A seminar on family businesses is to be held by the ministries of finance and small business later this summer, Small Business Minister Jason Azzopardi told The Times Business this week.
There is a business environment which exudes confidence
The decision follows the June 20 meeting of the Enterprise Consultative Council, the recommendatory body seeking to foster effective communication between regulators and commercial sectors, which focused on family businesses for the first time.
The Malta Association of Family Enterprises made a series of proposals at the meeting which the government has pledged to consider as it plans next year’s Budget. The seminar, to which foreign experts are to be invited, will focus on the ideas which will also be floated with stakeholders.
“This demonstrates that the Enterprise Consultative Council is not a talking shop,” Dr Azzopardi said. “The discussion of June 20 will be followed up as we consider the association’s proposals on matters relating to the Inland Revenue and other fiscal issues.”
Dr Azzopardi is currently seeing to a collection of important initiatives relating to small businesses which are due to be implemented.
The minister is preparing to present a proposal in Parliament in a few days’ time to amend legislation allowing for a reduction in licensing requirements.
Following a public consultation which saw “good” feedback from a range of stakeholders including the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise, and Industry and the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises (GRTU), 80 per cent of cases currently requiring a licence from the Commerce Department will not need to apply. Under Dr Azzopardi’s proposal, many small businesses will only need to give the department 30 days’ notice of their intention to begin operations accompanied by a payment.
Businesses will not be required to present a Mepa-certified copy of floor plans, only a permit number. Manufacturing businesses will see a reduction in licence fees and premises occupying more than 800 square metres will have their fees capped. Annual payments will now only be due up to the cessation of activities rather than the date of cancellation of a licence.
This is one in a string of measures Dr Azzopardi’s ministry is seeking to implement in its mission to deal “a blow to bureaucracy”.
Under another entrusted to the Office of the Prime Minister’s Better Regulation Unit, the authorities are seeking to cut red tape for businesses by a further 15 per cent by the end of this year in line with the objectives of the European Commission’s Administrative Burden Reduction Programme.
Dr Azzopardi is keen to point out that this planned additional reduction in bureaucracy goes even beyond Business First, the one-stop shop managed by Malta Enterprise which brings more than 50 business-related services under one roof.
More than 3,500 businesses have turned to Business First since its launch in January. To facilitate matters for business owners further, a representative of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority is available on Friday mornings to answer queries.
Next month, Dr Azzopardi and Finance Minister Tonio Fenech will launch the MicroGuarantee Scheme, a pledge announced in Budget 2012, under which the government will guarantee up to 90 per cent of a loan to micro-businesses. The scheme, to be managed by Malta Enterprise in collaboration with the banks, will make €20 million available in bank guarantees on loans for Malta’s smallest new or existing businesses. Firms will be granted guarantees on loans of between €2,500 and €100,000 from commercial banks.
The scheme is the latest addition to the basket of initiatives targeting small businesses which include the successful MicroInvest tax credit programme, the JEREMIE microcredit programme administered by Bank of Valletta, and the European Regional Development Fund. Together the programmes have granted funding – or contributed towards investment – to the tune of €95 million.
“No other administration has proposed so many measures to make life easier for micro and small businesses in a single legislature,” Dr Azzopardi told The Times Business. “The creation of 20,000 jobs – and Malta having the fifth lowest unemployment rate in the EU – is a tangible result of the efforts of this ministry and of the Finance Ministry. We have worked hard to ensure there is a business environment which exudes confidence.”
Meanwhile, the Late Payments Directive will be transposed into Maltese law in a few weeks, Dr Azzopardi added, heeding the call made by European Commissioner for Industry Antonio Tajani for member states to strive to implement the directive as soon as possible before the March deadline.
Dr Tajani made the call at the meeting for SME Envoys in Malta earlier this month, its first outside Brussels in the network’s 18 months. The SME Envoys network, Dr Tajani’s brainchild, was established to act as a forum within which member states’ representatives entrusted with safeguarding the interests of Europe’s smallest business could share information, knowledge and ideas.
Malta – whose SME Envoy is Dr Azzopardi – was among the first to endorse the initiative as it faced some scepticism from around the EU, even mentioning the envoy’s role in the Small Business Act when it became the first member state to enact it.
Dr Azzopardi said Malta is viewed as a trendsetter within the network and is cited as a model for best practice. The Malta event was lauded for raising the bar in terms of organisation, participation and elevating the discussion on small businesses.
The island also served as a catalyst so that bridges between small businesses in Europe and their counterparts in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt could be built. A business seminar organised by the ministry with the Malta Business Bureau brought experts from the North African countries to showcase the opportunities arising in the region for small businesses in Europe.
The constructive dialogue and the evolution of the SME Envoy network’s role had proven the sceptics wrong, Dr Azzopardi pointed out.