Professional consultancy emerges in Syria

“The Syrian Management Consultants Association” offers to Syrian consultants new skills and knowledge and escorts local and international enterprises: an efficient way to stimulate the market in a changing business environment.

Samar Ezmechly - Damascus, Eurojar

“Two heads are better than one”, “Good counsel has no price”… these are common beliefs, well known long time ago and equally applicable nowadays. In business, “advice” or “consultancy” is the buzzword; one can go on to say that consultancy is “building business” in our modern world.

In Syria, the development of consultancy in business remained limited despite the gradual opening of the Syrian market to the world and the increase of competition. This situation encouraged the Syrian European Enterprise and Business Centre (SEBC) to create the Syrian Management Consultants Association (SMCA) in order to promote and develop a professional excellence in the world of business.

SEBC is playing the role of a real catalyst for the development of the private sector by encouraging professional training of local consultants according to the needs of small and medium enterprises. In parallel, SMCA works on fostering that professional excellence to ensure that trained consultants are well qualified to effectively operate in a very competitive and constantly changing business environment.

Board member and vice-president of the administration board in the Centre, Hicham Khayyat explains: “For the past 15 years in Syria, a large number of consultants have been trained. These consultants were trained in a way to be equally competitive with their counterparts in Europe to keep the doors wide open for consultancy missions in foreign markets.”

High standards
Khayyat adds: “A number of consultants have formally pleaded SEBC to establish an association for management consultants in Syria. This association has been inaugurated in 2006 and still works under the patronage of the Centre that provides it with financial and technical support. The number of consultants from different specialties registered in the association hit a hundred.” According to Khayyat, the Association is responsible vis-à-vis its consultants members. One of its duties is to remain up to date in the world of consulting and management, to make sure that Syrian consultants are competitive both on the local and international levels. The Association works on reinforcing the capacities of local consultants and on ensuring the quality and high standards of consultancy.

He goes on to say that other consultancy bureaus, such as the Institute of Management Consultancy (IMC) in Great Britain and the International Trade Centre (ITC) in Switzerland have chosen to cooperate with consultants through the Association, once convinced of their professional competences. Consultancy in Syria covers today a wide range of services, namely human resources management, accounting, auditing, marketing, enterprise restructuring and reform and business management. Small and medium enterprises (SME) can benefit from the support of the Association through feasibility studies and private consultancy services.

Khayyat highlights that 20 consultants have been accredited by the World Trade Centre following training and rehabilitation programs. Two years earlier, 15 other consultants have been accredited by “The International businessmen association”. 15 diplomas of international trainers have also been granted.

Tailor-made services
SMCA provides professional consultancy services in several fields such as trade, planning or marketing. Moreover, an internet user can at any time choose an adequate local consultant by surfing the website www.smcasy.com. He can choose the name from a list of consultants, detailing, in a transparent way, all the necessary information about the candidate, namely his biography and work experience.

The vice-president added that European and Arab enterprises established abroad, executing or wishing to execute work in Syria, request on daily basis consultancy services from the Association.

A number of consulting firms have started business in Syria, namely PICKs, a consulting and know-how bureau of professionals offering consulting services to executives to help elaborate action plans, or to enforce their know-how in fields such as marketing, administrative reform, strategic management, human resources counseling… On the other hand, an international medical and management consulting firm (IMMCS) offers mediation services between clients and medical institutions throughout the world. Equally, TRACK, a training recruiting and consulting agency offers consulting, training and recruitment services. Finally, CFD, a centre for development offers a range of specialized services such as human resources management, social and economic research and development of strategic management.

In an effort to integrate the world market with a competitive strategy, the Syrian approach towards Small and Medium Enterprise has evolved in the past few years and lots of efforts are being exerted to boost the private sector. The main focus these days is to train executives with high professional expertise and know-how, equally competitive on the local and international levels.