SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Jan. 24 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce of the Government of the Canary Islands, the University of La Laguna (ULL) and the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), through their university foundations, have launched a training program for 200 businessmen and business entrepreneurs in the Archipelago, 100 in each province, with which it is intended to accompany and tutor individually in the process of digital transformation of their businesses to start in online commerce.
The main objective of this program is to advance in the digitalization process of the Canarian business fabric, especially small and medium-sized companies, which will find an opportunity to renew their business models and opt for new marketing channels.
Currently, only 31% of Canarian SMEs have a presence on social networks. For this reason, with this initiative, the aim is for a significant number of businesses to join digital channels to sell and interact with their customers, either through integration into existing online marketplaces, into their own digital channels or through the start-up of omnichannel business models.
The presentation of this initiative took place this Monday at the Hotel Escuela in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and was attended by the director responsible for the area, Yaiza Castilla; the general director of Commerce and Consumption, David Mille; the managing director of the General Foundation of the University of La Laguna, Juan Diego Betancor, and the deputy manager of the University Foundation of Las Palmas, Fabián Palmés Prieto.
Yaiza Castilla pointed out the importance of advancing in the digitization processes of Canarian SMEs and micro-SMEs. Thus, thanks to this initiative “they will be able to clearly improve their position within the unstoppable technological revolution in the retail sector and adapt to post-pandemic consumption habits.”
The minister recalled that, according to the available indicators on electronic commerce, in 2020 the percentage of companies with less than 10 employees that sold online was only 7%, compared to the 9.5% state average. For this reason, “it is necessary to advance in the process of digital transformation of our SMEs and micro-SMEs, and we will do so with a program that is based on the initial diagnosis of the commercial fabric of the Canary Islands regarding its level of digitalization and omnichannel, to offer entrepreneurs training, accompaniment and individualized tutoring to renew their business models”, he added.
For his part, David Mille highlighted that the Government of the Canary Islands had never allocated so many funds for this purpose: “Specifically, in 2022, the Trade area will have 5.5 million euros, which, for the first time , allows us to ensure that we are on the path of transformation of the Canarian trade business model and, furthermore, we are going to measure it through clear indicators that show us how we are advancing”.
The managing director of the General Foundation of the University of La Laguna stressed that the digitization of the commercial sector is the main challenge to guarantee its competitiveness. “The pandemic and the situation of isolation that this has entailed in the population has revealed not only the deficit in direct sales of our businesses through online channels, but their presence in digital media,” he added.
In this sense, he referred to the fact that 69% of SMEs with less than 10 workers on the Islands do not have a presence on social networks, so merchants have to understand that the relationship with consumers has changed. “For someone to enter your business now it is important to have heard good things about you or to have seen your products through the networks,” he added.
The deputy manager of the ULPGC Foundation expressed himself in the same terms, who warned of the loss of employment and business that involves not approaching this window of opportunity that is digital transformation. “This is not something optional, it is necessary if we do not want to be left out of commercial activity and we have no excuses so that we canaries do not approach this knowledge in digital skills.”
TRAINING PROGRAM
To carry out this initiative, the Government of the Canary Islands has allocated 300,000 euros to each of the Canarian universities. The training program has a duration of 64 hours, in online mode, and will delve into each of the areas necessary to advance in the process of digital transformation of your business, such as promotion and marketing, technology, logistics and after-sales, finances, stocks and management control, among others. After this program, each business will receive an exclusive 6-hour consultation, through which the action plan to advance in the digitalization of commerce can be defined.
This initiative is aimed at freelancers and retail SMEs, as well as entrepreneurs who can prove a degree of maturity in their project that allows them to join it. To enroll in the project, it is necessary to submit applications through the web https://institutoretailcanarias.com/transformacion-digital/i….
