Corporates have emerged as a major player on the world economic scene with World Trade Organization (WTO) members liberalising their trade and investment regimes. They, today, can easily site their production facilities in a most competitive location and also can out-source needed supplies, which could help develop networking between them and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), if right kind of environment is made available.
Besides sharing their experiences with the policy makers and SME-support institutions to help them develop appropriate policies, corporates also directly work with SMEs as they lack information, experience, contacts and the human and financial resources to introduce much needed changes in the managerial systems and technological base of their enterprises.
Though there are several examples of Corporate-SME linkages, these need to be multiplied. They should help SMEs climb up the value chain. Corporates’ ultimate aim should be to replace imports by local supplies, particularly from SMEs, which could necessitate transfer of needed technology. Such initiatives could, possibly, be woven in to its social responsibility programmes. There is a convergence of Corporates’ Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and commercial supply chain agenda supporting SME development because that would ultimately benefit them in terms of reduced costs, better quality improved brand image, close relation with governments, compliance with regulations, etc.
However, there are various constraints that inhibits the ability of local SMEs to effectively engage with the Corporates. This needs to be addressed professionally that would help establish effective linkage between corporate and SMEs and would also lead to development of local economy and help many of the poor move out of poverty in the developing countries. In view of this, ISSME jointly works with corporates towards SME empowerment.
We have seen a steady growth in corporate support for ISSME and a large number of organisations have found innovative ways to support us in the past year. By partnering with ISSME, corporate houses provide an expression of their social responsibility.
There are several options available to corporate house interested in partnering with ISSME. For more information to participate in ISSME’s movement through the following schemes or to meet with an ISSME representative, please contact the dealing head at PR Section, ISSME Secretariat at pr@issmemail.org
Adopt a Project
You can support an ISSME project whose work you find interesting. ISSME will act as a facilitator, monitoring the project’s functioning and providing inputs like technical expertise, training, communication and information support. If you do not want to support the entire project, we give you the option of selecting just a part of it – the aspect which you identify with the most.
Sponsor ISSME Events
Events are at the core of ISSME’s functioning as a global organization to share, inform and connect when it comes to the SME sector. They raise crucial resources for us. Sponsorship of these events provides international visibility to your brand and organisation.
Let your employees contribute
There are many who would like to do their bit for the society, if only they had the time. If you are a corporate, you can help provide them this opportunity. Employees can help SMEs by giving their consent for an automatic deduction from their monthly salaries to the ISSME Fund. The regular income helps us plan our activities, secure in the knowledge of a definite amount coming in every month.
Help us save on expenses
As with any other organisation or corporate house, ISSME too incurs costs on its regular activities. This ranges from communication costs to create awareness (like advertisements), training costs (for employees and the ISSME-partnered initiatives) to infrastructure costs (furniture, IT equipment, stationery, maintenance, etc.). By underwriting these costs, you enable ISSME to save precious resources, resources which can be used directly for the SME sector.
Donation
We have been continuously working on various aspects of SME development. Our commitment is to enhancing the state of SMEs in each parts of the world, and we will not stop until we create a robust SME sector across the globe. Each of our accomplishment in that direction is a culmination of several persons’ and days’ painstaking efforts. All these involve some costs to us. Your donation would make us more firm in fulfilling our objectives effortlessly.
In order to take our corporate partnerships further, we provide you with a variety of support inputs.
- For the Adopt-a-Project scheme, we organise visits for your management and staff members to the project to help build personal relationships with the supported communities.
- ISSME makes presentations to your board, management and staff on the project and what your organisation’s possible role could be.
- If the partnership requires exposure, we could arrange to share information with the media. We also communicate information about partnerships to SME leaders across the world by using our World Database through our Annual Report, Directories, Newsmagazine, Bulletins, Journals, i-Alerts, Mailers and website.
- All corporate partnerships in India are eligible for tax exemption under section 80G, depending on the project and the exact nature of the funding.
For more information on getting associated with ISSME, please drop us a mail or contact at:
Public Relations Section
International Society for Small and Medium Enterprises
Fax: +91-11-29993845 | Email: pr@issmemail.org
Helpline: +91-8587000190 (24×7 on: WhatsApp | WeChat | Line | Zalo | Viber)
Skype: issmeorg