Indian SMEs – Growing global aspiration

Bizxchange, in association with Wealthtree Partners organized a seminar on ‘Internationalizing Indian SMEs’ on January 19.  The focus of the seminar was on understanding the European market and uniqueness of the different European countries. More than 40 representatives of SMEs from different sectors including jewellery, metals and manufacturing, textiles, IT, green technologies, etc, attended this insightful discussion forum.

The first session started with S Venkataraman, promoter of Wealthtree Partners, a cross border advisory firm, talk extensively about the possibilities as well as the challenges of international trade for SMEs. He explained the different modes of doing international trade, which includes, sub contracting, distribution arrangements, technology transfers, overseas acquisitions, among others. “SMEs contribute for 43% of industrial output, 40% of Indian exports and provides employment to approximately 42 million people, this clearly means that SMEs are a significant sector in the Indian scenario,” stated Mr Venkataraman.

He also helped understand how several Indian SMEs were aiming high internationally by showcasing their success stories through case studies. He added, “There are opportunities in the African and Latin American countries that are yet to be tapped.

The second session was conducted by Johan Van Hamme, MD of Clear Vantage, a Belgian company. He dedicated his presentation primarily in understanding the varied cultural differences that exist in the countries of Europe. “Cultural influences, company infrastructure, work interactions all affect the overall process of working with European countries. For example, being late for a meeting for even 5 minutes is not acceptable in Germany, but in France, with sufficient reasons to back it up, you can be late for maximum 15 minutes.  Again, in Netherlands, Poland or Finland, people are very straightforward, be prepared or you might get a rude shock,” explained Mr Van Hamme. He also mentioned some of the sectors that have good business prospects for Indian SMEs in the European markets – automotive, e-commerce and green energy among others.

Both speakers answered several queries and got a good response from the attendees. Upasana Jani and Rashmi Jagasia of Zycus Infotech, said, “It was an excellent session especially because we got to know so much about the different cultural issues. It will help our work immensely”

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