SMEs are mostly owner-managed, often for years. The companies risk to loose knowledge and jobs, once that owner retires. This is happening at increasing speed in the BSR,where more and more owners retire without having transferred the business to the next generation.
Business transfers have a higher impact on the economic growth than start-ups. The future growth and sustainability of innovative companies in the BSRis severely limited byfailed business transfers. In all countries the number and qualification of potential successors must be improved. The majority of projects and measures focus on the creation of new firms,while the challenge of keeping firms running successfully is not covered. Therefore the aims of the project are to examine, further develop and design innovative and transferable models and tools for facilitating SME business transfers, make them widely available and implement them in companies.
The project has the following main objectives.
To achieve these challenging goals, the following outputs are developed and implemented: • Sixbest practice models for SMEBusiness transfers, including blueprints for realisation
The focus of the project is the implementation of the outputs. Additionally, all outputs will be transferred for implementation to 68 institutions in all BSRcountries.
The increased capacities and institutionalised knowledge will achieve progressive change of SME business transfers in the BSR.Greatly improved models,well-organised transnational support structures, new financing methods and better qualified entrepreneurs,who are ready to take over businesses,will results in much higher success rates of companytransfers during the project and for years to come.