Flanders: Geographical Location
Flanders is the Dutch speaking, northern part of Belgium. It borders onto the North Sea, and is situated between The Netherlands and France. The most important cities of Europe - London, Paris, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Köln, Bonn and Luxembourg - are all situated within a radius of 300 km around Flanders' capital Brussels.
Ever since the Middle Ages, Flanders has been at the crossroads of the great European trade routes. Flemish merchants swarmed out to every corner of the then known world. Foreign merchants and artists came to Flanders endowing the magnificent Flemish cities with prosperity and cultural vitality.
Nowadays Flanders is one of the most prosperous regions in the world. Flanders accounts for more than 80% of the total export of Belgium.
East Flanders ( Oost-Vlaanderen ), with capital Ghent is the central province of Flanders. Ghent is not only one of the oldest and most beautiful cities in Europe, it is also a main education centre, home to more than 50.000 students. East Flanders is an industrious and prosperous province, that is fast developing into a main European centre for Biotechnology.
Flanders Chambers of Commerce (Voka)
Voka wants to create the best possible environment for successful entrepreneurship, and wants to contribute to the prosperity and well-being of this region in a fundamental way.
Voka Chambers of Commerce Flanders has 17.500 member companies spread over 8 Chambers in Flanders.
Voka - Flanders Chamber of Commerce aims to be the most
- representative: members realise 60 % of the added value in Flanders
- neutral: no political affiliation
- interprofessional: open for all companies, in all industrial sectors
- private: Voka is a private organisation, not a government department
- employer organisation in Flanders
Voka East Flanders Chamber of Commerce
Voka East Flanders is the second largest Chamber of Commerce in Belgium. The Chamber has been established in 1729. We currently have more than 3000 members, representing 60% of all the companies in East Flanders. Our largest companies are Arcelor Mittal, Volvo, Callebaut, Honda, …
Voka East Flanders has four offices in East Flanders, with more than 50 people employed in the organisation.
Voka East Flanders Organisational Structure
The services Voka is offering its members are being managed out of 6 departments:
Networking amongst our members and with other organisations is seen as vital for the success of our organisation. VOKA offers factory visits, social outings, seminars to give its members the chance to meet each other and learn new business insights.
This competence centre intends to answer helpdesk questions concerning legislative matters, contracts, human resources, environmental issues,…
Our largest department focuses on providing knowledge and information on all aspects of management. This happens both through short term seminars on recruitment, marketing, accountancy and through long term learning networks.
One of the main tasks of our chamber is lobbying for the interest of our member companies. This is mainly situated on local and provincial level. Our Chamber has more than 300 mandates in various organisations where we protect the interests of our members. Tax related, logistical and environmental issues are amongst the topics our Chamber makes a difference.
Our Chamber promotes its vision and news through several means of communication:
- Ondernemers (Entrepreneurs) is the number 1 business executive magazine in Belgium
- Chamber Mail: a weekly email containing opinion and activity agenda
- Next Month in the Chamber: a monthly agenda for all activities of the coming month.
These media are used to communicate permanently with all our members and relevant target groups. Our viewpoints regularly find their way to national media.
- International Entrepreneurship
Flanders is one of the most export oriented regions in the world. As a small region our companies must look to foreign markets to expand & internationalize.
The department of International Entrepreneurship wants to facilitate and stimulate this internationalisation process of our members. We want to open the doors of the global economy to all our companies.
The department of International Entrepreneurship works closely together with Flanders Investment & Trade, with Universities, other Chambers of Commerce and organisations.
Voka East Flanders Chamber of Commerce - Best Practices
Life long learning (LLL)
- The Chamber promotes Life Long Learning for its members via learning networks.
- In learning networks the participants depart from own practical questions they encounter during their professional life. Solutions are searched and shared among the participants, thereby creating a learning network. Godfather companies steer the meetings, together with external experts.
- The Chamber has a tradition of more than 20 years with Plato and related learning networks.
- Local Plato networks: HR, Green Energy, Managers, Multinationals, …
- Foreign Plato networks:
- In Eastern Europe: Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia, Romania, Ukraine… These networks will be extended towards Serbia, Poland and Slovakia
- South Africa:
- These networks are brought, both virtual through website and physical through B2B meetings, in contact with our members.
International projects
The Mission of the Department of International Entrepreneurship of Voka- East Flanders Chamber of Commerce is to open the doors of the global economy to all companies in East Flanders.
- Economic missions to emerging markets
- Organisation of seminars on foreign markets, providing both theoretical knowledge and practical entrepreneurial experience
- Seminars on export related topics: customs, international payments, …
- Projects with our neighbouring countries, promoting the trade and labour mobility issues between those regions.
- Helpdesk on country and import-export related member questions
- Company guidance programs: guiding the participants towards BRIC countries by offering them business contacts, individual meetings with experts and seminars on specific topics
- Certificats of Origin: 23.000+ certificats per year. Additional services ( ATA, legalisations, passport services ) are provided as well
- Plato Projects in Eastern Europe ( Hungary, Romania, Ukraine, Croatia, Slovenia, Poland ) and South Africa: International projects aiming to professionalize local SME’s and linking these SME networks with our East Flemish companies.
Contact details
Foreign organisations or companies interested in cooperating with the Chamber of Commerce of East Flanders can contact:
Stefan Derluyn, Manager International Entrepreneurship
Martelaarslaan 49
9000 Gent
Belgium
Tel: +32-9-2661446
Fax : +32-9-2661441
Mobile : +32-479-901227
Mail: stefan.derluyn@voka.be
English, Francais, Espanol, Italiano, Deutsch, Chinese, Russian spoken
Links about Flanders & our partner organisations