Another Holiday Season is upon us! It is that time of the year when we count our achievements, make plans and resolutions for the next year and celebrate the last days of this year with our family, friends and colleagues!
AmCham Montenegro recently celebrated its six year of doing business in Montenegro! We are proud of the workdone in this year and look forward to another year of contributing to the improvement of the business climate in the country. Certainly, there were some achievements that marked the year 2014 which deserve to be mentioned as highlights of the year.
AmCham’s mission in Montenegro is to work on improving the business environment in order to attract more U.S. and other foreign investments. In its effort to achieve the aforementioned, AmCham relies on three core pillars of its work: Advocacy, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Networking. Each of them is equally important for both economic and social progress of Montenegro. So, what has been done in each of these three segments in this year?
1. ADVOCACY
AmCham’s five active advocacy committees worked on improving the regulation affecting the business in Montenegro in five important areas: labor relations, grey economy, tax, real estate and health care.
The aforementioned committees finished and presented their position documents (with the exception of the Grey Economy Committee, founded in September this year, which will work on their document in 2015). These documents represent an overview of the most burning business challenges in the mentioned areas. They also provide recommendations for overcoming these issues with the appropriate regulatory solutions and practice. AmCham committee members were also active in proposing amendments to laws and regulations. Some of them participated in working groups drafting the certain legislation. In this manner, these individuals shaped the most important provisions of regulation affecting their everyday business.AmCham Montenegro has finished the Business Climate Report for 2014. The research is conducted every second year amongst AmCham member companies. Its goal is to evaluate our members’ opinion with respect to the business environment in Montenegro and identify trends in the overall business climate development.
2. CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
AmCham Montenegro is truly focused on improving the social environment in Montenegro.
For that purpose, we established the AmCham Internship Program in 2011. The 2014 generation represents the fourth cycle of the Program, which enables students in the final year of college to finish a three-month internship at one of the AmCham member companies. This year, 21 students successfully finished their internship at one of the 12 companies participating in the Program!AmCham organized two workshops for the interns during the Program. Having in mind the importance of the job interview for one’s future employment, AmCham organized an “Interviewing skills” workshop in cooperation with Ernst&Young. Likewise, we have organized an entrepreneurship-inspired workshop „Be the Boss of Your Carrier“, with a well-respected Canadian author, Ms. Gloria Roheim McRae. These workshops were a valuable experience for our interns!AmCham initiated a series of workshops dedicated to improving the „soft” skills of its members’ employees, but also for other interested individuals/companies. The first workshop was held in October 2014. The workshop focused on the ever inspiring topic of „Self Time Management“, a challenge all business professionals face. More of these workshops will be organized in 2015. All information will be available via our website.
3. NETWORKING
AmCham strives to connect its members with all relevant stakeholders and business entities in Montenegro. Therefore, in this year we had several events organized in order to discuss specific topics concerning doing business in Montenegro or less formal events which are great networking opportunities for our members. Check it out:
So, this would be our year in brief. Plans for 2015 are being made and we look forward to conquering some new challenges! Of course, we would like to hear more about your achievements or plans for the 2015. Feel free to comment and share your highlights of the 2014 year!
In the meantime, AmCham Montenegro wishes you Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays Season!
