SME Hub

DIFME, standing for ‘Digital Internationalisation and Financial Literacy for Micro Entrepreneurs’ is an Erasmus+ Knowledge Alliances Project that brings together universities and businesses from Malta, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, and the Netherlands. Led by the Malta Business Bureau, the project aims to identify the existing gaps in the financial and digital skills of micro entrepreneurs, and to subsequently develop training and online resources to address these gaps and enable entrepreneurs to expand their businesses locally and internationally.

Prior to the submission of the project proposal, validation of a proposed SME Hub was developed, with consultation sessions carried out with micro businesses. The main conclusions of this exercise revealed that there is a strong demand for access to practical information.

Consequently, it was decided that the SME Hub will serve as an open repository of solutions oriented to two different target groups, i.e. startup entrepreneurs and experienced entrepreneurs. Through collaborations between the DIFME partners, information related to government agencies and industry partners will be collated and made accessible to entrepreneurs operating across different industries. The intention is not to re-invent the wheel but to facilitate access to relevant information (knowledge, government and other relevant assistance programmes) on a national and European level.

Therefore, the DIFME SME Hub will:

• Offer practical solutions to enable entrepreneurs to put together factual and useful data, with the objective of ensuring that micro/small enterprises do not get entangled in the data overload available through search engines
• Enable entrepreneurs to keep themselves informed about the latest EU related information and assistance to their business needs
• Offer online tools such as a Directory of selected information that will include participant and other country links (namely governmental and public bodies operating in the legal, tax and banking sphere)
• Provide updated information related to cultural customs, taboos and trends in different countries. It will also highlight seasonal sales peaks and holidays that can have an impact on online selling
• Offer access to the training platform

Visit www.difme.eu for more information