

Sally Buberman

Rhizlan El Alaoui

Pascal Khoo

Matanda Wayubele

Marion Jansen

Kurt Cavano

Jagdish Singla

Indira malwatte

Gao Hongbing

Eben Sermon

Donia Hammami

D J Pandian

Minister Malik Samarawickrama

Mano Sekaram

Upul Jayasuriya

Sujeewa Senasinghe

Hiran Cooray

Deshamanya Mahesh Dayalal Amalean

Stefano Arganese

Patricia Scotland

Brian Pallas

Tony Nash

Sabur Khan

Saman Kelegama

Gian Luca Petrelli

Dulith Herath

Arancha González

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