Small companies that have yet to break into the international market have help at hand thanks to a scheme launched yesterday.
Gateway to Export, which was announced in the Budget speech, is a programme run by Malta Enterprise aiming to assist companies in their efforts to sell products abroad.
The €1 million scheme will be available to firms employing fewer than 50 people, with an annual turnover of under €10 million and whose export sales do not exceed 20 per cent of turnover.
The support, provided free of charge, will range from ensuring the products are compliant and saleable abroad to staff training and marketing wherever necessary.
“Today the reality is globalisation, the world is smaller and it’s one market and it’s a pity small companies think the international market is external to them. We want these companies to look at the international market as a domestic one,” the Parliamentary Secretary for Small Businesses, Jason Azzopardi said at the scheme launch yesterday.
The details of the scheme were announced following a tour of the Consolidated Biscuit Co. Ltd factory in Mrieħel, which exports 75 per cent of its products.
The company manufactures biscuits for international brands and also has its own in-house brands. In the coming months, it is planning to sell one of its main products, galletti, in European countries such as Germany.
Interested companies can contact Malta Enterprise on 2542 0000 or via internationalistion@maltaenterprise.com.