Following a request by Member of European Parliament Dr Peter Agius, the Malta Chamber of SMEs hosted a meeting with its members at the Malta Chamber of SMEs offices in Floriana to discuss unfair practices affecting Maltese furniture importers.
During the meeting, members outlined the challenges they are currently facing and described the realities of the present market situation. Participants highlighted issues related to competition, pricing pressures and regulatory imbalances, and engaged in an open discussion aimed at identifying possible solutions and recommendations for further action.
On behalf of the SME Chamber, the meeting was led by Council Member Dino Fino.
Malta Chamber of SMEs President Mr Paul Abela was re-elected as Director of SME United during its General Assembly which was held in Brussels.
SMEunited, is the European association of crafts and SMEs in Europe with around 65 member organisations from over 30 European countries. SMEunited is a recognised employers’ organisation and European Social Partner and acts on behalf of crafts and SMEs in the European Social Dialogue and in discussions with the EU institutions.
Mr Paul Abela thanked everyone and stated he’ll keep on working for SME’s at this European platform.
During this meeting Davide Galli was elected as the new President of SME United. Mr Galli said “I am dedicated to regulatory simplification as main driver for the competitiveness of our companies”.
Following a consultation exercise with its members across various sectors, the Malta Chamber of SMEs presented its position on the Central Bank of Malta’s proposed amendments to Directive 19 concerning the use of cheques. While the SME Chamber recognised the Central Bank’s intention to encourage the transition towards more modern and efficient payment systems, several of the proposed measures required further assessment to ensure they remained practical, proportionate, and inclusive for the wider business community, particularly when dealing with self-employed individuals and micro-businesses.
Feedback collected from members highlighted concerns that extended beyond any specific industry. These concerns were particularly relevant to SMEs, which relied heavily on flexible and accessible payment methods to maintain stable cash flow, manage day-to-day operations, and serve a wide range of customers, including those who did not have access to local banking facilities or who were not yet fully comfortable with digital alternatives. In some instances, the proposed changes risked creating operational disruptions and increasing operational costs.
The Malta Visual Non-Visual Network, in collaboration with the Malta Tourism Authority, is offering training programmes for tourism and hospitality workers to help create inclusive tourism and catering experiences for persons who are blind or have low vision. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tourism, Ian Borg, presented training certificates to the participants’ staff.
SME Chamber Deputy President and Paceville Town Centre Management Chairman, Philip Fenech, welcomed this initiative, highlighting that it enhances service excellence and empowers the industry to adequately cater to the specific needs of persons with disabilities.
Sourcing of new talent remains one of the main areas companies focus on in today’s fast moving talent market. An equally critical and often undervalued area lies in retaining the talent you already have. Employee retention is not just a “nice to have”, it is a strategic investment with measurable ROI, and aligning recruitment and the HR functions is key to unlocking it. The metrics from misco’s latest reports show how tightly recruitment, HR and retention need to work together to deliver business value.
When employees stay, organisations benefit in multiple ways: reducing hiring and onboarding costs, faster productivity, stronger culture and continuity, and improved employer brand. In the latest misco survey on HR Developments issued in 2025, misco found 78% of Maltese HR leads cited staff retention as the main strategic objective for their function. The cost of losing talent is significant; the desire to retain it is clearly expressed by Maltese HR leaders; and yet many organisations still face high turnover and voluntary exits.
To turn retention into a business advantage, recruitment and HR must work together. Recruitment is not just about filling vacancies. It is about finding the right people whose values and motivations align with the organisation. When recruiters engage candidates with clarity around culture, career path and expectations, HR’s job of retaining that talent becomes far easier. Despite efforts in recruitment, many organisations still face significant recruitment challenges. In misco’s 2025 HR Developments survey, 66% of employers cited lack of experienced applicants as a key reason for recruitment difficulties and 61% cited salary demands.
What does this mean for retention? If recruitment selects people based purely on “can they fill the seat” rather than “will they stay and thrive”, you expose yourself to turnover risk. So:
Craft job adverts that clearly reflect the role, culture and career path so the expectations match reality.
Screen for fit (values, motivation, care, aspirations) and skills. An excellent technical hire who doesn’t feel connected to the team or culture is a high turnover risk.
Build candidate-experience into recruitment: clarity, respect, realistic previews of the role – all of which sets the tone for the relationship.
HR functions must move beyond the operational: policies, salaries and benefits alone won’t deliver retention. HR needs to drive engagement, development and culture by establishing meaningful onboarding and induction programmes to ensure that new employees feel connected, supported and productives from day one. Continuous learning and development opportunities give employees reasons to stay and grow within the organisation. Engagement metrics and exit analyses feed into strategy – understanding why people leave is the first step to reducing turnover.
Insights from a survey conducted by misco on Employee Well Being at the Workplace found that 57% of respondents reported their job as stressful at times. High levels of stress can impact retention, so HR must address well-being, culture and workload as well as traditional engagement.
When recruitment and HR operate in silos, retention suffers. When data and goals are shared, retention becomes a strategic metric.
Calculating the ROI of retention will vary from one organisation to the other however you can estimate retention ROI by combining:
Recruitment cost per hire (advertising, screening, induction)
Time to productivity (how long until a new hire fully contributes)
Performance differential between new hire and experienced employee
Turnover cost (exit processing, lost knowledge, disruption)
For example, if your average cost to hire is €8,000, and a new hire takes 6 months to reach full productivity (during which output is 70% of target), you can see how reducing early turnover by even one employee in a year saves you not only the €8000 but also the productivity shortfall and risk of knowledge loss.
In a struggle to find the right talent, many organisations focus heavily on getting people to the door. But the smarter, higher return strategy is to keep those people once they are in. When recruitment and HR align around retention as a strategic business objective, organisations don’t just fill seats. They build sustainable teams, strengthen culture, reduce cost and enhance competitive advantage.
