A survey by the Pyme Observatory Foundation (FOP) among more than 1,000 medium and small companies showed that, as a whole, their sales
fell in the first two months of the year
compared to the same period of the previous year. At the same time, they estimated that the recession could last
between six months and two years
.
Despite this, a sector with clearly negative numbers, such as small and medium-sized
industries , and another sector whose sales continue to rise, such as
software and computer services
companies,
showed a significant increase in the level of
business confidence
during the first two months of the year. . This was recorded by the SME Business Confidence Index (ICEPyME) that has been compiled by the SME Observatory for more than two decades.
In this context of
recession and expectations of improvement,
“The Challenges of SMEs” was held, the second meeting of Clarín's The World to Come cycle, with the presence of:
Roberto García Moritán
, Minister of Economic Development of the GCBA;
Javier Viqueira
, SME vice president at UIA and owner of the company ADOX;
Lucio Clapcich
, general manager of ECOSAN and Winner of the
2023
Gold SME Award ;
Valeria Piersanti
, director of Piersanti;
Roberto Méndez
, founder and CEO of Neumen Performance Center and
Agustín Viola
,
senior
director of SMEs & Entrepreneurs at Mercado Pago.
This talk was the second of the annual cycle “The World to Come” and was led by journalists
Daniel Fernández Canedo
and
Luis Ceriotto
. It has the main support of
Telecom
and
DESA
, in addition to the sponsorship of
Afarte
and
Pan American Energy
, and the support of
Mercado Pago
.
Proposals and commitments
In the midst of a panorama of uncertainty and economic challenges, small and medium-sized businesses in the city of Buenos Aires face the effects of changes in economic policy. "The south of Buenos Aires is an area that urgently requires an economic and
infrastructure boost," said García Moritán, who announced that a
free zone
will be established
, which will be located in the south of the city. "This initiative would have a direct economic impact on the southern area and would generate new opportunities for
employment and growth
," said the official.
He also mentioned new incentives to continue developing the Technology District. "We are working to create a conducive environment for technology companies in the south of Buenos Aires," said García Morietan. "This includes the implementation of
tax incentives
to attract investment and promote innovation in the area."
Viqueira, representative of the UIA, pointed out that companies in Argentina are productive, but they face rules of the game that put them at a disadvantage when competing abroad. "Although Argentine companies are productive, they face challenges derived from
unequal competition
with foreign companies," he noted.
The businessman and factory leader said that in the Industrial Union they are setting up "a center for innovation and the development of new ideas", to provide SMEs with a space dedicated to research and development. "Sometimes SME companies do not have the R&D department that large companies have and at the UIA we want to be the facilitators, develop strategies that allow SMEs to access innovation and technological development tools," he noted. "Each entrepreneur "You need to ask yourself
how you can use technology to improve your business
, even in seemingly traditional areas."
War economy and optimism
Roberto Méndez founded the Neumen chain in 1986 and today Neumen Performance Center has 40 centers throughout the country. "I am 80 years old and I lived through all the crises. Inflation, hyperinflation, and we keep going," he commented. "We Argentines are storm pilots, we are used to this situation. Perhaps this
is the most difficult of all because it finds the country worse off than on other occasions
. But we have to put more strength, more desire, more imagination and keep moving forward." .
He added: "The recipe to get out of this crisis is easy to say and very difficult to apply. It is simply with investments and job creation.
As long as the stocks are in place and they have the policies that we have, there will not be this job creation
. With "The number of plans there are, it is very difficult for us to hire people. We have put up permanent notices and
no one shows up
."
Méndez warned about an important detail of his own business. "All transportation in Argentina moves by truck and today many fewer truck covers are sold. We are a bit of a thermometer: if we don't sell covers,
it is because the country is at a standstill
."
The businessman provided two keys from his own experience. One,
be in charge of his business every day
. "Yesterday I went to Tandil to see some land, I went and came back within the day," he said. The other key, he said, is running the company with a
war economy mentality.
"The war economy has to be permanent in the business. If I think that everything that comes in is mine, it is wrong. I always said that
I am an administrator of someone else's assets, and I don't have partners
. That's why today I can face the current situation with a calmness that perhaps not many in my field can do. It is important in that sense, it allows us
to be able to pressure many times in the purchase
." And he added, with a touch of humor, that he has an optimistic view of his business. "The Argentine can deprive himself of food, but
he is not going to deprive himself of the car
," he commented.
Building the future
Lucio Clapcich, from Ecosan, referred to
innovation
as a key to his company. "We started almost three decades ago in the field of portable chemical toilets and, over time, we evolved towards
industrialized modular construction
," he explained.
For Clapcich, the key to this transition was the emphasis on technology, with a plant in Escobar where 80% of production is concentrated. The remaining 20% consists of on-site installation. "This modality allows us to be competitive and
take care of the environment
, with a focus on innovation, sustainability and design," he added.
In a scenario where public works activity is stopped, Clapcich said that entrepreneurs in the sector must look for activity in the private sector. "Public works are stopped.
We have to start looking for private works
, to develop new businesses, which was always what our company sought to do," he stated.
A campaign with ups and downs
Valeria Piersanti leads, together with one of her sisters, one of the few Argentine manufacturers of agricultural machinery, located in the town of
Noetinger
, in the southeast of the province of Córdoba. From that vantage point, the industrial businesswoman highlighted that "today the agricultural producer
is investing
, it is something very important since, let us not forget, we are coming from 2023 with
one of the most important droughts in history.
Although we cannot expect the situation is comparable to the years of exponential growth, we maintain hope in the
gradual recovery
of the sector," he said.
Piersanti put the emphasis between the expectations that there were about the dollars that were going to come in from agriculture at the beginning of the year and reality. "All the economists were talking about a super harvest and things have happened in the middle, including an epidemic in corn, the
leafhopper
, which is greatly affecting the yield of the crop and is something that was not expected. In the north of Argentina, There are areas that
have lost more than 50% of the corn harvest
," he stated. "I say this because it puts into context that the field
is not a linear number
, it is one of the sectors of the economy where we have the most risk because the main factor is nature."
However, the businesswoman highlighted the response of the sector in the recent
Expoagro 2024
exhibition , in San Nicolás. "Expoagro helped a lot to gain momentum, the banks began to give signals with lines of credit that they are supporting. This first semester, once the harvest is lifted,
the producer is going to settle in
, he has to recover economically from what the fall has been. last year. It will not be 2021 and 2022, which were years where the sector grew a lot, but we are hopeful.
Piersanti also highlighted the role of the industry as a generator of employment and innovation and gave the company his father founded as an example. “We are advancing with a technology that
generates enormous water savings
and at the same time we generate direct employment for 500 people in a town like Noetinger that has 5,500 inhabitants. That is, technology and employment can be generated from within, contributing to the generation of value," he said.
A financial ally
Mercado Pago raises the importance of understanding and addressing the financial needs of SMEs. “One of the main concerns expressed by SME entrepreneurs is financial management, where
they spend a significant amount of time tracking their income and payments
,” said the director of Mercado Pago, Agustìn Viola. “We simplify operations and reduce bureaucracy,” he added.
Another fundamental aspect is limited access to financial services.”Despite being banked, many SMEs face obstacles in obtaining credit, paying for services or acquiring insurance. We also provide them with
financial services
to facilitate their growth and development,” explained Viola.
The manager emphasized the constant challenge that SMEs have to innovate in their business to increase sales. “To help in this situation, Mercado Pago offers comprehensive solutions that simplify transactions and open new sales channels, both in person and online,
to take the business to a higher level
.”