East Invest Academy

9 – 14 September 2013

Moldova

For its 2013 edition, the East Invest Academy invites you to a beautiful location of Moldova where you will be able to improve your skills, benchmark with peers and network with business

support organisation managers from the six Eastern Partnership countries.

“Participation in the Academy is a unique opportunity to do a screening of your own work and to set the new priorities for the future.”

TABLE OF CONTENTS

East Invest Academy 3

Learning Format 4

Training Centre 5

Programme Overview 5

Curriculum 6

Alumni Network 13

Application Details 13

“Super Academy! Super team! Super participants! Super course leaders! Amazing!!!!”

EAST INVEST ACADEMY

EUROCHAMBRES East Invest Academy is an intensive training programme focused on:

offering practical tools to review Business Support Organisations’ (BSO) practices,

strategies, services etc.

enhancing BSO executives’ ability to drive organisational growth

networking and maximising exchange between executives from different BSOs

bringing together the network - to find project partners; to benchmark; to sound out

new ideas

The East Invest Academy is a practice-based course designed specifically for executives and

directors from business support organisations from the six Eastern Partnership (EaP)

countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine). Structured around

two core courses and a wide range of optional courses which reflect specific interests and

needs within the EaP BSO network, the programme addresses the challenges and problems

that BSO executives encounter:

responding to changing conditions

developing strategic partnerships and alliances and exploiting new technologies

successfully

adapting to increasing competition

leading increasingly complex organisations

The Academy is a unique opportunity for BSO executives to attend a programme specifically

designed to meet their needs.

Target participants

This seminar is designed for middle to senior managers of local, regional and national BSOs

from the six EaP countries.

You will leave the Academy armed with new, practical ideas that YOU can implement in YOUR

organisation.

“Thank you a lot for this opportunity. It was very useful information and networking. A lot of new contacts. Good luck!”

“I would like to mention that all courses were very informative and I obtained very useful information which help me in my future activity. Thanks!”

LEARNING FORMAT

Course participation

Like all EUROCHAMBRES Academies, this training is designed to allow maximum participation

through debate and discussion. Participation and preparation is crucial. Most courses are in

groups of 25 people except debates and networking events.

Course preparation

You will receive detailed personal programmes with your individualised selection. With the

detailed description of the course objectives, benefits and key chapters comes a preparation

request. Some of the course leaders start to work with you in the month prior to the start of the

Academy.

Learning material

You will receive an individualised participant’s

manual comprising of all the material and

references for each course selected and a

participants’ directory including all contact

details and short CVs of the participants,

course leaders and organisational staff. After

the Academy, you will also receive personal

access to a dedicated Academy Alumni

website.

Course language

This East Invest Academy will be conducted in English. Interpretation into Russian is foreseen

for the courses, but not for the social events.

The Academy will start on a Monday evening and will end on a Saturday morning.

The learning experiences include 22 hours of training, including an open forum and evaluation

session; team work and excursion on Thursday

afternoon.

A tailor made programme

Participants will be able to choose from a set of

optional courses offering practical tools to manage a BSO, to increase organisational and

individual performance; management techniques; financial issues; new services and briefings to

reflect on and adapt to the ever changing environment.

“Thank you. It was a very useful, interesting, interactive Academy. Each course brought added value & experience & many valuable contacts.”

TRAINING CENTRE

EUROCHAMBRES in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Moldova has

identified an inspirational venue ideal for concentration and networking at the recreation centre

located in proximity to Chisinau.

PROGRAMME OVERVIEW

MONDAY 09/09

TUESDAY

10/09

WEDNESDAY 11/09

THURSDAY 12/09

FRIDAY 13/09

SATURDAY 14/09

9.00 - 12.30

Arrival participants & transfer to training

centre

Core

courses

Optional Courses

Optional Courses

Optional Courses

Departure & transfer to airport

12.30 – 14.00

Lunch-buffet

Lunch-buffet Lunch-buffet Lunch-buffet

14.00 -17.30

Core

courses

Optional Courses

Excursion

Optional Courses

18.00 – 19:00

Welcome event

17:00-19:00 Team

building

Free time Open Forum & Evaluation

session

19:30

Dinner at the training

centre Barbecue

Dinner of local

specialities

Dinner

outside the training centre

Gala dinner &

certificate ceremony

CURRICULUM

The East Invest Academy works with top trainers

and speakers. The Faculty will be composed of

experienced course leaders from the European

partners’ organisations of the East Alliance and

EUROCHAMBRES Academy trainers.

In the following pages, you will find the courses on

offer for this second edition.

The final list of courses will be drawn from this list,

depending on which optional courses are selected.

1. CORE COURSES

TUESDAY

MORNING SESSION

C.1 INTRODUCTION TO THE EUROPEAN UNION AND ITS RELATIONS WITH THE

EASTERN PARTNERSHIP COUNTRIES

This introduction offers an insight into the European Union, including all the essential

ingredients – history, power and money – and a presentation of the Eastern Partnership.