Feedback received so far by the Malta Chamber of SMEs on this year’s Black Friday indicates a positive outcome, with results comparable to last year’s performance. While several businesses recorded similar results or a slight increase over the previous year, a few experienced a slight decline. Performance also varied by location, with some areas facing particular challenges.
Weather conditions affected customer turnout in certain localities; however, the month-long promotions and busniesses that offered products or services online saw steady sales despite the bad weather. Meanwhile, shopping malls across Malta and Gozo experienced strong footfall and steady sales.
Sectors traditionally associated with Black Friday, such as electronics, white goods, and homeware, along with those that invested in marketing campaigns, reported a positive performance.
Many businesses are now looking ahead to Saturday and Sunday, with most stores expected to maintain their Black Friday offers.
The Malta Chamber of SMEs, in collaboration with the Malta Tourism Authority, organised a consultation session for its members on the recently announced Tourism Accommodation Regulations.
Members had the opportunity to ask questions and clarify various points, while the SME Chamber submitted its formal feedback during the consultation period.
The European Parliament voted on two resolutions on the Shein/Temu imports and on the Deforestation Regulation imposing obligations on EU operators. These are two separate and yet similar cases where EU actions in the past are coming back to haunt us – putting burdens on our SMEs to the unfair benefit of third country businesses.
On the Shein and Temu imports
MEP Peter Agius said that over the past years he has been contacted by several SMEs in Malta describing how direct consumer online sales are bypassing all applicable rules for local retail. These online sales pay no Duty, no customs duties and have no environmental compliance obligations neither. On closer investigation it seems these claims are largely correct. MEP Agius said he cannot accept that our SMEs are put at a disadvantage on our own market. For this reason he pushed for decisive action in the EPP and in the Internal Market Committee. In the resolution adopted, proposed by EPP, it is being proposed for a customs fee on every package received as well as the application of Duty to these imports thus far exempted for lower costs purchases.
On EU producer obligations from deforestation rules
The deforestation regulation adopted in 2023 has imposed strict due diligence and certification requirements which are now wreaking havoc in a good number of industries in Europe. All products coming from forestry in Asia, Africa and South America including timber, soy, palm oil, cocoa, and rubber would be subject to a strict certification system as from December this year. A majority vote in Parliament supported the EPP position to postpone the application of the deforestation regulation for a year. This is not enough. In fact in my vote today I have also supported amendments calling for exemptions for SMEs and further simplification of rules.
Malta’s events industry continues to play a central role in the national economy, with its expansion creating extensive economic value across multiple sectors. Speaking exclusively with SiGMA World about the current landscape, Philip Fenech, Deputy President of the Malta Chamber of SMEs, emphasised that the segment is significant and it’s creating a lot of value added to the country’s economy.
According to Fenech, the industry’s growth has spurred demand not only in event operations but also in education and workforce development. He noted that the Chamber and national stakeholders are preparing the people to handle it even better from an educational point of view, so that human resources will not be as challenging to find as they have been.
He highlighted that events founded locally, such as SiGMA World, have helped attract global attention. These events, he said, must be assessed from various angles, including the “direct demand on our economy.”
A Multiplier Effect Across Sectors
Fenech detailed how the events industry has widened opportunities for both professional services and small businesses. Lawyers, accountants, IT specialists, technicians, suppliers, and freelancers form part of what he described as a broad network that “literally eats from this business in particular.”
Foreign professionals attending and working in Malta’s events ecosystem also contribute to ongoing economic activity. “We look at them as sort of permanent tourists or tourists coming and going,” he stated, noting their use of “our restaurants, our bars, our clubs, our boutiques, [and] also real estate renters.”
He pointed to the sector’s large multiplier effect, explaining that it connects directly to hospitality, retail, transport, and ancillary services. Reflecting on past events, he noted that some gatherings “were a bit too big for the size of our island,” which led to the decision to divide activities across venues. He confirmed that plans are underway for “a good expo venue that at the moment is being negotiated and is being expanded.”
Tourism and Hospitality Gains
Hotels and hospitality providers, Fenech said, experience direct uplift from international conferences. “These conferences pay better rates,” he explained, adding that delegates “ask for the best services” and are not comparable to “an average tourist that comes here.”
He highlighted the high-profile nature of these events: “We know a lot about all the champagne that’s being popped and all the good food that is being ordered.” The spending patterns of business travellers, he said, trigger wider demand for car hire, event-specific functions, catering, entertainment, and bespoke services.
Opportunities for Small and Medium Enterprises
Fenech described SiGMA’s impact on SMEs as a catalyst for immediate economic movement. “I feel the economy is moving in real time,” he said, noting that the industry activates providers of stages, lighting, design, venue rentals, transport services, catering, and logistics.
He stressed that SMEs benefit directly from the cash flow uplift: “This business also brings instant cash, and small businesses always have cash flow problems, so when you get something like this, it gives them a tremendous, good cash injection.”
He added that attendees often explore local historical sites and independent businesses, especially in Valletta, deepening the economic contribution beyond the event footprint.
Vision 2050 and Sustainable Growth
Fenech reiterated that Malta’s economic maturity allows it to prioritise high-value sectors. “Our economy has grown so much that now we can be picky and choosy,” he said, identifying the events industry as aligned with Malta’s strategic vision due to its strong value creation and minimal environmental impact compared with other sectors.
The Deputy President of Malta Chamber of SMEs also noted that the government’s Vision 2050 framework aims to refine economic segments to ensure long-term sustainability. The events sector, he said, is “one of those segments that will give a high value-added chain, and the collateral damage is less than in other segments in our economy.” He stated that improved planning, refined logistics, and expanded venues would allow Malta to host large events more frequently.
