The export council Eksportrådet has been helping smaller Danish companies kick-start their export business quickly and efficiently since 2010 via the Vitus program. And now the program has been hailed as a success.
The trade and development minister, Mogens Jensen, has revealed in the first official evaluation of the Vitus program that it has made a considerable impact on a number of companies and has helped generate new jobs in Denmark.
“More than every fourth Danish job depends on our export,” Jensen said. “But 95 percent of our companies are small and medium-sized and are limited in export. So there is great potential in helping the smaller companies into new export markets.”
“We must help internationalise the companies to ensure our future welfare. When small companies grow, it creates much needed jobs across the nation.”
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More jobs and business
The evaluation of Vitus showed that 60 small and medium-sized companies, which took part in the program from 2010-2012, increased their employee figures with 475 full-time jobs and exports by almost 600 million kroner compared to other companies of similar size.
The 12-month goal of the program is to ensure that participating companies get their first export order and a solid foothold on a new market. The program consists of 3-4 months of strategy development and 8-9 months of execution.
Some 115 companies took part in the Vitus program between 2010 and 2014.
