Business Membership Organisations (BMO-s) under focus again

2019 started for EU-SMEDA project with an activity aimed at strengthening BMO’s (Business membership organisations) capacities. The visiting BMO consultant Karen Konopka met with a dozen of active BMOs for guidance and sharing of her hands-on expertise that aimed to improve their efficiency in performance, in particular in becoming more independent and sustainable as entities.

Ms. Konopka shared her impressions noting that all the BMO-s she had met were rather active with great ideas but at different stages of development. “They are very committed to their purposes and do care for development of the sector they are active in; however, they should start collecting fees for their services in order to become more sustainable and stronger, which will in its turn provide them more opportunities for result-oriented activities’’, she concluded.

The BMOs under focus were: the European Business Association (EBA), Association of Social Enterprises of Armenia (ASEA), Tourism Armenia Association, Engineering Association of Armenia, Union of Incoming Tour Operators of Armenia, Association of Armenian Tour Operators and Tour Agents, Fashion and Design Chamber (FDC)  and Independent Filmmakers Club of Armenia (IFCA).

 The overall BMO support measure has been undertaken by EU-SMEDA project since early 2018 by formation of a BMO Academy for 13 Armenian BMOs, as a 4-stage capacity building initiative consisting of trainings, on-line coaching, a study tour to European BMOs and business association, and on- the- job training: https://www.smeda.am/en/activities/activity-highlights/91