The Covid-19 pandemic has shaken up many codes, in the personal life of each individual but also in the commercial relations of companies. In particular, reduced mobility and travel, closed borders and economic recession have had a strong impact on export operations and have considerably hampered initiatives to explore new markets, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. At the opening of the International Meetings organised by Cosmed on October 2, 2020, Frédéric Rossi, Managing Director of Business France, detailed the elements of the recovery plan implemented for the cosmetics industry.
“From the very beginning of the lockdown, Business France has done everything possible to adapt to this unprecedented situation and has implemented new solutions corresponding to the needs of companies in all regions of France”, said Frédéric Rossi.
The French Agency, which supports the development of national companies and their exports abroad, first surveyed more than 10,000 companies from all sectors of activity, which enabled it to highlight their main problems.
Main findings: from the start of the crisis, it was mainly logistical concerns that were expressed, both on the ability to ship products and on the possibility of fulfilling orders already placed from abroad… Little by little, logistical problems have been reduced, but have been replaced by a strong need for information on the evolution of foreign markets, their regulatory framework (with increased volatility in many destinations), distribution networks (with the development of e-commerce in particular) or even on the “victims” of the crisis who pose the problem of the reliability and/or solvency of partners.
The first business support operations
Between 1 April and 30 September 2020, Business France set up a first business support plan:
• More than 200 webinars have been deployed in all sectors of activity, …