The course will help you understand what makes the European Union, how competences are

shared between the European and national levels and between the European institutions. It will

furthermore offer an overview on how the EU pursues its relationships with neighbouring

countries before describing the Eastern Partnership.

AFTERNOON SESSION

C.2 ROAD MAP FOR THE BSO MANAGER

Participants will learn the core elements of effective management in BSOs, the need for good

planning and communication and how to maintain a focus on members’ needs while also

staying in touch with policy issues and representational activities. We will examine questions

such as: What makes a good BSO manager? How do we know if we are performing effectively

in this role? What are the key skills BSO managers need to have? What are the key

communication strategies which the organisation should pursue?

2. OPTIONAL COURSES

WEDNESDAY - FRIDAY

The optional courses will be offered from Wednesday morning to Friday afternoon. That is, each

participant can choose five courses, with each course scheduled to last three hours. In applying

for the East Invest Academy, participants are requested to rank their preferred choices.

Please make sure to build a balanced programme, based on your personal needs and the

needs of your organisation. This may result in a number of optional courses being dropped from

the Academy if demand does not justify bringing a course leader for that subject.

I. BSO Development

O.1 Improve your lobbying skills!

This course will analyse the tactics, pitfalls, and options open to BSOs in representing or

lobbying for the business point of view. Having formulated the BSO’s policy on a particular

issue, how successful is your BSO at “marketing” that position to the relevant authorities – at

regional, national and international level?

O.2 Foreign Trade strategies

How are BSOs meeting the competitive challenge of

today’s turbulent business environment? Trade

missions, fairs, advisory services, export clubs, import

associations, language courses, international data

banks, co-operation agreements – this course will

look at what the most innovative BSOs are doing in

promoting trade on behalf of their members and how

they decide what activities to engage in.

O.3 European Trade Policy

This course will allow the participants to deepen their understanding of how the European

Commission, on behalf of the member states, sets EU trade policy. This will be analysed at the

multilateral, regional and bilateral levels with the Free Trade, Economic Partnership and/or

Association Agreements which are being negotiated under the “Global Europe” strategy. It will

furthermore offer an insight into the key milestones of the DCFTA negotiation process and its

implications for businesses from the EaP countries.

O.4 Developing a positive image for your organisation

When you mention your BSO’s name, does it convey an image of a dynamic business

organisation that both champions business and is part of the wider community, or does it bring

forth an image of an organisation that has many different offerings to many different audiences?

In this seminar, we look at how everyone in the BSO has a role to play in the creation and

maintenance of the positive image of the BSO. How we can utilise and manage the different

media streams available and what are the individual skills each of us needs to champion our

work. In a crowded market place, only those who are visible are seen. How you become more

visible and what future developments we need to be aware of are also covered.

O.5 Delivering value including networking

opportunities for members

Both private and public BSOs need to

demonstrate clear value to members as BSOs

face increasing competition from public and

private bodies alike.

These "barbarians at the gates" are challenging

BSOs to redefine our role and position. How is

your BSO affected? What strategy do you adopt?

What are the results from those who have already

reassessed and adapted?

This course will offer insight into developing a strategic vision for your BSO: from mapping out

competition to examining the fundamental mission and core values on

which one can build for the long term.

As a member of a BSO, one of the major benefits for a company is the opportunity to network

with other businesses. All BSOs offer networking opportunities – breakfast briefings, business

after hours, lunches, social events. This course looks at some of the more successful

networking events organised by BSOs in detail, drawing best practices from them.

O.6 Quality management

Many initiatives are being undertaken within business support organisations to assure and

manage quality – including the use of ISO, benchmarking and other mechanisms. Increasingly,

the vital importance of excellent standards and highest quality member services is being

recognised. We have also begun to appreciate the need to sell a quality image of ourselves, to

associate - in the public mind - the terms BSO with “quality”. This course will explore the

initiatives being pursued by different Chamber organisations in different EU countries.

O.7 Development of fee-based services

Besides membership fees, services play an increasingly important role in the budget of BSOs.

Some BSOs generate less than 50% of their budget from services, others up to 70-80%. How to

diversify income? How to define fee-based services? Which new services can generate better

revenue? The course will also look into some best practice to maximise income from

sponsorship and advertising, and will look into “ethical” standards – how far can we go in

“selling” the BSO’s image, should we follow a code of conduct?

O.8 Investment promotion/territorial marketing

One of the key pillars in regional and local

development is the ability to attract Foreign Direct

Investment (FDI) as it has clear benefits in terms of

growth generation, creation of jobs, and

competitiveness’ increase. At the same time,

companies may need assistance in outsourcing or

relocating their production facilities, in order to

survive global competition. This is a task that is

normally performed by the national investment

promotion agencies. Do the BSOs have any kind of role to play in this field? What about, for

instance, marketing programmes with the objectives of promoting your region? Is there a new

trend trying to put trade and investment promotion together?

