Maribor Development Agency, the lead partner of project INTRA (programme Interreg Europe) proposed changes to the OP for implementation of the EU Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 in East Slovenia. As the result, the Ministry for Economic Development and Technology of the Republic of Slovenia prepared the Internationalisation vouchers.
Tomaž Hren, procurator of Multimetal:
“It is imperative to have certificates of quality, to prove our credibility to potential new foreign partners. Without the certificates we cannot even start talking to them. However, the certificates are quite a financial burden. The financing we received through vouchers really helped us establish contacts to new markets“.
Multimetal is a metalblacksmith company that offers various services: locksmith services, CNC plasma cutting of various materials and welding of steel, aluminium and inox.
As a family owned company, run by two brothers, Multimetal is working closely with other local partners, to also ensure other services in metalworks, such as bending materials, varnishing, galvanizing and similar. In 90% of the cases, they are a subcontractor to a Slovenian company that is working for a foreign company. The vision of Multimetal is to increase the 10% share of directly working for a foreign business partner, without other intermediaries.
In 2019 Multimetal applied for a voucher for obtaining an international, European or Slovenian Quality Certificate, in the worth of 9.777,00 EUR. They have received the certificates at a rather unfortunate time – right at the outbreak of Covid, therefore they still haven’t noticed any positive effects of having certificates. They are prepared, however, to start expanding their share of working directly with foreign partners and it’s the vouchers that have helped them gain the quality certificates to do so.
