The state of the SME

Next to being a platform, The state of the SME is also a cooperative framework. On 23 November a website and an overview publication were presented. The State of the SME is an initiative of the Dutch Committee for Entrepreneurship and Financing, in cooperation with the ministry of Economics, the Centraal Bureau voor Statistieken (CBS), MKB-Nederland and DARE, consisting of a number of professors involved in entrepreneurship. Better information provision concerning the SME sector should also lead to an improvement of legislation regarding SMEs and service to SMEs.

Eric van Tol, director of the Big Data Expert Centre to be one of the lecturers

At the launch, various entrepreneurs held talks and various partners shared their vision on the SME sector and the importance of good knowledge of it. Head economics of the CBS, Peter Hein van Mulligen, together with the director of the Big Data Expert Centre of Fontys Hogescholen, Eric van Tol, talks about the ever growing chances in the making of legislation and the service provision for the SME sector. 'Dutch entrepreneurs have an enormous amount of data, such as customer data, buying behaviour of consumers and export data. This data should be shared much more. Often, entrepreneurs do not know what is and what isn't possible with regard to privacy regulations, or they are afraid that their data will not be handled carefully. But if you really want to get to know the market and society, you're going to have to share information at some point.’

Queen Máxima is a member of the Nederlands Comité voor Ondernemerschap en Financiering (Dutch Committee for Entrepreneurship and Financing). This Committee was established in 2011 as a successor to the Raad voor Microfinanciering (Board for microfinancing), of which Queen Máxima was also a member from 2007 till 2011. She strives to widen the scope of financing possibilities, both through coaching and through credit for potential and existing small businesses.