CHAMBER OF ARCADIA

Applicant – CHAMBER OF ARCADIA (E10208582 – EL)

Applicant details

Profile

Background and experience

Scope of work: The Chamber of Arcadia is a regional chamber of approximately 7.000 member companies. In opposition to the large Greek cities, regional Chambers include all sectors of professionals and enterprises (commerce, services, tourism, handicrafts). The aim of the Arcadia Chamber is the protection, promotion and development of the economy in general and of the region’s enterprises in particular. As a public legal entity it exercises statutory tasks including the operation of General Commercial Registry and the issuing of public documents.
The legal framework establishes a number of additional tasks. Main tasks are the representation of enterprises, the provision of information and advice in relation to development activities, innovation, technology, exports and other activities that could help the Arcadian Enterprises grow and become more competitive. The Chamber implements various EU projects in order to give its members new opportunities and assistance for their development and growth. It also participates in a number of business missions and fairs in other countries, provides information on EU funding opportunities for SMEs and organizes seminars, training activities and events to promote its members and their products and services. The Chamber of Arcadia is highly networked with public and private bodies all over the region, nationally and internationally.

The Chamber of Arcadia has implemented quite a number of EU and national projects either as a leader organisation or as a partner (RIPE (Innovation), NETFORCE 2006 (Innovation), INTERREG, EQUAL, ADAPT, EURO INFO CENTER, LEONARDO DA VINCI, ERASMUS+ and more),. It has implemented a large number of mobility projects since 2006 under Leonardo DaVinci and Erasmus+. Also, it implemented during 2010-12 a transnational project under Leonardo DaVinci (Transfer of Innovation Projects) approved by the Education and Culture DG entitled “Green Business is Smart Business” regarding business training on green practices, as leader of the project, and during 2016-2018 the project «Enhancing Employability of Unemployed Persons through New Forms of Employment and Sharing Economy» under the Erasmus+ programme, as a partner. Currently the Chamber participates as a partner in the Erasmus+ project “I.S.I.D.E. – Improving Social Impact for the Development of Enterprise.”
In the field of professional training, the Chamber, apart from participating in the afore mentioned projects, it organizes seminars, trainings, workshops for training business owners and staff on issues that interest the companies (marketing, business, exports, certification etc). It also organizes yearly seminars for unemployed people in co-operation with the National Organization of Employment. The Chamber’s development company in co-operation with the Region of Peloponnese and the Municipalities of Peloponnese has implemented two national projects for unemployed people on social and collaborative entrepreneurship called “Local actions for vulnerable social groups” and “Local Employment Projects” under the NSRF (National Strategic
Reference Framework)(2014-2016).
The Chamber of Arcadia is also a member of the Enterprise Europe Network, the largest business network in Europe. The Enterprise Europe Network is a key instrument in the EU’s strategy to boost growth and jobs. Bringing together around 600 business support organisations from more than 60 countries, we help small companies seize the unparalleled business  opportunities in the EU Single Market. It is co-financed under “COSME” – an EU funding programme designed to encourage the competitiveness of European enterprises. Our services are tailored to SMEs but are also available to all other businesses, universities and research centres.

KEY PERSONNEL:
Mrs Tzanetopoulou, the Director of Chamber of Arcadia, has a long experience in EU projects. She has been responsible for the implementation of several training projects (Leonardo DaVinci and Erasmus+) and she is Director of the Enterprise Europe Network for the Chamber of Arcadia. She is a law graduate and has a master’s degree in Business Administration. Mr Zafiris is head of the financial department of the Chamber since 2000 and has been working in the Chamber of Arcadia in this position for all those years supporting the financial procedure in every project which the Chamber has implemented. Mr Zafiris is the financial manager of all EU projects and the Enterprise Europe Network team of the Chamber; he always supports the EU-project team with relevant procedure based on the accountancy regulations.