Amman, 15 May, 2006
— The International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank, today signed a partnership agreement with ExecuTrain, which will provide IFC’s Business Edge training to small and medium enterprises in Jordan.
IFC’s Business Edge management training package is practical, solution-oriented, and customized to fit the local business environment. By focusing on the specific needs of SMEs in the industrial, trade, and service sectors, the Business Edge products complement ExecuTrain’s business training solutions. The partnership with IFC will improve ExecuTrain’s presence in Jordan’s management training market, and it will increase the opportunities for local entrepreneurs to enhance their business skills.
Michel Botzung, Business Edge Program Manager, comments, “We expect Business Edge to bring much needed management training to SMEs in Jordan, and ExecuTrain is the perfect partner to deliver our management training package.”
ExecuTrain has been delivering business and technical skills training solutions as well as desktop applications to private and public sector organizations since 2001. To date, ExecuTrain has trained over 5,500 people in Jordan from various sectors, including information technology, services, manufacturing, insurance, finance, NGOs, government, and trade as well as new graduates. ExecuTrain will offer Business Edge products as a core part of its training solutions program called Sharpen Your Team Business Skills.
The International Finance Corporation is the private sector arm of the World Bank Group and is headquartered in Washington, D.C. IFC coordinates its activities with the other institutions of the World Bank Group but is legally and financially independent. Its 178 member countries provide its share capital and collectively determine its policies.
The mission of IFC (
www.ifc.org
) is to promote sustainable private sector investment in developing and transition countries, helping to reduce poverty and improve people’s lives. IFC finances private sector investments in the developing world, mobilizes capital in the international financial markets, helps clients improve social and environmental sustainability, and provides technical assistance and advice to governments and businesses. From its founding in 1956 through FY05, IFC has committed more than $49 billion of its own funds and arranged $24 billion in syndications for 3,319 companies in 140 developing countries. IFC’s worldwide committed portfolio as of FY05 was $19.3 billion for its own account and $5.3 billion held for participants in loan syndications.
Business Edge is the brand name for IFC’s international range of management training products and services, specially designed for owners and managers of SMEs. It covers 36 different management topics in five different fields, namely: Marketing, Human Resources, Production and Operations, Finance and Accounting, and Productivity Skills.
Business Edge was successfully launched in several Asian countries. Based on this success, IFC’s Private Enterprise Partnership for the Middle East and North Africa (PEP-MENA) is currently rolling out the product across the Middle East and training is now available in Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia, the West Bank and Gaza, and Yemen. As of today IFC/PEP-MENA has trained 3,322 SMEs in the region through its training providers.
IFC/PEP-MENA provides its Business Edge product range, which includes 36 self-study management workbooks, trainer manuals, and train-the-trainer workshops, to local training providers. These in turn use the Business Edge products as a core in designing their unique and innovative training programs for SMEs. IFC/PEP-MENA certifies the training providers and monitors their performance, ensuring that consistent quality standards are upheld. Each training provider invests in promoting Business Edge based training to SMEs. IFC/PEP-MENA supports all training providers through an umbrella promotion campaign.
PEP-MENA is IFC’s technical assistance facility that supports private sector development in the Middle East and North Africa. PEP-MENA focuses on improving the business enabling and regulatory environment; strengthening the financial sector; promoting the growth of small and medium enterprises and their support services, such as business organizations and consulting firms; helping restructure and privatize state-owned enterprises; and developing viable private sector and public-private partnership projects, especially in infrastructure.
