The ‘Kick-Start’ Programme
Translates strategic objectives 6 and 7 of the National ICT
Strategy into a set of initiatives
Objectives:
• Promote the ICT culture in SMEs with the objective of
making them derive the benefits of introducing ICT in their
operations
• Enable and empower the local businesses to gain access to
the larger global market by participating in the e-Business
community
Document may be downloaded from www.miti.gov.mt
The ‘Kick-Start’ Programme
Capacity Building
Trustmark, Assistance Packages, Roadmaps, Mentorship
Awareness and Training
Awareness campaigns, Training (Basic and Specific)
Support Measures
Statistics
Stakeholders
• FOI, CoC, GRTU
• MCA
• VSAs and other commercial parties through an RFP
Presented and discussed during the 7th NISCO meeting
Small and Micro Assistance Packages
• Development of sector based Roadmaps
–
–
–
–
–
Printing and Publishing
Wholesale and retail of domestic goods
Food and Beverage
Educational services
Crafts
• Provision of Business Assistance Packages in
partnership with VSAs and leading IT solution
providers
• A Mentorship Programme to assist small and
micro enterprises implement ICT solutions on the
lines of the roadmaps.
Awareness and Training
Awareness
• Informative campaign targeting consumers (eCommerce) to reach all households – TRUST
• Informative campaign targeting SMEs – Benefits
Training
• Basic awareness course for micro enterprises
• Advanced courses – CRM, ERM, e-Marketing etc.
• MyWeb for industries
CTLCs – MAP programme
E-Commerce Framework
Phase 1 - Gap Analysis
Identify the elements that facilitate/hinder
the take-up of e-Commerce by local
enterprises and local consumers
Phase 2 –
National E-Commerce Framework
Provide all the necessary information to
businesses that want to venture into eCommerce activity
Trustmark Scheme
Objective: Increase consumer and business
confidence in online trade
EuroLabel
The scheme will offer:
• Accreditation mechanism
• An online business portal for accredited entities
• Label authentication mechanism
• A rating system based on a per-purchase basis
Other Initiatives
Statistics
• e-Business survey to include micro enterprises
• Added additional items to household survey
G2B services
• Business Entry Portal
• Additional new services
Intermediary Services
• E-Marketplaces and E-Malls
M-Commerce
Supporting E-Business
• European e-business support network e-bsn.
www.e-bsn.org
• Available incentives
– Tax Credits
– Training for Industry
– Online services
• Planned activities
– E-business Advisors
e-Business Tax Credits
• The e-business tax credits aim to
support the uptake of e-commerce.
– The tax credit is available for developers and users.
– The tax credit is 17.5% of the total investment in
Information and Communication technology needed to
complete an eligible project.
– Developers may benefit from an extra 10.5% on other
(non IT) investments required to complete the project.
e-Business Tax Credits (for developers)
• A developer is an enterprise that
is mainly engaged in operating,
developing and maintaining systems
that enable e-commerce.
• Eligible projects are information and
communication systems that provide an
infrastructure for other business to integrate
electronic commerce in their business operations.
– On-line shopping malls
– E-marketplaces
– Payment gateways
e-Business Tax Credits (for users)
• A user is an enterprise that
adopts e-commerce systems provided
by a developer to enable its e-commerce
operations.
• Eligible projects are electronic commerce
solutions that result in electronically transaction
with business partners, suppliers or customers.
Examples include:
– Business to Business Systems
– On-line shops
Other Tax Credits
• The Business Promotion Act
• Reinvestment tax credits.
– The reinvestment tax credit supports
micro enterprises through a tax credit on profits
reinvested in capital expenditure. Such reinvestment
may be used to improve the ICT setup of the enterprise.
• Professional Capacity building
– These tax credits aim to support the human resource
development in vendor specific ICT related course.
Training
• Malta Enterprise periodically offers courses to
support SMEs.
– ICT for Small enterprises.
– Web marketing.
• MyWeb for industry
– Developing ICT literacy of employees in large
enterprises.
• E-business Awareness course
– This course is currently being developed and aims to
provide small businesses a practical hands on
introduction on e-business.
Online Services
• Support Measures Database
– An online service that provides information on the
support available to enterprises in Maltese.
• ICT Directory
– The directory is a versatile tool for the ICT industry and
for any enterprise investing in e-business.
• Ebusinesslex.net
– This portal provides European small and medium
enterprises with information on all legal aspects of ebusiness. www.ebusinesslex.net
E-Business Advisor
• The e-advisor programme will support the
implementation of the e-business roadmaps
currently being developed by providing mentoring
services.
• The e-advisor will facilitate enterprises in
implementing of e-business projects as identified
in the sectorial roadmaps by:
– helping the enterprise develop a business case that
justifies the e-business project;
– helping the enterprise to prepare and develop
implementation plans for ICT and e-business initiatives;
– supporting the enterprise in identifying, selecting and
evaluating ICT and e-business solutions.