Baltic Export, Estonia, Financial Services, Markets and Companies

Mart Bauer, development manager of Tallinn Business Incubators, said that the aim is to help nurture designers whose products are based on cultural heritage and design-related craftsmanship and whose potential to succeed on the international market is higher than expected.

"We are organizing export specific training programs aimed both at the businesses in our incubator as well as at small businesses on the free market, and taking the creative business to international specialized fairs to allow them to establish contacts with sales channels," Bauer told.

Bauer said that as an experimental direction, they are also planning to create a regional competence center in the field of textile and fashion technology in the incubator and with the aid of partner incubators create a regional export platform to help businesses enter foreign markets quicker and less painfully.

Bauer said that the region in question is the Baltic sea region and the method the creation of a so-called soft-landing platform, which means that the incubator of one country is the sender incubator and the incubator of another country the recipient incubator. "If there is a business who wishes to enter the Swedish market, then I will direct the business to the Swedish incubator, where the business will have a certain support service in the form of local mentors and services. This will make entering a market easier," Bauer said.

The incubator is planning to expand the 30 member team of business mentors outside of Estonia and to bring in external experts with experience in international business.

The total cost of the project is 228,800 euros, of which Enterprise Estonia will cover 171,600 euros.