Business First set to grow

Malta Enterprise is planning to build on the success of its Business First contact centre in Guardamangia by setting up desks tailored specifically for would-be exporters and for succession planning, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said this morning.

He visited the offices of Business First with the Minister for SMEs Jason Azzopardi.

Mr Fenech said Business First had had 8,300 contacts since January, involving all kinds of business, large and small.

Business First, he explained, aimed at grouping all business services under one roof in order to help not only start-ups but also established businesses which wanted to expand, or had run into problems.

Dr Azzopardi said the government 'cared' about the business community and wanted to make life easier for investors by reducing bureaucracy and offering varied forms of assistance including access to finance. It was significant, he said, that according to an EU survey, Maltese SMEs, along with those of Germany, were least affected by the international financial crisis.