The Euro-Mediterranean Economists’ Association – EMEA was one of 8 project partners in INVESTMED – InNoVativE Sustainable sTart-ups for the MEDiterranean, a project co-funded by the European Union under the ENI CBC Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme 2014-2020. The objective of the project was to support the development of sustainable entrepreneurship and business initiatives by creating a backing environment and facilitating access to new markets, with the final goal of generating increased economic opportunities and jobs for young people and women.
INVESTMED kicked off in September 2020 and officially closed its activities on the 15th December 2023. EMEA, as a project partner, implemented numerous activities contributing to the success of the project, namely:
Mapping and Research – EMEA published 10 policy papers and 10 infographics mapping the challenges and opportunities for the acceleration of sustainable entrepreneurship in the region. EMEA also held 4 advocacy sessions in the framework of the 3 regional events (read the event reports here) and via one online webinar, where the policy recommendations were presented and discussed.
Sustainable Business Management Training Webinars – From September 2021 to November 2022, EMEA co-organised the Sustainable Business Management Programme, together with project partner Università LUMSA, holding a total of 11 webinars on sustainable business management and business models.
Access to Finance for MSMEs in the Southern Mediterranean – To bridge the finance gap for MSMEs in the Southern Mediterranean, EMEA held 4 workshops with investors covering:
1. Crowdfunding,
2. Sustainable Finance – Banks and Incubators,
3. Credit Guarantee Schemes, and
4. Business Angels and Venture Capitalists.
To strengthen the link between INVESTMED beneficiaries and access to finance beyond the INVESTMED project, EMEA collaborated with Verkami, the leading reward based crowdfunding platform in Spain to produce a Practical Guide for MSMEs working in the Cultural and Creative Industries in the Southern Mediterranean. It is available on the EMEA and INVESTMED website. Read it here.
Community Engagement and Communication
EMEA developed and maintained the INVESTMED Engagement Platform. The platform is a space for the INVESTMED community to interact and make connections to strengthen cross-border cooperation.
EMEA was the Communication lead partner and wrote and published a total of 9 newsletters, and connected with the media partner Managers to develop a 20 page special feature article in the magazine, detailing the importance of the INVESTMED project in the region and how it has made an impact. Between the Regional Events, EMEA also organized several video interviews with project beneficiaries, these can be viewed on the INVESTMED YouTube.
EMEA pursued an innovative communication strategy by commissioning the work of a young freelance artist to illustrate the impact of INVESTMED at the Midterm Regional event in Barcelona. Click here to view the drawing and here to watch the time lapse.
EMEA also held 2 press conferences, inviting several members of the press in Europe and the Southern Mediterranean, which led to several publications. Read them in the EMEA in the press section. EMEA also managed the INVESTMED website, with 80 news items and 19 documents, and social media, including Facebook (4,512 followers), Twitter (378), LinkedIn (1,540), and YouTube (26) (see links below). INVESTMED has a combined following of 6,456.
