|
Maputo, Mozambique, February 22, 2011—
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, said today that 50 women entrepreneurs have acquired new business management skills using IFC’s Business Edge training product, skills that will increase their productivity and improve their access to markets and to finance.
IFC delivered the two-week training under existing partnerships between Banco Comercial e de Investimentos (BCI) and IFC’s Women in Business and SME Management Solutions Programs. The women were grouped according to their business management needs, and participants completed at least three courses each. Topics included budgeting, controlling cost, business planning, caring for the customer, selling skills and marketing strategy.
The training will help the women entrepreneurs better manage their businesses, use strategies to more effectively deal with clients and suppliers, and develop business plans to gain access to finance through BCI. Two Business Edge training partners in Mozambique, Process and International Capital Corporation, provided the training.
“I liked the training because it is very practical,” said Rezia Claudia Nhancale, a woman entrepreneur who attended the training. “I will use the skills gained during the training to improve my business.” Rezia runs a small boutique in Maputo and employs 4 other women.
Business Edge is an IFC management training tool designed to support SME owners and middle managers of large firms. IFC hires local trainers who are trained and certified.
IFC Business Edge has seven partners Mozambique: Escola Superior de Negócios e Empreendedorismo de Chibuto; Sociedade de Investimentos; Formoprojectos; Eurosis - Consultoria e Formação em Gestão; Process - Consultoria e Formação; International Capital Corporation; and BKSC.
IFC works closely with its partners in Mozambique to help organize educational events, identify training needs, customize content, manage training activities, ensure quality, and to evaluate the impact of the training for Mozambican clients.
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 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
|
