March 2015

Empowering SMEs in the Single Market

The Single Market Entrepreneurs Centre convened the High-Level Working Lunch on SMEs in the Single Market. An eclectic group of successful, digitally-empowered SMEs, business leaders and top policymakers, joined a heated debate on how the Internet enables European SMEs to grow and internationalise their business. Among others, Patricia Cusden, founder and managing director of Look Fabulous Forever, an e-commerce website that sells makeup product for women of a certain age; Claude Ritter, co-founder of Book a Tiger, an online agency that deploys cleaning staff into German cities; and Marc Verschueren, online marketing manager of Happy Socks, a web store for unique and colourful socks, shared their experiences and provided valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities of the digital single market in Europe. The lunch was hosted by Matt Brittin, president of business and operations for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Google, John Higgins, director general of Digital Europe, and chaired by Paul Hofheinz, president and executive director of the Lisbon Council.