The Executive Committee met in Boston, USA
The first IUCAB Executive Committee Meeting this year took place on 31st March 2023 in Boston to strengthen the relationship between Europe and USA.
Mr. Olivier Mazoyer, as President, welcomed the Vice Presidents Mrs. Eeva Pakkanen from Finland, Mr. Charles Cohon from USA, Mr. Ralf Scholz from Germany, Mr. Axel Sturmberger from Austria and Mr. Christian Rebernig, IUCAB Secretary General, to the meeting. Mr. Matthew Tickle from the UK participated as observer. The Vice Presidents Mr. Enric Enrech from Spain and Mr. Marco Righetti from Italy were apologised.
Mr. Rebernig gave an overview of the financial situation of the organisation and the social media activities of IUCAB. By referring to the social media activities, the Secretary General underlined the importance to like, share and comment the posts. This will increase the community of IUCAB. Furthermore, the 12 key messages identified in the European Study of Commercial Agents will be promoted on the social media channels in order to increase the visibility of the profession. In addition, the participants presented their short video clips, which will be used for the postings. Also, the website statistics were analysed, which showed an increase in traffic.
The focus is currently on expanding the IUCAB network and global contacts. IUCAB has therefore started a research in 19 countries from 5 continents on commercial agents as well as on manufacturers associations. Detailed steps will start soon.
Furthermore, the Secretary General informed that the Adriatic Region Agents Association (ARAA) has being established on 22nd March in Slovenia and that an international business meeting was organised. IUCAB supports this initiative to develop the profession in the Balkan area.
It was agreed to collaborate with SME Connect, which is a network and a communication platform for SME associations as well as for one-person-companies. On 25th May IUCAB is invited to an event in Brussels to introduce the profession.
IUCAB is strongly interested to develop training and formation for the profession. In recent years, a training program according to IUCAB standards has been implemented. In the meantime, 12 member associations and 3 regional associations offer such a program. Suggestions for improvement are currently being discussed.
A key objective is to work with universities to improve the offer of training programs for commercial agents in the future, in particular to create an online training tool. Therefore, an application for a 2-year Erasmus project with other partners was submitted on 21st March. Feedback is expected in the summer in order to start the project in November.
The International Agent of the Year 2023 was selected by the Executive Committee and will be introduced to the Delegates during the upcoming Annual Delegates Meeting, which will take place from 18th – 20th May 2023 in Berlin, Germany.
Additionally, a Congress “Unifying cultures. Connecting business!” will be held this year on occasion of the 70th anniversary of IUCAB on 19th May.
The next Executive Committee Meeting will be held on 18th May in Berlin.
