SMEs will be more profitable if there are more industrial companies, firm director

The small and medium-sized companies working in Moldova should ponder more when they are to choose the type of activity, Sergiu Toma, director of the company Total Gravura, said, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. “I refer to the enterprises that started work not long ago. We have a large number of agricultural companies, but not many industrial companies. The yield in agriculture depends on the weather conditions that are unstable in our country. It is harder for a small company to implement modern technologies for cultivating the land. If there are more industrial companies, the small companies will have more chances to become profitable. Currently, 60% of the existing small companies work at a loss,” said the businessman. Sergiu Toma set up a company that does computerized engravings and intends to make matrices for industrial production. “The company has 25 employees who graduated from the Technical University. It is difficult because we do not have such a school in Moldova. The graduates of specialized eduction institutions do not have the necessary qualifications. I sought help from the Organization for the Development of the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and they sent a German expert to help us. He was very disillusioned at the start, but changed his mind in five weeks and said he will come in autumn again to continue the project. He promised he will help us to create a school for producing matrices and to identify European grants to train the employees,” said the director. According to Sergiu Toma, the Government and the relevant organizations should devote increased attention to the professional training of the employees of the SMEs as the knowledge acquired in education institutions does not meet the market requirements. A company cannot be competitive without knowledge. The SMEs do not want or are unable to invest money in improving the skills of the managers and employees. “The modern equipment and technologies enable to save resources and time and require less production space. Only knowledge and readiness to learn something new are needed,” said the entrepreneur.