Marian Ene, Deputy CEO at BT Mic, talks about the Start Online by BT Mic program on ePLAN by Stirileprotv.ro, hosted by Andrei Radu, CEO of GPeC. How the program came about, how it stands out from existing initiatives, and what impact it has on small businesses. We’ve pulled out a few key points below, and you can watch the full episode at the end of the article. Enjoy! 😉

• Businesses in Romania need more than just financing. This was especially true during the pandemic, when we tried to launch as many beyond-finance initiatives as we could. One of them was the “Buy from a small business” marketing campaign, where we used all the resources we had to encourage everyone to buy from local businesses. Even though most small businesses are all around us, we noticed that only a small share of entrepreneurs have an online presence. That’s essentially where the idea for the program came from last year, and we started our first conversations with clients in March.
  
  
• Start Online by BT Mic is an eCommerce accelerator designed to take small businesses from offline and help them open their own online store. While there may be similar programs, it’s rare to find a fully integrated, end-to-end accelerator like this. We chose not to deliver a turnkey solution; instead we stayed alongside them from start to finish so they could learn to manage their online store independently over the long term. In other words, our goal was to have 100% autonomous entrepreneurs at the end of the program.
  
  
• The 30 entrepreneurs were selected from among our clients. BT Mic takes a highly tailored approach to financing, one that involves knowing our clients in depth. That’s how we identified the clients with potential to grow online—and who, of course, want to take that path.
  
  
• Out of all the participants who had built up know-how in areas such as the state of Romania’s online market, customer service and digital marketing, 10 entrepreneurs were selected to move into the practical phase.
  
  
• After a series of one-to-one discussions and technical workshops, the ten online stores were developed: Office Vision, ABM Kids, Caramel Gold, Stefara Decor, Sezon Coffee Roasters, Himera Vet, Isabela Teodor, Miclean Zootehnia, Wowzaaa Treats and Kosmo Line Spa.
  
  
• The program’s strategic partners, who provided the know-how and services needed to move online, were: ​​MTH Digital, GoMag, TRUSTED, Hosterion, GPeC and EFSE. 
  
  
• Small entrepreneurs are keen to move online, but they need a lot of support to do it, so through this program we’ve tried to be by their side from the start of the journey through to the end. 

Even though the online stores went live in July, the program continues, and BT Mic will stay close to the entrepreneurs for the next three months to provide support, guidance and assistance. Want to learn more about the entrepreneurs’ stories from the Start Online program? You’ll find them all on the BT Mic blog 😊.