OPENING CEREMONY FOR IMPROVE YOUR BUSINESS SEMINAR ORGANISED BY ILO

OPENING REMARKS

Fellow facilitators, training participants, ladies, and gentlemen, It is a pleasure for me to be called upon to conduct this training session opening ceremony. On behalf of the CEO of Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA), Mrs. Kosi Yankah Ayeh, and on my own behalf, I bring you greetings.

We have gathered here today to establish a collaborative entrepreneurship training between Ghana Enterprises Agency on the one hand and the International Training Centre of the International labour Organisation under the United Nations on the other. The training is under the brand name Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) being represented and facilitated by Jokoem Consulting Group.

THE HISTORY OF THE SIYB PROGRAMME

The SIYB programme has emerged from a management training package called “Look After Your Firm” that was developed in the 1970s by the Swedish Employers´ Federation for local small and medium entrepreneurs. In 1977, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) funded a project for the ILO to adapt the materials to reflect the needs and situations of en­trepreneurs in developing countries. This adapted training package was called the “Improve Your Business” (IYB) programme.

In the early 1990s, an ILO technical cooperation project in Fiji embarked on the development of the “Start Your Business” (SYB) training package, which addressed potential start-ups. SYB was soon adopted by the ILO technical cooperation projects worldwide to complement the IYB train­ing package and to meet the great demand from potential small-scale entrepreneurs who wanted to start their own businesses. In the late 1990s, yet another training package called “Generate Your Business Idea” (GYB) was developed by the ILO to further complement the SYB training package and to assist potential small-scale entrepreneurs to generate feasible business ideas.

Although GYB, SYB and IYB are separate training packages, they are interlinked and have a similar design. Therefore, in the late 1990s, the ILO decided to group GYB, SYB and IYB training packages within a common framework, calling it the “Start and Improve Your Business” (SIYB) programme.

In the early 2000s, the ILO developed the next generation of training modules and interventions for growing small enterprises called “Expand Your Business” (EYB) and this also became a part of the SIYB programme.

THE TRAINING PACKAGES

The SIYB programme is structured into four separate training pack­ages; Generate Your Business Idea (GYB), Start Your Business (SYB), Im­prove Your Business (IYB), and Ex­pand Your Business (EYB) which are developed to respond to the pro­gressive stages of business growth.

Generate Your Business Idea (GYB) enables people to develop a concrete business idea through training. A GYB course usually lasts for 2-3 days.

Start Your Business (SYB) is for potential entrepreneurs who want to start a small business and already have a concrete business idea. It is a combination of training, field work and after-training support, and helps participants assess their readiness to start a business and to prepare a business plan and evaluate its viability. SYB courses are usually delivered in 5 days.

Improve Your Business (IYB) introduces already practicing entrepreneurs to good principles of business management. Its six modules (marketing, costing, buying and stock control, record keep­ing, planning for your business, and people and productivity) can be taught individually or all combined in a full course. If the full course using all modules is delivered, its duration is approxi­mately 7 days.

Expand Your Business (EYB) gives growth-oriented small and medium enterprises (SMEs) the practical tools for business growth, assisting them through training and non-training interven­tions with a focus on business strategy to expand their business. The main output from the EYB training is a business growth plan, which includes chapters on marketing, operations, human re­sources, financial and strategic management. Chapters can also be used as stand-alone training and support products. If the full content of EYB is delivered, its duration is 1-2 weeks; like for the shorter courses above, the course delivery can be spread over a longer time span (e.g., 1-2 days per week over several months) if this is preferred.

OBJECTIVES OF THE SIYB PROGRAMME

Within the framework set by the overall ILO-SIYB developmental objective of contributing to eco­nomic growth and the creation of more and better-quality jobs, the immediate objectives of the SIYB programme focus on two levels:

The first objective is to enable local, public, and private sector organizations involved in business development to implement SIYB training and related activities effectively and independently for potential and existing entrepreneurs.

The second objective is to enable potential and existing small entrepreneurs through these SIYB partner organizations to start viable businesses and increase profitability of existing enterprises, hence generating quality employment for others in the process.

TARGET GROUPS

Linked to the two objectives described above, the SIYB programme aims to achieve its goals by focusing on two major target groups:

· Training service providers (organizations or individuals that provide services to the SME Sector).

· Training beneficiaries (potential and existing entrepreneurs in the MSME sector).

Training beneficiaries

Through the local SIYB TSPs, the ILO intends to reach its ultimate target group of potential and existing entrepreneurs and managers in the MSME sector.

To attain optimal training impact in SIYB, the programme has set a few criteria within the wide spectrum of potential and existing entrepreneurs. You can read more about these criteria in chap­ter on Selection of Entrepreneurs.

In the case of GYB, the aim is to reach those who are interested in starting a business, but do not have a concrete business idea. For those who are not yet in business but have a clear idea on what kind of business to start, have the basic technical skills to put their business idea into practice and are motivated to start a business, there is SYB.

In the case of IYB, the aim is to reach people who own or manage a (formally) established enter­prise, in any sector of the economy and who have been in that business for at least one year. For those enterprises who want to expand their business operations, there is the EYB training.

OUTCOME

It is my expectation that training participants would take advantage of this training package and make an impact in their immediate business communities. It is also expected that participants would be ambassadors in spearheading good and ethical business practices. At the end of the training, your businesses should be seen as efficient, profitable, and sustainable.

Participants should take advantage of the presence of GEA represented in all the Districts and Municipalities to get the necessary assistance to improve upon their business operations.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

I believe you would devote yourself totally to the training observing all the regulations and paying full attention to your facilitators. I hope you would enjoy the training and graduate successfully to contribute to the sustenance of this collaboration.

Thank you