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Enterprise Development
The ILO perspective on enterprise development is that it creates greater opportunities for women and men to secure decent employment and income. Both employment creation and the quality of jobs are central to the ILO approach.
The Enterprise Development Programme uses the results of ILO research into successful enterprise development practices in different regions of the world. We design courses which focus on the dissemination of good practice and techniques. Sharing knowledge and experience is an integral part of our courses.
Entrepreneurship education
It is widely accepted that entrepreneurship makes a creative contribution to the development process. Entrepreneurship education can encourage young people to become entrepreneurs and can promote an enterprise culture in society as a whole.
We also train teachers from vocational education and training institutions to use the ILO's Know About Business training package.
Improving the business environment for small businesses and micro-enterprises
The frameworks that govern business are often burdensome to smaller enterprises. How can the business environment for small businesses and micro-enterprises be improved? What is the best way to reform small business regulations? What are the most appropriate policies and strategies for promoting small enterprise development?
We offer training courses that make policy-makers aware of these issues, and we enhance their capacity to design and implement small business policy reform.
Financial services for small businesses and micro-enterprises
Small business owners frequently mention access to finance as a constraint. Collateral requirements and lack of credit history prevent many women and men from obtaining loans to start up new businesses or to expand existing ones. Micro-finance makes up for the reluctance of commercial banks to lend to small businesses and micro-enterprises. It also touches on other financial services for the poor. Related instruments such as guarantee funds are also significant.
The number of micro-finance institutions (MFIs) runs into many thousands and they reach millions of people. MFIs that seek to achieve both financial sustainability and social development goals face many challenges. We work with the ILO's Social Finance Programme to help build up the capacity of MFIs in the following areas :
- management of MFIs for improved performance
- making insurance work for MFIs
- making micro-leasing work for MFIs
- making guarantee funds work for small businesses and micro-enterprises
- introduction to micro-finance in conflict-affected communities (with the UNHCR).
Business development services
Business development services (BDS) help enterprises get started, perform better and grow. BDS include information, training, business advice, consulting and marketing services, assistance with information and communications technology (ICT), technical assistance, and business links. They are widely used by medium-sized and large businesses, less so by small businesses and micro-enterprises.
To help small businesses and micro-enterprises obtain more from BDS, most development agencies design programmes to facilitate the development of BDS markets. The aim is to strengthen both the demand for BDS and their supply.
We work closely with the ILO's In-Focus Programme on Boosting Employment through Small Enterprise Development to offer the following courses on BDS:
- Developing Commercial Markets for BDS (aimed at BDS facilitators)
- Managing BDS Providers for Increased Impact
- Diploma course in market-oriented small business development services (aimed at BDS providers)
- SME Cluster Development: Principles and Practice (with UNIDO)
- Enterprise Development through Value Chains and Business Services: A Market Development approach to Pro Poor Growth
Women's entrepreneurship development
In recognition of the significant role that women entrepreneurs play in business development, as well as in reducing poverty, we run specific training programmes to promote women's entrepreneurship.
International research studies continue to reveal disparities in income and conditions of work between women and men in many sectors. Women's entrepreneurship promotion is part of the ILO's effort to achieve gender equality.
We offer the following courses in close cooperation with the ILO Women's Entrepreneurship Development and Gender Equality Programme:
- Policies and Strategies for Promoting Women's Entrepreneurship
- Training for BDS Providers and Promoters of Women's Entrepreneurship - Business Start-up
- Training for Advisers in Promoting Women's Entrepreneurship - Business Growth.
Socially responsible enterprise restructuring
Large enterprises are facing similar pressures world-wide. Changes in markets and increasingly intense competition lead to continuous turbulence. Restructuring to maintain business viability and competitiveness is a frequent management response.
Socially responsible enterprise restructuring is related to corporate social responsibility: it looks at how the adverse effects of restructuring can be minimized.
Our training seeks to provide the knowledge and skills needed to promote, guide, facilitate and assist socially responsible enterprise restructuring and to take measures that counter the negative impact of change on people.
Human resources management, job quality and productivity improvement
The link between improving working conditions and increasing productivity is important in demonstrating to business owners and managers that improving job quality makes good business sense. We offer the following training courses in this area:
- Improving Productivity through Good Practices in Human Resource Management
- Development of a National Productivity Policy
- Improving Job Quality in Micro-enterprises.
Local economic development
Local economic development (LED) looks at how public and private sectors can cooperate to improve the economy of a given territory. Local economic development agencies need to be able to design support programmes for the local small enterprise sector, and also for cooperatives.
We offer the following courses on Local Economic Development:
- Strategies for Local Economic Development
- Generate Local Economic Development processes through Cooperatives /DELCOOP)
- Local Economic Development in Post-crisis Situations
ILO Summer Academy on Sustainable Enterprise Development
The ILO Summer Academy on Sustainable Enterprise Development will provide participants with an overview of existing tools and knowledge base in the enterprise development field with an emphasis on the role of the private sector in social and economic development. It will impact on the quality of employment enterprise development programmes at the national level. The Academy offers a unique opportunity to study a rich programme of different topics under the guidance of leading ILO enterprise development specialists plus independent experts and academics, who are familiar with ILO approaches to enterprise development.
For further information, please contact:
Enterprise Development
E-mail: sme@itcilo.org
Phone: +39 011 693 6776
Fax: +39 011 693 6589