The Chamber wishes you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2022

The Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg wishes you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2022.

We would like to inform you that the Chamber will be closed from Friday December 24th until Monday January 3rd. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Meeting of the Forums Committee

On December 20th, the last meeting of the year of the Fora Commission was organised telematically, working group whose task is to propose, organise and monitor the events organised by the Chamber.

During the meeting, Carlos Rodríguez Cocina of Telefónica was elected as the new chairman of the Committee. Likewise, an assessment was made of the last events organised by the “business circle” tribune as well as the training on “Strategies for public consultancy and dialogue with European institutions” which took place in mid-November.

Finally, the priorities and upcoming activities for the next months were defined.

About the Chamber’s Commissions

The Commissions are composed of some of the members as well as the person in charge of the area in question in the Chamber.

These working groups have numerous functions: in-depth studies of proposals, issues, projects, and activities. Through them, the members influence the day-to-day running of the Chamber in order to better adapt the Chamber’s activities to the needs of the members.

At any time, a member can ask the chairman of a Committee to join it or ask the Secretary General to set up a new group.

02/02-03/02 Online training on “How Erasmus+ Cooperation Partnerships can fund your project”

On February 2nd and 3rd, from 9:00 to 12:00, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg will organise an online training on “How Erasmus+ Cooperation Partnerships can fund your project”, held by the business developer at CWC Consulting and EU project writer Paloma Cantero, member of the EmprendeBeLux programme.

The training will enable professionals to better comprehend the Erasmus+ programme and its funding opportunities. Specially, the training will focus on its KA2 “Cooperation Partnership” projects, and on a review, from a practical perspective, of the whole project application cycle: from getting an IOD number till all tips, tricks and best practices to successfully draft and submit a project proposal.

After finishing the first day, participants will be able to think individually on their projects and send the questions to the speaker. During the second day of training, Paloma Cantero will analyse these real cases and will provide them with personalize answers and advices that will be useful for all participants.

You can check the full programme of the training here.

To register for this online training, please fill in the following reply form.

03/24 – 03/25 Online training on “Social Media Management for Businesses”

On March 24th and 25th 2022, from 9:00 to 11:30, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg will organise a webinar on “Social Media Management for Businesses”, designed for profiles looking to level up their social media, regardless of the industry or company size.

To ensure the viability and lifespan of your social media project, it is vital to understand the importance behind a social media audit, the elements behind a social media strategy, how to engage with customers, understand GDPR, collaborate with stakeholders & influencers, effectively manage events & online reputation, learn how to work with a social media calendar and navigate through a social media crisis.

We will cover these and other hot topics, and provide you with different tools to help you level up your social media presence in this 5-hour webinar.

This workshop will be divided in two days, with a duration of 2 and a half hours each.

You can check the full programme of the training here.

To register in this workshop, please fill in the following reply form.

Justlearn and Zala Elena discover other ways of working thanks to MobiliseSME programme

Philip Rossen is the founder and CEO of Justlearn, a Danish micro company established in 2017 that supports people in the process of learning new languages. The main purpose of Justlearn is to connect people across cultures and geographies.

With Justlearn, Philip joined the MobiliseSME programme as Host Company through the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg.

Elena Zala is the founder of Zala Elena PFA, a Romanian micro company founded in 2018 and specialized in Digital Content, Copywriting, SEO, Email Marketing, Social media management, Market research and PR. She is a passionate content manager and blogger who sees a huge opportunity in the impact of digitalization.

Zala Elena PFA is the Sending Company in the MobiliseSME programme.

With the support of the programme, Elena has moved in September 2021 to Kolding, Denmark for a 6-month collaboration with Philip. The secondment is focused on exchanging knowledge, discovering new markets, and developing services and online products that will make their business even more successful in the future. They are currently working on the online marketing activities and preparation of the content that will be presented in the Justlearn blog.

Raising brand awareness

Accordingly, Justlearn aims to expand its portfolio internationally, with special interest in Romania, and expects to increase the number of users of the platform, raising brand awareness and the company’s reputation in the media by strengthening its communication strategy and promotional activities.

