POVEK - Cyprus Confederation of Professional Craftsmen and Shopkeepers

POVEK was initially founded in 1942 under the name "Union of Small and Medium Enterprises", in order to enable the professional craftsmen and shopkeepers to face collectively the shortage of raw materials and other goods they needed for their small businesses and their stores during the Second World War.

In 1952, CyCPOVEK was renamed "Pancyprian Organisation of Professional Craftsmen and Shopkeepers". In 1997 the Organisation was converted into a Federation, and in 2006 into the "Cyprus Confederation of Professional Craftsmen and Shopkeepers". CyCPOVEK is a not-for-profit organisation.

Based on the results of the Enterprise Census carried out by the Cyprus Statistical Service in 2014, 65.000 Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) are active in Cyprus (excluding agriculture and fishing), employing a total of 310 thousand people