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Maputo, Mozambique, July 12, 2011
— IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, announced today it has signed an agreement with the Unidade de Implementação do Projecto de Apoio a Competitividade (PACDE), to expand access to IFC’s Business Edge and SME Toolkit training tools in Mozambique, supporting the growth of smaller businesses in the country through business and management training.
The two-year agreement between IFC and PACDE, a program sponsored by the World Bank and Mozambique’s Ministry of Industry and Commerce, will allow the suppliers, staff, distributors, and clients of businesses to access world-class management training.
Babatunde Onitiri, IFC Country Manager for Mozambique, said, “This partnership will expand the use of the SME Toolkit and Business Edge solutions in Mozambique, supporting the growth of smaller businesses in the country. Supporting smaller businesses is a major focus of IFC’s work in Africa and a stronger SME business sector in Mozambique will help create employment and strengthen the economy.”
Business Edge is IFC’s range of practical and flexible management training solutions, specially designed to improve the performance of small and medium firms and middle management of corporate firms. It is delivered by local, certified trainers. The SME Toolkit is an online, interactive program that uses the latest information and communication technologies to help smaller businesses in emerging markets learn sustainable management practices.
Business Edge and SME Toolkit were launched in Mozambique in 2010. Since then, 41 trainers have been certified, and 11 Business Edge partners and one SME Toolkit partner have been licensed. Almost 32,000 people have visited the SME toolkit website in Mozambique (
www.pmenegocios.co.mz
).
IFC has recently signed partnerships with five consulting and training firms in Mozambique to bring the number of Business Edge suppliers in Mozambique from six to eleven. The five are: Megaformar, MB Consulting, Ernst & Young, ELIM Serviços, and Bassela Consultória e Serviços. IFC’s six other partners are: Escola Superior de Negócios e Empreendedorismo de Chibuto (ESNEC/UEM), Sociedade de Investimentos (GAPI) , EUROSIS - Consultoria e Formação em Gestão, PROCESS - Consultoria e Formação, International Capital Corporation (ICC) and BKSC..
IFC will work closely with its Business Edge partners and with Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (an SME Toolkit Partner) to help organize educational events, identify training needs, customize content, manage training activities and coaching, ensure the quality of the training, and evaluate its impact.
The PACDE Project was launched in 2010 to improve the business environment and enhance enterprise competitiveness in Mozambique by reducing the cost of doing business in the country; building technical capacity at public sector agencies, strengthening the ability of local intermediaries to enable them to deliver business services to SME’s; and developing region specific interventions in the tourism and horticulture sectors.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest development institution focused on the private sector in developing countries. We create opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives—by providing financing to help businesses employ more people and provide essential services, mobilizing capital from others, and delivering advisory and risk-management services to ensure sustainable development. In a time of global economic uncertainty, our new investments climbed to a record $18 billion in fiscal 2010. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
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About Business Edge
To date, Business Edge has been rolled out in more than 30 countries and more than 120,000 entrepreneurs were trained through a network of 350 certified trainers. Flexible in its application, Business Edge is reducing the skills gap of very different populations, often underserved or not served at all. Twenty-four percent of all BE trainees are women, IDA and conflict affected countries represent 59 percent of the regions currently served by BE and 26 percent of all BE trainees come from conflict-affected countries like Iraq and Yemen.
About SME Toolkit
The SME Toolkit was launched in 2002 by IFC. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the SME Toolkit network covers Benin, Kenya, Rwanda, Madagascar, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Zambia and Mozambique. The sites enable users to search and browse content, list their businesses, and create Web pages in a searchable business directory. Users are also able to network by participating in multilingual community forums on key business management topics. The SME Toolkit content can also be distributed on CD-ROM and mobile phones. In 2006, IFC partnered with IBM
(
www.ibm.com
)
to strengthen and expand the Toolkit’s capabilities.
Globally, to-date the SME Toolkit is available through 31 Web sites and in over 17 languages throughout the developing world. In many of these markets there are no other comparable on-line support resources for small businesses in the local language. The Toolkit receives over 4.5 million unique visitors per year. For more information, visit
www.smetoolkit.org
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