Training Programme in Business Development Service Providers for Micro Enterprise and Micro Finance

Micro-enterprise and micro-finance development have emerged as major strategies to combat the twin issues of poverty and unemployment that continue to pose a major threat to the polity and economy of both the developed and developing countries. While micro-finance, as a means to empower poor, has been quite successful in many countries, the utilisation of credit for adequate income and employment generation is a cause of concern for most of the stakeholders. The missing link is that micro-enterprise and micro-finance, more often than not, have been dealt with in isolation without any synergy between the two.

Micro businesses need an enormous range of services. The issues and debates in Business Development Services (BDS) for micro enterprise and micro finance sector have raised a few important issues like: What roles should Micro Enterprise and Micro Finance promoting institutions assume, how does BDS relate to local economic development, how could sustainability of BDS be ascertained, and so on?

This international programme on Business Development Service Providers for Micro Enterprise and Micro Finance has been designed to address these issues.

Objectives

The programme aims at strengthening knowledge and developing skills for planning and implementing Micro Enterprise & Micro Finance projects effectively. An in-depth orientation on aspects like identification of viable business opportunities and linking these with entrepreneurs, preparation of business plan, introducing entrepreneurs to key business management areas of finance and accounts, Business Development Service (BDS) for micro enterprise and micro finance and marketing, complemented with field visit, will help provide an integrated understanding on the sector.

Course Content
Module 1 Micro-Enterprise Development (MED)
Module 2 Micro-Finance Development (MFD)
Module 3 Role, Importance and Emergence of Business Development Services in Micro Enterprise and Micro Finance

Benefits to Participants

The input structure attempts to amalgamate the twin issues of Micro Enterprise and Micro Finance with a cross cutting theme of Business Development Services for Micro Businesses emerging out of the Micro Finance Delivery Systems being practiced the world over. An interesting mix of case studies from various developing countries complemented with field visit to the organizations / units / enterprises of repute adds practical dimension to an overall understanding of the sector.