For over a decade, the Malta Business Bureau (MBB) has been engaged in EU-funded and national projects to bring value to Maltese businesses, particularly to SMEs. Strengthening their competitiveness, such as by lowering energy and water bills through increased efficiency, has been a core aspect of our projects.
Looking back, some key lessons stand out, which offer a positive vision for Malta as industry grapples with new challenges, such as the adoption of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) principles.
These lessons are underpinned by the recognition of the importance of the human aspect behind business and, thus, ensure a bridge between the environmental and social aspects of the aforementioned principles.
A lesson that we learned relates to the concept of sharing. In other words, one may understand this sharing as cooperation and co-opetition between Maltese businesses. Let us take the ‘WE MAKE’ project as an example, which has just concluded.
A partnership between the Energy and Water Agency (EWA), MBB and The Malta Chamber, this project offered advisory services to manufacturing SMEs to help them tap into funding measures to go green, as well as facilitate knowledge transfer and the exchange of best practices.
What made the project successful was the willingness of various manufacturing companies to open their doors to one another and share their success stories as well as their challenges with one another.
In other words, by showcasing what technologies and investments businesses made to become more energy- and water-efficient, and by sharing the journey to get there, and what funding instruments they used, these companies made it easier for others to follow in their footsteps.
Growing the pie, instead of competing for a shrinking portion of it, ensures industry-wide success
SMEs face tight human resource shortages and, at times, there is little room for research and that can make it very difficult to plan for the green transition. However, there is no need for each company to reinvent the wheel. The frank exchange of experiences through various digital webinars, mentorship programmes and site visits allowed engineers, managers and financial officers to learn from one another.
Similarly, by engaging institutions such as Malta Enterprise, there was the possibility of asking questions about funds and discussing project ideas, saving crucial time and resources.
The shortfall of human resources could also be partially addressed through dialogue with academia, to explore joint research projects.
The underlying principle is that, by growing the pie, rather than competing for a shrinking portion of it, ensures common industry-wide success. If Malta as a whole becomes more competitive and attractive to industry, then everyone benefits. Similarly, if the level of knowledge of industry increases on the whole, then everyone benefits from that heightened quality.
We must be ready to take an open and collaborative approach to achieve joint success. It is a question of behavioural change, facilitated through networking, honest communication, the building of trust and, ultimately, the sharing of experience and knowledge.
MBB aims to continue to build on these principles, through current and future projects, such as two recent EU LIFE initiatives, ‘EnergyEfficiency4SMEs’ and ‘REEValue’. These concern energy efficiency and the greening of supply chains respectively.
Their success, along with the success of Maltese industry at large, also depends on the concept of sharing and behavioural change.
It is by working together and putting people first that we can achieve so much more.
Joe TantiJoe Tanti is the CEO of the Malta Business Bureau.
The Malta Business Bureau is the EU business advisory organisation of The Malta Chamber and The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association. It is also a partner of the Enterprise Europe Network.