• 10-03-2017 11:00
• Velizar Petrov

The lack of young people for business is not only a local problem. It turns out that it is also struggling with well-developed countries like Finland with an area of 338,155 km² and a population of only about 5 million, making it the least populous country in Europe after Norway and Iceland..

Kajaani is a city located about 2.5 degrees below the Arctic Circle. It was the second partner meeting of the STOB regions project, funded under the INTERREG EUROPE programme. The theme of the project - Business Inheritance and Transfer is closely related to the staff problem and young people.

Mr. Pentti Malinen, regional mayor of Kajaani, said they were looking for different solutions to get out of the situation. "We are considering any innovative solutions, even if we offer the beer and the sauna to the young to come to develop a business with us," he said. This was in line with the main topic of the meeting - "Innovation and knowledge transfer".

As good practices from Bulgarian side, Alexander Tonkov of RDA with BSC for SMEs (Regional Development Agency with Business Support Center for SMEs - Plovdiv), presented training materials and guidelines for the transfer of business developed Erasmus + and OP Human Resources Development..

Finland has more tradition in succession and transfer of business. Bulgarian companies could learn from them, learning from good practices and from mistakes. Succession is a long process that must be carefully planned to take place with as little disruption as the business itself and for workers employed in the company. During the meeting, examples were given of companies that have already gone through this process or are at different stages in its implementation.

With partners from 10 European countries we discussed the examples presented, as well as discussed SWOT analysis for the region. As a final result, each partner will work to optimize the various policy instruments - operational programs, strategies at national and regional level and others to facilitate the process of succession and transfer of business.

The next meeting will be in Poland at the end of this year.

What innovative solutions to apply in Bulgaria - we look forward to your suggestions and comments. We will be happy to share experiences, good practices and problems..

Partner presentations - Publication and dissemination