EVANGELIZATION OF INTERNATIONALIZATION 2019, BY THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE.

One of the objectives of the programme entitled " Evangelization of Internationalization " was to bring companies closer to the institutions that subsidize internationalization activities by making Canary Island companies aware of the opportunities for growth and diversification offered by going to international markets, reducing the perception of complexity and uncertainty involved in foreign sales, through the advice and financing offered by the public external promotion entities present in the Canary Islands.

This project was launched in response to the need to increase the number of exporting companies within the Canarian economic ecosystem, where only 4.9 per cent of companies export. The lack of motivation or the fear of the Canary SMEs to internationalise must be combated by decisive measures of 'evangelization', in which:

- Enterprises are informed of the opportunities for growth (or in many cases, of the urgent need for diversification and survival) that they may encounter when going to external markets;

- the perception of the complexity of selling abroad is minimized;

- promoting innovation to increase competitiveness and sharing best practices in this regard;

- and be guided by the various tools available to overcome these barriers to internationalisation, such as the programmes and aid offered by public institutions.

The Programme was developed through a series of actions such as the creation of a " one-stop shop " for information, the implementation of a communication campaign, which included the creation of the project ' s brand, digital communication channels and information material, the development of a basic guide of documents and programmes to support internationalization. Personalized attention and dissemination activities were also carried out with companies, such as the holding of information days and visits to companies to carry out advisory activities.

Thanks to this programme, 115 SMEs received the information, through 10 information days and more than 60 surveys carried out to assess their interest. Throughout the year, the result was that, between 124 and 247, they became interested in internationalisation. Between 87 and 175 applied for aid and between 8 and 36 received support actions plus grants.