Recent years have seen exponential growth in cyberattacks in Central America, affecting people, governments and businesses alike. While governments and large companies have better tools and resources to address these challenges, small and medium-sized enterprises may lack these. To bridge these gaps and promote good cybersecurity practices in support to local SME ecosystem, three enterprises from Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize and El Salvador each are welcomed to in-person cybersecurity and networking training.
For the EU Ambassador to El Salvador and to SICA, H.E. François Roudié, “Cybersecurity is a fundamental pillar for the economic and social development of SMEs in Central America. In an increasingly digitalised world, protecting the data and systems of these companies is essential to ensure their competitiveness and growth. The European Union, through the LAC4 initiative and its Global Gateway strategy, is committed to supporting Central American SMEs in this area, providing the necessary tools and knowledge to face cyber challenges. Through this competition, we seek to recognise and strengthen the cybersecurity initiatives of SMEs, thus contributing to a more secure and prosperous digital environment for the economy and people across the region”.
According to Merili Soosalu, LAC4’s regional programme leader for Latin America, “LAC4 is driven by a mission to build bridges between the EU and LAC region that bring together knowledge, expertise and experience in cybersecurity from different sectors. We at LAC4 are very excited to take a step further after a series of successful trainings and workshops in the region, each of them tailored specifically to individual needs of different sectors such as their sector-specific challenges or differences in regulatory and operational environment. We look forward to this novel initiative to facilitate cybersecurity capacity building for the backbone of any economy, the small and medium-sized enterprises to address challenges they are specifically facing. I also hope that leveraging the Estonian-Czech-built MASS tool in preparation for this training helps SMEs to assess their information security management maturity and identify areas for improvements.”
Requirements at a glance
- Open to SME-s from Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize and El Salvador.
- Open to SME-s developing products or services with digital components and that are already or looking means to export to the European Union.
- Open to SME-s with at least of three years sales.
- Open to SME-s with a team of 5 people or more.
- Completion of self-assessment of the MASS tool.
- Motivation letter.
- SME-s that have received any financial benefit from the EU are not eligible.
Applications will be evaluated based on applicant’s self-analysis of the benefit gained from the training, scalability of applicant’s operation and export and applicant’s commitment to publicise the use of MASS tool.
Selected SME-s will be announced by 18th February. Once selected, organisers will cover the travel to, from and in Guatemala (except for Guatemalan participants), accommodation and meals of up to two employees or professional services provider of selected SME. All other costs related to participation are up to participants. One of the two nominated employees or professional services provider must have technical knowledge of information security and the other must be part of administration or management of the SME.
To express your interest, please apply here: https://www.lac4.eu/event/training-for-strengthening-cybersecurity-skills-for-smes/register/
By submitting application, applicant confirms that they have read and agree to terms of the call presented here: https://www.lac4.eu/event/training-for-strengthening-cybersecurity-skills-for-smes/
