The Brussels Enterprises Commerce and Industry is a private independent organisation composed of the Chamber of Commerce founded in 1703 and the Brussels Business Federation.
BECI represents and defends the interests of over 35 000 Brussels companies, small and big alike, and provides a large number of services, ranging from administrative and legal advice to third-party support.
BECI's role is also to represent the voices of its members in public discussions and with its institutional partners. BECI is represented is in most public organisations (Hub Brussels, Brussels Harbour, Citydev, Actiris, Brussels Formation, and in the most Business Centers).
BECI’s services include advice from experts and members, a large internal network of potential clients, buyers and investors, training sessions specifically designed for startups, and masterclasses in law, digital marketing, finances, human resources, strategy...
BECI follows the progress of startups on an individual basis with weekly workshops. The meetings support startups through each stage of their development: from the initial project to the funding stage, including the steps in between, such as finding the right partners and clients and establishing a social status. BECI strengthens those workshops with monthly meetings which bring together BECI member startups around themed discussions and practical workshops.
BECI especially supports and helps startups with their business development in Europe and worldwide. As Brussels is a bilingual city (French and Dutch) in which business people largely also master English, the use of a variety of languages offers easier access to the local community of entrepreneurs and greater visibility to startup founders via the content that they produce and push on their websites, blogs, newsletters, magazines and podcasts.
BECI is also an “enterprise counter” which has the largest experience with foreigners.
Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by firms or funds to startup, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which have demonstrated high growth. Venture capital firms or funds invest in these early-stage companies in exchange for equity, or an ownership stake. Venture capitalists take on the risk of financing risky start-ups in the hopes that some of the companies they support will become successful. Because startups face high uncertainty, VC investments have high rates of failure. The start-ups are usually based on an innovative technology or business model and they are usually from high technology industries, such as information technology (IT), clean technology or biotechnology.
The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise or Swedish Enterprise is a major employers' organization for private sector and business sector companies in Sweden. It has 49 member associations representing 60,000 member companies with more than 1.6 million employees.
A business incubator is an organization that helps startup companies and individual entrepreneurs to develop their businesses by providing a fullscale range of services starting with management training and office space and ending with venture capital financing. The National Business Incubation Association (NBIA) defines business incubators as a catalyst tool for either regional or national economic development. NBIA categorizes its members' incubators by the following five incubator types: academic institutions; non-profit development corporations; for-profit property development ventures; venture capital firms, and a combination of the above.
Agoria, previously known as Fabrimetal, is a Belgian employers' organization and member of the Federation of Belgian Enterprises.
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) is Australia's largest and most representative business association, comprising state and territory chambers of commerce and national industry associations. ACCI represents Australian businesses of all shapes and sizes, across all sectors of the economy, and from every corner of the country.
The European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises or SMEunited is an umbrella group for associations of SMEs based in Brussels, Belgium. SMEunited represents the interests of European crafts, trades and SMEs at EU level. Its 67 member organisations from 34 European countries consist of national cross-sectorial SME federations, European branch federations and other associate members. Its members combined represent more than 12 million enterprises, which employ around 50 million people across Europe. SMEunited is a recognised European Social Partner.
The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) is the national association of Scottish councils and acts as an employers' association for its 32 member authorities.
The Federation of Enterprises in Belgium is the only Belgian non-profit organization representing companies in all three regions of Belgium. Its members, the different Belgian sectorial employers' organizations, represent companies in key industrial and service sectors. All in all, it represents more than 30,000 businesses, of which 25,000 are small or medium-sized enterprises. Since May 2012, Pieter Timmermans is CEO of the Federation of Belgian Enterprises, and since March 2017, Bernard Gilliot of Tractebel is the President.
The Vlaams Economisch Verbond (VEV) is a Flemish employers' organization and lobbying group.
The Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry is the largest and most influential not-for-profit business organisation in Victoria, informing and supporting 47,000 members and clients across the state. Founded in 1851 with headquarters in Melbourne, the influential employer group is focused on leading business into the future by providing policy leadership, information, representation, training and networking opportunities.
St John's Innovation Centre (SJIC) is a business incubator in Cambridge, England. It houses a concentration of science and technology related businesses.
Corporate venture capital (CVC) is the investment of corporate funds directly in external startup companies. CVC is defined by the Business Dictionary as the "practice where a large firm takes an equity stake in a small but innovative or specialist firm, to which it may also provide management and marketing expertise; the objective is to gain a specific competitive advantage." Examples of CVCs include GV and Intel Capital.
The International Organisation of Employers (IOE) was created in 1920 to advocate for employers and the business community in the tripartite governance structure of the International Labour Organization (ILO). Today, from its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, IOE continues to defend and promote these same interests across a wide range of UN agencies, international organisations, intergovernmental processes and the media. As of September 2019, IOE had 156 national employer organisations members in 145 countries. It remains involved in the activities of the International Labour Organization, acting as Secretariat to the Employers' Group, as well as representing business in international forums, including the G20 intergovernmental process on labour and social policy. It describes itself as "the largest network of the private sector in the world" and "the global voice of business".
Founded in 1966 by French entrepreneurs, the Franco-Thai Chamber of Commerce (FTCC) is today one of the European chambers in Thailand with over 315 members, with business interests in France and Thailand, and more than 60 events organized every year.
UNIZO is a Belgian association of entrepreneurs, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SME); it is mainly situated in the Flemish region of the Kingdom of Belgium.
Airmic is a UK-based association and representative body. Established in 1963, it exists to promote the interests of corporate insurance buyers and those involved in Enterprise Risk Management, and to encourage best practice. It is run as a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee, governed by a board of directors elected from members with support from a full-time London-based secretariat.
Enterprise Florida, Inc.(EFI) was a public–private partnership between Florida’s business and government leaders and was the principal economic development organization for the state of Florida. EFI’s mission was to expand and diversify the state’s economy through job creation. In pursuit of its mission, EFI worked closely with a statewide network of economic development partners and was funded both by the State of Florida and by private-sector businesses. Enterprise Florida did not disclose who its donors were.
EuroCommerce is the principal European organisation representing the retail and wholesale sector. It is led by the Director General.
The German-Czech Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DTIHK) is located in Prague and belongs to the worldwide network of German Chambers of Commerce Abroad. The Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce is the respective umbrella organisation. The DTIHK employs some 40 people and has about 670 voluntary members which makes it the largest bilateral Chamber of Commerce Abroad in the Czech Republic. AHK Services s.r.o. is the chambers service society and a wholly owned subsidiary of the DTIHK.
Venture capital in Poland is a segment of the private equity market that finances early-stage high-risk companies based in Poland, with the potential for fast growth. As of March 2019, there is a total of 130 active VC firms in Poland, including local offices of international VC firms, and VC firms with mainly Polish management teams. Between 2009–2019, these entities have invested locally in over 750 companies, which gives an average of around 9 companies per portfolio. The Polish venture market accounts for 3% of the entire European ecosystem of VC investments, mainly in the digital space.
