"After we have strengthened the entrepreneurs at the regional level, we will try to connect them with each other, thanks to this we can talk more and more about a unified economic space in the Carpathian Basin," said the State Secretary of the Prime Minister's Office responsible for national policy in an interview with Magyar Nemzet regarding the ongoing mentoring program.
János Árpád Potápi believes that the strengthening of Hungarian businesses abroad is not only important for the people involved, starting business owners, but also a fundamental merit for Hungary and the Hungarian regions abroad.
In 2015, national politics began to turn in the direction of the economy. In addition to the preservation of identity, the support of education and culture, the economic strengthening of Hungarians abroad and the promotion of their prosperity in their homeland became an increasingly prominent goal. To this end, in 2016 we announced thematic years for young Hungarian entrepreneurs abroad, and in 2017 for Hungarian family businesses abroad. We launched tenders to support cross-border micro and small businesses, and at the same time, the Carpathian Basin Economic Development Program was launched under the coordination of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. During the economic programs, it became increasingly clear that, in addition to financial support, professional help is what Hungarian entrepreneurs abroad need the most.
With this in mind, we started to build a network connecting entrepreneurs in the Carpathian Basin, just as we did before with large families, sister settlements, pediatricians, kindergartens and schools.
We organized forums and further training, and started dealing with entrepreneurs at the regional and Carpathian basin levels. This is where the idea came from, that a program providing professional assistance should be started, which would shorten the learning and preparation period of beginning entrepreneurs. This is important because it can take several years, even a decade, until a beginning entrepreneur gets to know the economic, legal and administrative environment, and develops the necessary network of contacts. With this in mind, we launched the mentoring program for large entrepreneurs with our professional partner, Design Terminal. The essence of the program is to connect successful entrepreneurs who have been operating for many years or even decades with young businesses that are just starting up. In the cooperation, established large entrepreneurs transfer their professional knowledge and experience to beginners, i.e. they mentor them. The basic idea of the program came from the experience that the knowledge that can make mutually helpful cooperation within the region successful in the long term is also available locally in the Hungarian territories abroad.
It is important to know that more than ninety percent of Hungarian entrepreneurs abroad employ Hungarian people, so if we support them, we help many Hungarian families abroad. In recent years, the mother country has provided significant resources to the areas beyond the border with economic development programs, and I would like these subsidies to be repaid in a way that has a positive impact on Hungary as well. Since a significant number of foreign enterprises also operate in Hungary, and their business partners are in many cases in Hungary, the support provided for economic development is returned to the Hungarian economy in the form of tax forints. In addition, a source provided in a grant can attract additional funds from elsewhere, which further strengthens the positions of Hungarian entrepreneurs across the border, and thus, ultimately, the positions of Hungary and the Carpathian Basin region. Not to mention that Hungary does not care about the level and speed of the economic development of the regions beyond the border, it is in our interest that our neighbors are also strong.
Source and full article: magyarnemzet.hu
Featured Image: MH
