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Eran’s European Endeavour: Senior VP of ESBA
Eran Shay’s journey is emblematic of the modern entrepreneur. A self-confessed ‘out-of-the-box’ thinker, he swapped a successful corporate career and a senior role at Deloitte to pursue his own projects and business opportunities. Since then, Eran has founded two successful businesses, Benefit Business Solutions and Gibraltar Pass and is President of the Gibraltar-Israel Chamber of Commerce (Gibrael). A true business champion, Eran has served on the Board of the Gibraltar Federation of Small Businesses (GFSB) for the last seven years. In addition, he was recently elected Senior Vice President of the European Small Business Alliance. I was lucky enough to spend time with him to learn more…
“I joined the GFSB as I believe much more innovation needs to be brought to Gibraltar”, starts Eran. “In my opinion, it reflects the characteristics of small businesses; it is agile, results-driven, forward-looking and has lots of initiative – it’s an exciting network to be part of.” He sees the organisation as the ideal platform to introduce much-needed innovation to Gibraltar. As part of his diverse, unremunerated role on the GFSB’s Board, Eran oversees its annual Innovation Awards, “Only by being part of influential organisations like the GFSB can you bring about the changes required to encourage innovation.”
Far-reaching network
Before asking about his recent appointment to the ESBA Board, I wanted to know more about the organisation itself, “Since being founded in 1988, ESBA has been an incubator for groundbreaking projects that address the unique challenges facing small and micro businesses across Europe. From steering the WEgate platform that empowers women entrepreneurs, to playing an ongoing role in Early Warning Europe aimed at crisis management during the pandemic, ESBA has consistently been at the forefront of change.” Says Eran, “I’ve been involved with ESBA since 2019. Today, it represents almost one million small businesses and covers 36 European countries, Turkey, and Israel. In a way, ESBA could be seen as the umbrella organisation for many national and sector-specific Small Business Federations.”
Speaking of his appointment, Eran said “I am delighted to have been elected as ESBA Senior Vice-President. It is an honour to be appointed to this role in a year in which ESBA is celebrating its 25th Anniversary. I look forward to working with the ESBA Board to continue delivering value for our members and hope to meet more of our members this coming year.” For his part, David Caro, ESBA President said, “We have had a long association with Eran and I am delighted he has joined the Board in this important role”.
Access to EU decision-makers
Gibraltar is no longer a member of the European Union so I wanted to understand what real-term benefits come with being a member of ESBA. “First, it is important to mention that the GFSB is a founding member of the ESBA. It is actually the only remaining founding member of ESBA and has built a strong relationship during this time. The fact that ESBA held its 25th Anniversary Board meeting in Gibraltar is a testament to this bond.” Speaking of why this link to the EU is essential, Eran continues, “Being such a small nation, it is important for the GFSB and Gibraltar in general to have access to top decision-makers at the Pan-European level. This helps us better understand how certain things are done in other European countries, get insights to possible solutions to challenges we face here, and be able to tap into a much greater pool of resources and networks through other member organisations.”
For Eran, his vision for his tenure as Senior VP is clear. “I’ve been involved with ESBA since 2019, but COVID has meant that many ideas and projects we had in mind, had to take a back seat while ESBA was assisting its members in surviving these challenging times. I hope that now, post-COVID, we will be able to progress on some of those initiatives and hold more social events to meet our members.”
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