Zala Elena PFA expects to be introduced to a new way of running a company in a domain that provides numerous opportunities for growth. Her objective is to promote her brand and improve digital skills by creating a social media strategy with Justlearn while mastering the local language.

Elena and Philip commented that “participating in the MobiliseSME programme means the opportunity to expose people to a new way of working, to understand and draw inspiration from new cultural customs that, in the end, enrich people and work and make them more adaptable to different circumstances”.

Click here to find out more about other successful collaborations of the MobiliseSME programme.

Contact us for more information by sending an email to mobilisesme@e-camara.com

 

Meeting of the Board of Directors

On December 1st, the Board of Directors of the Chamber held a hybrid meeting.

During the meeting, the different European programmes in which the Chamber participates were reviewed and the secretary general made a balance of the activities carried out by the Chamber throughout the year.

In addition, the actions carried out in the Luxembourg Delegation were presented, as well as the activities developed in the Grand Duchy in the framework of the Spanish Financial Forum. Details of forthcoming events planned by the Forum Commission were explained too.

Finally, the Board of Directors approved the budget for the year 2022.

 

Procedure for the recruitment of a service provider to act as a delegate for the Chamber’s Luxembourg Delegation

The Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg launches a procedure for the recruitment of a service provider for its Delegation in Luxembourg.

Detailed information can be found in the terms and conditions. Proposals must be sent to the e-mail address of the Chamber’s General Secretariat (secretariogeneral@e-camara.com) no later than the following date and time: Friday 17 December 2021 at 18:00. Bids arriving after the deadline for submission of bids will not be considered.

Likewise, information on the procedure can be requested by sending an email to secretariogeneral@e-camara.com indicating in the subject “Call for tenders Luxembourg”.

Members’ Cocktail in Luxembourg

Last Wednesday 1st December, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg organised a cocktail among members in Luxembourg. The event took place at the Meliá Luxembourg Hotel and gathered more than 40 representatives of member companies.

This face-to-face meeting facilitated the exchange of contacts and networking among the members of the Chamber in the Grand Duchy. The Secretary General, Marta González, gave a speech in which she acknowledged the excellent work done by the outgoing Vice-president, José Luis Rodríguez Álvarez, in favour of the Chamber’s activity in Luxembourg and more specifically in the framework of the Spanish Financial Forum. She also took the opportunity to put herself at the disposal of the members, to continue promoting initiatives of common interest.

From the Chamber, we would like to give a special thanks to Bodegas Ayuso  for sponsoring the wines that were served during the event, Estola Crianza 2018 and Estola Verdejo.

 

Webinar on “Buying a second home in Costa Blanca: the Why and the How”

On Thursday 2 December 2021, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium in Luxembourg organised the webinar “Buying a second home on the Costa Blanca: the why and the how”, in collaboration with the Spanish company Provia.

During this webinar, the speakers Jesualdo Ros, Secretary General of Provia, and Caroline Clinton, Head of the Customer Service Department of Abaco Advisers, on behalf of Petra Bettens, legal advisor at Abaco Advisers, provided the attendees with information about the process of buying a second property in Spain and the benefits of this acquisition on the Costa Blanca.

Jesualdo Ros was the first to speak, sharing with the audience the statistics related to the purchase of flats and villas in the province of Alicante and giving advice on what are the first steps to take and what to consider when hiring someone to advise you on the purchase.

Price increases

Ros explained to the audience that currently Belgian nationals with property on the Costa Blanca are spending more time in this second home and are buying larger, more expensive and newly built properties. The secretary general of Provia added that because of this, prices have increased by an average of 4% but that the average age of the buyer has dropped to 52 years old.

Next, the floor was given to Caroline Clinton, from Abaco Advisers, who focused on the six steps in the process of buying a property on the Costa Blanca. Clinton explained that her company has provided legal advice to many Belgian nationals looking for a property and has helped them to establish contacts with notaries and local banks.

During the question and answer session, both speakers answered the doubts of the participants regarding the figure of the notary during the purchase process or the differences that exist between buying a flat or a house on the Costa Blanca.

From the Chamber, we would like to thank the speakers for their participation in this webinar and also for the interest of all the attendees.