October 2016 - Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg

The Chamber takes part in the Young Professionals Networking Night, held with success

25/10/2016

The Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg took part in the Young Professionals Networking Night, which was last October 20 on the premises of BNP Paribas Fortis. The event was successful and over 150 participants took part in it. Most of them were young people who has just started their professional career and they could know some tips to do networking.

The attendees practiced their making contacts skills in the “speed networking”, which was useful in order to expand their social networks and meet other young professionals of different nationalities, careers and businesses. Thus, professionals of over 13 international and local chambers of commerce took part in the 4th edition of this networking night. Moreover, they also participated in a workshop about the advantages of the crowdfunding to set up a business.

The Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg helped in the organization of the event and advertised the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme, which is a contact point in Belgium.

“Internationalization of Spanish fashion: get to know the benefits of Brussels!”

25/10/2016

Brussels, 20^th October 2016. – The Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg, in collaboration with Brussels Invest & Export, organised in Brussels on the 20 October the congress “Internationalisation of Spanish fashion: get to know the benefits of Brussels!”. This initiative, supported by “Marca España” and the Spanish Embassy in Belgium, brought together 12 Spanish fashion firms. These ones were informed about the advantages that Brussels-Capital offers for setting new branches in this sector.

The conference began with Jorge Notivoli’s welcoming words, the Business representative ad interim of the Spanish Embassy in Belgium, who expressed the continuous support of the Embassy in the promotion abroad of Marca España, and acknowledged the interest of the Spanish companies who joined the initiative. Afterwards, Juan Rodríguez-Villa Matons, the President of the Official Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg, thanked Brussels Invest & Export and the Spanish Embassy in Belgium for collaborating in the organisation of the event. Ariane Leonard, Brussels Invest & Export’s trade advisor in Spain, highlighted the excellent cooperation between the Chamber and her company, which can be used by the participating companies to facilitate their establishment in Brussels-Capital region. Likewise, she pointed at the creativity of the European capital and its name in the fashion sector.

Jorge Notivoli, business representative ad interim of the Spanish Embassy in Belgium	Attendees to the congress
Ariane Leonard, Brussels Invest & Export’s trade advisor in Spain	Juan Rodríguez-Villa Matons, president of the Official Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg

The fashion and design centre MAD, represented in the event by Elke Timmerman, presented a global view of the fashion sector in Brussels and the role they play in the capital for foreign enterprises. To complete their presentation, MAD distributed among the attendees a guide including information about the market in Brussels and the potential for future investors.

Later, Francorp and Racine Avocats explained how the franchise market works. First, Nick Boury, managing director of Francorp, reviewed the consumption trends of the Belgian citizens: “When going shopping, in Belgium we prefer the street to shopping malls” and explained in detail the different franchise models in Belgium. Bert Dehandschutter and Stijn Clays, from Racine, focused their speech on the legal aspects that have to be taken into account to open a franchise in Brussels.

Nick Boury, Managing Director – Franchise expert from Francorp

Stijn Clays, lawyer from Racine Avocats

The recruitment of workers in Brussels was the next issue discussed. Jarra Jellouli and Aleida Delefortire, from the Brussels employment agency, Actiris, talked about the different types of contracts and explained the advantages they offer to search new employees. Jinbao Zhang, from Group S, gave a deep explanation of the labour costs in Belgium.

Zarra Jellouli, Consultante Employeurs from Actiris

Jinbao Zhang, International Social Advisor from Group S

The local grants for opening new shops in Brussels was also an aspect of interest for the Spanish companies. The speaker David Azaerts introduced the opportunities offered by Impulse agency, as well as the information centre for entrepreneurs in Brussels, 1819.brussels. “The subsidies are mainly targeted to small and medium enterprises”, he pointed. Ward Verdeyen, from KBC bank, introduced the support for investment that his company offers, including credits, rent guarantees and online payments

Ward Verdeyen, Relationship Manager Corporates from KBC bank

David Azaerts, Advisor & Social Network Manager from Impulse

The person in charge of introducing the identification of business premises service offered by the public agency Atrium was Julien Bacq. He attracted the attention of the participants making comparisons of the main commercial spots in Brussels with the most emblematic shopping districts in Spain.

Julien Bacq, Chief Retail Officer from Atrium

Attendees a la jornada

Stefaan Lenaerts, from Brussels Invest & Export, gave some details about the services his entity offers for foreign companies who intend to establish in Brussels. Among all, the Welcome Package was the most highlighted one, due to the fact that offers free installations during a period of three months for the firms interested in evaluating on site the opportunities that this region has to give.

The program finished with the intervention of Maria Catalan, Secretary General of the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg, who thanked the visit of the Spanish enterprises and their interest. Likewise, she introduced the activities of the Chamber, as a point of reference and contact for all Spanish firms in Belgium and Luxembourg.

Stefaan Lenaerts, Area Manager Americas & Southern Europe from Brussels Invest & Export

María Catalán, Secretary General of the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg

After the networking lunch offered by Hispania Brussels, B2B meetings were organised.

