Juba, South Sudan, June 15, 2013 --
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is supporting a stronger private sector in South Sudan by training small business owners from a number of sectors, helping them gain the managerial skills they need to grow their businesses and run them more efficiently.
Fifty South Sudanese businessmen and women who are clients of Equity Bank South Sudan were trained on IFC’s Business Edge Program in areas including accounting and finance, marketing, and productivity skills. This training, which ran from June 10-14, follows an IFC financial literacy seminar in January that assessed the training needs of 300 entrepreneurs in the country.
IFC Director for East and Southern Africa, Oumar Seydi, said, “IFC is helping small business owners in South Sudan improve their financial literacy so they can strengthen their operations and, ultimately, access the credit they need to grow. Supporting smaller businesses is part of IFC’s broader strategy in South Sudan, which aims to help the young country build a strong and a diverse private sector.”
Business Edge is an important part of IFC’s strategy to support smaller businesses in South Sudan, and across Africa. The interactive product has already helped more than 100,000 entrepreneurs in emerging markets around the world improve their skills and profitability.
As part of its work in South Sudan, IFC has helped establish a business registry so businesses can more easily formalize, and has supported reforms have cut the time it takes to establish a business in the country to only about two weeks.
South Sudan is also one of eight countries supported by IFC’s Conflict Affected States in Africa Initiative (CASA), which is helping countries recovering from conflict strengthen their private sectors, create jobs, and attract investment.
Equity Bank Group has a presence in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, and South Sudan with a network of over 180 branches across the region, and a total of 8 million customers. IFC and its partner Equity Bank South Sudan will soon train another fifty small business owners in the country.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. We help developing countries achieve sustainable growth by financing investment, mobilizing capital in international financial markets, and providing advisory services to businesses and governments. In FY12, our investments reached an all-time high of more than $20 billion, leveraging the power of the private sector to create jobs, spark innovation, and tackle the world’s most pressing development challenges. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
About Business EdgeTM
IFC Sustainable Business Advisory Services is supporting the growth of small and medium enterprises. Working with partners in Africa, IFC has helped thousands of entrepreneurs access the finance and skills they need to realize their potential. Business Edge™ is a face-to-face IFC training system that helps SMEs more easily access markets by strengthening their management capacity. The training can be customized for specific countries and regions in Africa. For more information, including a full list of our corporate partners and accredited training firms, visit
www.businessedge-africa.com
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