Greek cloud technology meets Polish interactive marketing at CeBIT Hannover.
Looking for new markets
Successful business matchmaking is like speed dating. Just ask Dimitrios Athanasiadis, co-founder of a Greek start-up B OPEN SA. The company, which employs 17 people, has developed "Comidor" a cloud application suite to help SMEs manage business collaborations and projects.
Keen to take his project to new markets, Dimitrios contacted his local Enterprise Europe Network branch in Thessaloniki. They encouraged him to register for FutureMatch - the Network's business matchmaking event at the 2014 CeBIT trade fair in Hannover.
A detailed company profile
To ensure Dimitrios was fully prepared for his trip, Network expert Giannis Chaskos of the Federation of Industries of Northern Greece prepared a detailed company profile and set up 14 meetings with the most promising partners.
"For our clients, tailor-matching profiles in advance is a resource-efficient means of targeting the most suitable partners," Chaskos explains.
In Hannover, Dimitrios met with Polish SME appCreate who had also been brought to the event by their local Network partner Marta Czyżewska from the University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszów.
A promising business deal
The companies hit it off straight away and four months later they struck a business deal to launch Comidor on the Polish market.
"We appreciate the valuable support from the Enterprise Europe Network in finding new partnerships with companies who are responsible, understand the value of our products and are eager to help us expand," says Dimitrios Athanasiadis of B OPEN.
AppCreate vice president Rafal Cencora also gives a thumbs-up to the Network. "We found the right business partner with whom we are going to offer our services abroad. "Both of us will take advantage of this opportunity."