This initiative forms part of the celebration of the fashion month in Brussels and its Brussels Fashion Days. Spanish fashion is experiencing an internationalization process as never known before. Companies are using as elements of differentiation abroad competitive factors less related with price and more with quality, creativity and business excellence. In 2015, Spanish textile exports broke a new record, growing 7.8% over the previous year. Belgium is the seventh country where Spain exports the most. Moreover, the weight of the sector in the whole industry is more important in Spain than in Europe, reaching 5.7% (out of 12) compared to 3.4% in the rest of the European Union. This effort also leads Spanish companies to be world leaders in the sector and are internationally renowned.

The Chamber and Brussels Invest Export would like to thank all the participant companies for their collaboration, as well as to the Spanish companies, which participated at the event, and made its contribution to the success of it.

The Chamber takes part in the IV Edition of the European Parliament for Enterprises

17/10/2016

The Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg, represented by its President, Juan Rodríguez-Villa Matons, took part last 13 October in the IV Edition of the European Parliament of Enterprises (EPE) organised by the Spanish Chamber, and in collaboration with the European Parliament and EUROCHAMBRES.

The event was opened by the President of the Spanish Chamber, José Luis Bonet, in the welcome cocktail which took place on October 12. As in previous years, in the framework of the European Parliament of Enterprises, a working breakfast was organised between the business delegation and the Spanish MEPs in the Hemicyle the 13 October.

The meeting was held in the European Parliament, from 08:15-10:00 AM in the MEPs’ locations.

After the MEPs’ speeches, a question and answer period was opened and the Spanish business representatives could interact with them.

The working breakfast aims to building bridges between the business community and the European legislators in order to encourage an exchange of opinions and views about policies and Community programmes of interest to companies.

The European Parliament for Enterprises was held during the afternoon. Under the slogan “Europe needs Business, Business needs Europe” more than 800 entrepreneurs of 45 different European countries gathered in the Hemicycle of the European Parliament and rose to their feet to demonstrate their belief in the European project. Besides, they had the chance to have a direct debate with high representatives of the EU institutions and to provide them with a direct bottom-up feedback on EU policies. The Spanish delegation was made up of 70 entrepreneurs and representatives of different Spanish chambers of commerce led by the president of the Chamber of Spain, Jo sé Luis Bonet .

“The time has come for businesses to reiterate their capacity and willingness to provide solutions to the challenges of today: globalisation, unemployment, unfair competition, migration and climate change.” With these words EUROCHAMBRES` Chairman Richard Weber inaugurated the fourth edition of the European Parliament of Enterprises.

During the subsequent debates and votes on trade, the single market, sustainability and skills, companies called for EU policies allowing them to contribute addressing these challenges while being able to compete globally.

[AFG_gallery id=’41’]

Celebration of the National Holiday of the Embassy of Spain in Luxembourg

12/10/2016

Luxembourg, October 11

Last October 11 the Embassy of Spain in Luxembourg celebrated the National Holiday. The act, which took place in the Cercle Cité of Luxembourg, was sponsored by the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg and was attended by local authorities, entrepreneurs, Spanish representatives of the EU institutions and many Chamber members.

The Ambassador of Spain in Luxembourg, his Excellency Mr.Carlos María de Lojendio y Pardo Manuel de Villena, thanked the attendees their participation in the National Holiday, and the collaboration of the Chamber in the organization of the act.

All the members of the Steering Committee of Luxembourg and the Secretary General of the Chamber attended to the act.

“Active Job Search 2.0” – Free workshop held in the framework of Programa Jóvenes Belux

11/10/2016

On the 6 October, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg held the free workshop “Active Job Search 2.0”. The workshop was given by Philippe Schifflers, digital marketing and communications expert. This course took place in the framework of the Programa Jóvenes BeLux, supported by the Ministry of Employment and Social Security of Spain.

Around 15 young people attended to this course with a very participative attitude. “80 % of firms in Brussels, when a new professional is needed, they search among LinkedIn candidates”, outlined the lecturer. Based on this data, Schifflers focused the first part of the workshop on the ways to improve LinkedIn’s profile. The attendees could also learn some other useful tools, such as RSS, Google Alerts or Buffer that allow to customize the job search, and therefore, to save time.

Finally, the lecturer shared with the attendees the different methods to increase the chances of finding a job. Besides, he gave them advice about how to deal with the interview and how to prepare the motivation letter. The participants were really involved in the course with their interventions, in which they stated their personal cases and therefore the rest of participants could learn of their mistakes.

The Chambers acknowledges Philippe Schifflers for giving this workshop in their facilities and hopes it has been useful to the attendees.

Success of the fourth edition of the workshop on Social Media Management in European Projects and Business

11/10/2016

On the 6 and 7 October the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg celebrated the fourth edition of the workshop on Social Media Management in European Projects and Business.

The aim of the workshop, given by the communication and digital marketing expert Philippe Schifflers, was to boost the visibility of companies in social media.

During this two-day workshop, different topics related to companies and social networks were covered. The lecturer talked about the figure of the community manager in a company and explained the different tools at its disposal, such as Hootsuite o the graphic editor Canva. In such way, the attendees received advice about how to increase the engagement of the public in social media.

The workshop was developed in a participatory and dynamic environment in which the participants could expose their doubts and comments about Schiffler’s explanations.

New challenges for the Spanish economy: Sustainable Growth, Energy Union and Immigration

05/10/2016