In July 1956, the Confederación Argentina de la Mediana Empresa (Argentina Confederation of Medium-Sized Enterprises, CAME) was founded for the treatment of collective labor agreements of the market sector.
Afterwards, the Comisión Coordinadora de Actividades Mercantiles (Coordinating Committee of Market Activities) founded the Instituto Asegurador Mercantil (Market Insurance Institute), one of the leader insurance companies in the country.
In the early 80s, the Comisión Coordinadora de Actividades Mercantiles modified its statutes to become a third-grade entity that would represent the commercial and services sectors in the country. From there on, the entity was known as Coordinadora de Actividades Mercantiles Empresarias (Coordinating Committee of Market and Business Activities). On June 26th 2003, CAME began a deep transformation: during an Extraordinary Meeting, in front of 700 delegates, the Industrial branch (rama Industrial) was created to represent the commercial and industrial sectors. CAME was set to protect the domestic industry under the motto “there is no reindustrialization without a domestic market” and thus became the Argentinian Confederation of Medium-Sized Enterprises.
Aware of the importance of entrepreneurship as one of the driving forces of economic renovation, as a promoter of competitiveness, source of innovation and creation, and a tool for the generation of real jobs, the Young Entrepreneur (Jóvenes Empresarios) area was created: a network with a federal spirit with the goal of protecting the interests of the upcoming generations.
Later on, the CAME Businesswomen Project (Proyecto Mujeres Empresarias CAME) was launched on International Women’s Day.
At the same time, the Regional Economies (Economías Regionales) sector was created to support agribusiness SMEs by helping them with their production needs, the transformation of raw material, and their most urgent issues, in order to pursue specific politics and proposals on the three levels of government.
In a similar way, the Tourism sector (sector de Turismo) was created with a strategic and dynamic role for domestic economic development. The Argentine Federation of Industrial Parks (Federación Argentina de Parques Industriales, FAPI) was created as a breakthrough for the Industrial sector.
CAME established the Construction sector (sector de Construcción) based on the needs construction SMEs have of participating in an area of debate and exchange of opinions with the multiple actors involved in this activity and be represented before the national and provincial authorities.
Furthermore, the Departments of SME Finance and Competitiveness (Departamentos de Financiamiento y Competitividad pyme), Foreign Trade (Comercio Exterior), Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development (Responsabilidad Social y Desarrollo Sustentable), Training, and Business Rounds were created, in order to provide a comprehensive coverage and services for all business entities in the country.
In CAME, we work relentlessly to strengthen the Argentine productive matrix. That’s why we strenuously fight illegal trade and also encouraged and successfully helped with the passing of the Pyme Law (Ley Pyme), the Entrepreneur Law (Ley de Emprendedores), and the Labor Risk Insurance Company Law (Ley de Aseguradora de Riesgos de Trabajo [ART]). We encourage domestic production, manage the reduction of the costs SMEs have, and organize forums, conferences, and meetings all across the country to strengthen the work of all our associated entities. We fight arduously for a tax reform, support the measures included in the labor reform, and constantly propose new measures to strengthen the domestic market and create more genuine jobs for local enterprises and new entrepreneurs.