B1st receives recognition for stellar standard of service offered

Business First (B1st), Malta Enterprise’s front-facing division, has received an almost perfect scoring for its standard of service offered to the business community over the course of the pandemic.

The report forming part of the European Commission's Single Digital Gateway shows that queries from all industry sectors were answered in a timely and satisfactory manner; an overall approval rating of 4.9/5.0 has been achieved.

“The last year and a half have been very challenging for all our staff given the sheer volume of e-mails, calls and enquiries we received. As per emails alone, during 2020, this stood at 63,421, in-bound phone calls were at 68,526 complemented by 13,831 walk-ins,” B1st CEO Marika Tonna said.

“The management team at ME and B1ST is proud of all our officials for going above and beyond and for offering help and support to all entrepreneurs, especially self-employed, family businesses and SMEs.”

In 2017 that B1st set itself up as Malta’s one-stop shop for business in a joint endeavour between Malta Enterprise and the Chamber of SMEs.

A hallmark of B1ST success is an ever-expanding list of governmental entities that are providing their services out of the B1st central office in Mrieħel. More recently, B1st teamed up with DIER to provide workers with one-on-one customer care services. Under this guidance, entrepreneurs and start-ups can increase their respect and duty toward their workers, observing their rights, and fulfilling necessary obligations.

ME CEO Kurt Farrugia said Business First was commended for its indefatigable efforts to strengthen Malta’s entrepreneurial spirit.

“Buoyed by confirmation of their exemplary work by third parties, we look forward to charting and supporting their future success,” he said. “I join Marika in extending a special congratulatory thanks to all client-facing officials at ME and B1st who have been a point of reference for many during these difficult months.”