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Maputo, Mozambique, July 28, 2010
— IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, announced it has signed two year agreements to expand access by companies to its Business Edge and SME Toolkit training solutions The focus of the expansion is to the agribusiness sector and its value chains in business management skills and access to market information, which will help micro-, small, and medium enterprises better access to markets and access to finance.
The IFC SME Management Solutions Program, funded through Private Enterprise Partnership for Africa, will support three agribusiness programs in partnership with Apoio Às Iniciativas Privadas no Sector Agrário - ADIPSA (Danida Program) to increase smallholders´ income from marketing agricultural production; Abt Associates (USAID-AgriFUTURO Program) to improve value chains of banana, cashews, ground nuts, maize, mangoes, pineapples, sesame and soy beans and Tecnhoserve to support poultry, forestry linkages and grind mill sectors.
Eme Essien, Manager of IFC SME Initiatives in Africa said “Deepening partnerships in Mozambique to support SMEs is an important priority for IFC. We expect this collaboration to yield positive results and have a measurable impact on the agribusiness sector.”
Using Business Edge and SME Toolkit, IFC will work closely with its seven implementing partners in Mozambique to help organize educational events, identify training needs, customize content, manage the training activities, ensure its quality and coach and evaluate the impact of the training. Those partners are Escola Superior de Negócios e Empreendedorismo de Chibuto (ESNEC/UEM), Sociedade de Investimentos (GAPI), Formoprojectos, EUROSIS - Consultoria e Formação em Gestão, PROCESS - Consultoria e Formação, International Capital Corporation (ICC) and BKSC,
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
.
About Business Edge
“Business Edge” is IFC’s comprehensive 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.
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 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
. 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, and Zambia. 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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