The programme’s partners will select three social businesses, whom they will help create e-stores, will advise regarding payment collection systems, will consult and contribute to their marketing and advertising.
“The impact of the coronavirus is felt across almost the entire private sector. We see that Enterprise Lithuania and its project There’s No Quarantine Online is performing an important and meaningful task by teaching and helping Lithuanian businesses move their activities online. We are joining this project and at the same time launching a mentorship programme, which will help businesses during this difficult time – through our solutions, knowledge, our partner network and by increasing recognition. With our wide network of clients, we will also encourage our clients to purchase in small stores and thus contribute to their survival and growth,” Andrius Načajus, head of corporate banking for the Baltic States at Luminor, says.
Social enterprise companies can register to participate in the social enterprise mentorship and support programme on the business aid initiative. There’s No Quarantine Online website www.internetekarantinonera.lt up to May 15, 2020. When the registration period ends, Luminor and Enterprise Lithuania representatives will select three social enterprise companies, whom the bank and its external partners will help create functional e-stores with integrated solutions to receive customer payments, will consult in logistics, marketing and all other questions related to successfully operating an e-store.
“The goal of the business support initiative There’s No Quarantine Online is to provide support for struggling businesses, which due to the closure of physical stores during lockdown have lost their revenue, but by shifting their business online could successfully resume operations. During the first month of lockdown, we have gathered over 1,000 e-stores in one place, with over 100 mentors joining the initiative, we have received tens of companies’ proposals to aid businesses, granting sizeable discounts, free services. During this period, we have not only helped businesses move online, but have also contributed to increasing the recognition of Lithuanian e-stores, their advertising and boosting their sales. The Luminor bank’s proposal to grant exclusive mentorship to social enterprise companies grants the opportunity to expand the There’s No Quarantine Online project’s capabilities and the allocated support – to ensure the project’s continuity. We are happy that the business support initiative There’s No Quarantine Online is attracting social partners with whom we can achieve far more and together grant real, tangible aid to the Lithuanian business sector, which is facing these temporary hardships,” Enterprise Lithuania director-general Daina Kleponė says.
About the business support initiative, There’s No Quarantine Online
In the first week of lockdown, the export and enterprise development agency Enterprise Lithuania presented the business support initiative There’s No Quarantine Online, which is aimed at helping Lithuanian businesses digitise, shift their trading online and successfully develop their business in virtual space, where there’s no lockdown and when it ends – no restrictions to develop business either locally or globally. Currently, the initiative There’s No Quarantine Online unites over 1,000 e-stores, over 100 mentors, over 20 social partners and has received support from the Luminor bank for the project’s continuity.