O.9 SMEs & Entrepreneurship – the role of BSOs in making entrepreneurship a reality

Small businesses are the largest segment of BSO membership and one of the fastest-growing segments of the economy. This course will seek to identify best practices, and help you plan and implement a comprehensive SME development strategy for your BSO.

O.10 Female entrepreneurship – how to mobilise the untapped economic potential and

increase BSO membership

What can a BSO do to attract women entrepreneurs as members? How can they support the

creation of business by women and thus actively contribute to fostering economic development?

Based on the longstanding experience of EUROCHAMBRES Women Network, different

aspects of female entrepreneurship will be highlighted and what BSOs can do to reach out to

that untapped segment of potential economic players.

O.11 Relations with other business groups – competition or partnership?

Complementary or competitive? Threat or opportunity? How would you describe your

relationships with employers’ federations, sectoral associations, small firms’ groups and the

very many other business representative organisations that have evolved in the recent past?

This course will seek to identify potential areas of conflict, and how such difficulties might be

overcome.

II. Personal development

O.12 Entrepreneurial Leadership skills

What is entrepreneurial leadership? And what makes good leaders? This workshop is to enable

all delegates to look at key aspects of their own leadership spirit – to look at characteristics and

behaviours, skills and attitudes required to produce an action plan for entrepreneurial

development. Participants will discover the most effective techniques for guiding teams,

mentoring individuals and enabling teams to manage and lead change.

O.13 Improving personal communication in a business environment

Success in business requires a range of high-level communication skills and through this

session delegates are given the opportunity to look at their own communication skills and to

explore ways of becoming a better communicator, leader, influencer and facilitator. Delegates

will take part in a range of exercises and tasks designed to heighten awareness of the process

of communication and take away a set of new skills that can be used immediately.

O.14 Negotiation skills

All of us negotiate every day, it is an integral part of the

working relationship. It can be for something big like a

new project or something smaller like the wording of an

article. In all negotiations the same principles apply. In

this course we will look at how to be an effective

negotiator, how to move past the win/lose scenario and

reach a point where you can find win/win ways of

negotiating. The skills of negotiation are enriching,

reduce conflict in the work place and lead to better

results and better people through better outcomes.

These skills are also transferable to our lives outside of work whether negotiating the price of a

car or clearing up misunderstandings.

O.15 Motivating staff

This course demonstrates some proven, practical skills used to renew staff commitment, raise

productivity and stimulate willingness to change. It discusses the context of the workplace and

how it interacts with different behavioural styles and temperaments. Participants will learn

techniques to communicate expectations in order to achieve mutual understanding and

motivation.

O.16 Anticipation and conflict resolution

This course will help participants anticipate and deal with conflict. It will focus on examining the

causes of conflict; the appropriate styles for dealing with it and communication models that can

help resolve conflicts and build stronger business relationships. The course will show that

conflict is inevitable and can, if managed correctly, be beneficial both at the individual and

organisational level.

THE ALUMNI NETWORK

Since the first EUROCHAMBRES Summer Academy in 1998 more than 1500 Chamber

managers from all over Europe and beyond have joined the Academy. They are part of an ever-

growing network sharing interests, challenges as well as projects and new ideas. This network is

accessible via a dedicated interactive website. After each Academy, each participant can register

online to access the Academy Alumni website with a personalised password and username. On

this interactive website you can search for former participants and course leaders, download

course presentations and exchange ideas or search partners for your projects.

See more details on http://academy.eurochambres.eu

APPLICATION DETAILS

The East Invest Academy is open to executives and directors from business support organisations from the six EaP countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine). Interested applicants are invited to fill in the East Invest Academy application form that is available on the East Invest website and with the national focal points in the six EaP countries and return the applications to the attention of Irina Tikhonova: tikhonova@eurochambres.eu with a copy to after-mentioned contact people in their respective country by 05 August 2013 (inclusive)

Armenia: Mr. Vladimir Amiryan: vamiryan@armcci.am

Azerbaijan: Ms. Elnaz Gahramanova: expo@chamber.az

Belarus: Ms. Victoria Dedock: vide@cci.by@cci.by

Georgia: Ms. Nino Chikovani: nino@gcci.ge

Moldova: Mr. Mihai Bilba: bilba@chamber.md

Ukraine: Ms. Liudmyla Avdievska: lkv-dpi@ucci.org.ua We look forward to meeting you soon!

Any other questions?

Please contact the Academy coordinator at EUROCHAMBRES:

Sophie Devos (devos@eurochambres.eu / tel: +32 2 282 08 72)

Or visit the East Invest website

www.east-invest.eu/en/activities/for-bsos/academies/east-invest-academies

“This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of this

document are the sole responsibility of EUROCHAMBRES and can under no circumstances be regarded as

reflecting the position of the European Union”.