Get online to boost sales

Small and medium-sized enterprises must improve their digital skills if they want to build a brand profile and connect with new customers.

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Sandberg: lending a hand to small business
(Image credit: Copyright (c) 2016 Shutterstock. No use without permission.)

Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg flew into Europe this week on a mission to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) improve their digital skills. The high-profile Facebook chief operating officer was in Brussels to unveil a European Union-wide initiative that promises to deliver training to a million people at thousands of small businesses throughout the bloc. Facebook's scheme is ultimately designed to expand the number of SMEs using social media and digital tools, including its own platform, to build their businesses. It already offers a free online learning hub, Blueprint, but says its new scheme will provide face-to-face training for 100,000 SMEs across Europe, plus another 250,000 online.

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David Prosser
Business Columnist

David Prosser is a regular MoneyWeek columnist, writing on small business and entrepreneurship, as well as pensions and other forms of tax-efficient savings and investments. David has been a financial journalist for almost 30 years, specialising initially in personal finance, and then in broader business coverage. He has worked for national newspaper groups including The Financial Times, The Guardian and Observer, Express Newspapers and, most recently, The Independent, where he served for more than three years as business editor.