Purpose: An online platform - BizFeira - that enhances entrepreneurship and internationalisation through establishing links between local business owners of all backgrounds with the Portuguese diaspora and with the countries of origin of local immigrants
Stimulus/Rationale: Santa Maria da Feira, a municipality on the outskirts of Oporto, in northern Portugal, is adapting to the reality of cultural diversity in a surprising way. Spurred by the municipality, the local business community is exploring new opportunities presented by migration: The presence of people from different origins in its territory, and the presence of Feirenses in a number of foreign countries.
The municipality is planning the launch of an online platform that will link local business owners of all backgrounds with the Portuguese diaspora and with the countries of origin of local immigrants. The launch of this platform is the culmination of a number of initiatives that reach out through business partnerships.
The municipality has regular business exchanges with Kenitra, in Morocco. The partnership, made possible thanks to the presence of Moroccan nationals in Santa Maria da Feira, started with a visit by a Kenitra delegation in 2012. Since then, a number of protocols between the two municipalities have been signed, in addition to the private sector business relations established.
Similar partnerships have been previously established in other countries, such as Venezuela, Mozambique and France. The municipality takes an active role in helping local businesses expand internationally. The diversity of Santa Maria da Feira’s population is a precious resource which the council has sought to make the most of.
Bizfeira is an economic development project that promotes and disseminates companies and products from Santa Maria da Feira overall. This includes a digital business network platform created on the swift communication highway to increase the competitiveness of the industrial fabric, support investment, and facilitate contact among the various players. This is a virtual collaborative business space, a network of opportunities, a driving force of the economy. It comprises various aspects, from registering companies online, contact points with the Feira diaspora, training and business opportunities, job offers, and relevant economic and corporate information.
HITR – Health, IT & Research is the main project of this investment. Concentrating the fields of health, research, information technologies, education, well-being and leisure in a single area, adjusted to the demands of highly skilled human resources along with high-tech companies, will ensure the structure's overall recognition.
With the Programme Bizfeira Ambassadors, the city is fostering visits from foreign ambassadors in Portugal, to raise their awareness to the resources and the installed economic potential in the municipality, seeking to tap into the opportunity for collaboration in the economic, scientific, technological, social and cultural spheres.
The Gabinete de Desenvolvimento Económico e Empresarial (GDEE) (Bureau of Economic and Corporate Development) supports local, national and international companies, attracts investment to the municipality, and facilitates contact among the various players (companies, business and trade associations, learning, research and technological centres), in the quest for joint solutions aimed at the sustainable development of the local economic fabric and which enhanced employability. Bizfeira emerged as part of this bureau, as an economic development project that lends substance, in an integrated manner, to the board's strategy in matters of economic development; for such purpose, this involves providing a fast track for companies, a tool that allows fully monitoring the investment, at every stage.
An Employment Bureau - ALPE - Agência Local em Prol do Emprego (Local Agency for Employment) - offers support to job matching between talents and companies searching for staff.
Annually a business Fair - Forum BizFeira - is hosted to showcase local and foreign business and products, and enhance networking among diverse entrepreneurs and business owners.
Process: The strategy underlying these initiatives involves finding partners for development, both immigrants from around the world living in Santa Maria da Feira and Feirense emigrants living abroad, building exchanges based on cultural diversity.
Impact: Besides the local migrants, Santa Maria da Feira has also reached out to the Portuguese diaspora. Many successful Feirenses abroad have responded positively, allowing the municipality to continue its mission of providing business opportunities abroad for locally based companies.
José Fonseca, who owns a construction company based in Payerne, Switzerland, has been invited to Santa Maria da Feira by the council. The idea is to help open up the Swiss market to local construction and building materials companies. Santa Maria da Feira’s location, close to Oporto’s transport infrastructure, makes it a key location for doing business in the rest of Europe and further afield.
In the last few years, unemployment has shrunk from 15% to 5%. Wirth this strategy, the city has created over 6000 jobs, garnered foreign investment, provided conditions for growing and developing our corporate fabric, and increased exports. The city has challenged local entrepreneurs to bring about internationalisation. The BizFeira initiative, since inception, has done more than 3200 support interviews, promoting the investment of more than 270 million EUR.
Key reference documents:
- https://www.bizfeira.com/pt/
- Brochure about the initiative (in Prt and ENG)
