The project aims to digitalize more than 2,000 micro and small companies in the Algarve, with an investment of €3.5 million.

The Algarve Digital Trade Accelerator project was presented in Vilamoura on October 4; an event attended by the Secretary of State for Tourism, Commerce and Services, Dr Nuno Fazenda.

The Algarve Digital Trade Accelerator is a Consortium formed by three associations: AEQV, Association of Entrepreneurs of Quarteira and Vilamoura, which leads it; ACIPS, Commercial and Industrial Association of Ponte de Sor, which is a link between the Accelerators of the Algarve and Alentejo; and as an institutional partner AMAL, Intermunicipal Community of the Algarve.

Also part of the Consortium is the technology company Bolmerc, which will coordinate the support area and be responsible for creating and managing the B2B Marketplace bolmerc.com.

The objective of the Algarve Digital Commerce Accelerator is to diagnose the needs of more than two thousand SMEs based in the region and, according to the result, offer the appropriate tools, 100% subsidized, to fully enter the digital world, with support for each company reaching up to €2,000 in services.

This project is supported by the European Union under the RRP (Portuguese Recovery and Resilience Plan). It aims to allow micro-enterprises that create traditional and genuine products to increase turnover and diversify their target audiences.

At the same time, the bolmerc.com marketplace will open a space where companies can sell and buy products directly from other companies. Thus, it will provide distribution logistics and electronic payment solutions, among many other areas, that will allow it to fully support the products and services offer to customers in this marketplace.

The project, of the utmost importance for the Algarve and the country, will start immediately and be completed by the end of 2025.

According to the President of AEQV, João Guerreiro, the Leading Association of the project:

“Services, mainly trade, restaurants and hotels, are the majority sectors in the region and will be the main beneficiaries. But the entire productive sector can join, including small industry and artisans who are so important in the local culture. That’s why we say ‘give more Algarve to the Algarve’.”

According to the Secretary of State for Commerce and Tourism: “This accelerator allows for two dimensions: on the one hand, a training process in which the small business owner can have training and improvement in their digital performance through tools; On the other hand, these small businesses are integrated into platforms that allow them to promote and project, from a digital point of view, in the world.”