With the evolving situation of the 2020 humanitarian crisis, BUSINESSMED noticed that BSOs are grappling with how to ensure their business continuity, to continue serving their members and to better comply with the new working conditions. Taking that and the travel restrictions into consideration, BUSINESSMED redesigned its academies planned in the framework of the EBSOMED project.

To address these challenges, the academies were redesigned to debate the agility and resilience of the BSOs to ensure business continuity in different area of work. To do so, BUSINESSMED conceived a cycle of webinars and mobilized international organizations with regional expertise and conducted their recovery plan to give share their knowledge   and formulate recommendations to respond to the Covid-19 crisis. The   cycle was called “Building back resilience: the role of Employers’ and Business Association in shaping the new normal” and was divided into 4 online events.

The four webinars organized with the implication of the UFM; called representatives of the private sector to get involved in the debates on how organisations and SMEs can take full advantage of the crisis and improve their services using the opportunities offered by technologies.  

Committed to accelerate the digital transformation and fostering the interconnectivity across the Mediterranean, BUSINESSMED dedicated the final webinar of the cycle Building back resilience   to digitalisation and organized on February 25th, 2021 the webinar “The Sanitarian Crisis as an accelerator of the digitalisation path of the Mediterranean Business Ecosystem”.

The event reviewed several aspects related to the digital transformation of the region including the changes planned by Business Support Organizations in their economic and structural models, the emergence of cross-border e-commerce but also an assessment of the use of technology by women entrepreneurs in the Mediterranean region.

The Webinar focused on providing concrete solutions to meet the challenges of the Post-COVID19 economic recovery for SMEs to access new markets. The debate emphasized the way internationalisation benefited SMEs in industrialised countries focusing on the innovative platforms and opportunities offered for cross-border e-commerce.

As a success story, the Business Country Desk developed by BUSINESSMED showed the interconnectivity opportunities offered to SMEs across the Mediterranean. Through its innovative platform (BCD), BUSINESSMED is targeting the increase of regional cooperation and stability. The platform is facilitating business-to-business trade online and cooperation within the region and on the border rules-based multilateral systems.