Promoting and supporting entrepreneurship and SMEs is a political priority in all European member states. However, the training and support European entrepreneurs usually get is mainly focused on initial aid during their first steps into entrepreneurship. Despite the initial support founders of new businesses get at the beginning, many of them do not survive their third year of business operations. This is due to the fact that no structured and holistic support is provided to still young but already established SMEs whose businesses develop successfully and would have the potential of growth, but whose owners are not sufficiently capable of managing this sudden growth and the problems and challenges it brings about. This is especially the case for enterprises in the crafts as well as in the services sector.
SME-TraiNet is a stakeholder network that tackles this problem by fostering the dialogue between European young businesses/ SMEs operating in the crafts and services sector, and European guidance and training providers in order to improve the current training and support structures to the target group of young businesses and SMEs. |