The year of living generously: The lessons of social engagement against COVID as seen by the Malta Chamber of SMEs

EESC Info asked the Malta Chamber of SMEs, winner of the EESC Civil Solidarity Prize, to tell our readers how the project originated, how people responded to it, and how the prize money will help the organisation grow. In this interview, our questions are answered by Fabian Demicoli, Head of EU Affairs and Communications at the Malta Chamber of SMEs.

What prompted you to start your project or initiative?

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected everybody, but businesses in particular. At the onset of the pandemic, many of Malta's businesses were forced to close shop and this led to a lot of uncertainty among them: how were they to pay wages or ensure the health of their employees? What would happen in case of quarantine? What was going to happen to the business? And many other questions. Therefore, the Malta Chamber of SMEs decided to take all its services online to help businesses in the best way possible.

How has your project been received? Have you obtained any feedback from the people you helped? (Can you give us an example, if you have any?)

Among the services we offered, in addition to continuous contact by various means to keep businesses up to date with changes that were occurring every hour, we also organised a series of informative webinars, on subjects ranging from how a business can make use of aid schemes, to information about labour law and providing help on mental wellbeing.

How will you use this specific funding to provide further help in the community? Are you already planning any new projects?

Funding will be used to further strengthen our contact with members. Eventually, when we are recovering from the pandemic, we plan to offer more services to get businesses back on track and help them in the process.

What advice would you give to other organisations in order to achieve results through similar activities and programmes?

Other organisations should keep in constant contact with their members, as the Malta Chamber of SMEs has done, as this makes it possible to understand their needs at the time and update services provided accordingly. In doing so, organisations would meet their objectives, and keep members happy. In fact, 90% of our members replied that they were satisfied with the assistance provided by the Malta Chamber of SMEs.