Start and Improve Your Business

1 Start and ImproveYour BusinessImplementation GuideStart and Improve your Business Implementation GuideEva Majurin Small and Medium Enterprises Unit (SME)Enterprises department (ENTERPRISES), International Labour Office, GenevaStart and Improve your Business Implementation GuideiiCopyright International Labour Organization 2014 First published 2014 Publications of the International Labour Office enjoy copyright under Protocol 2 of the Universal Copyright Con-vention. Nevertheless, short excerpts from them may be reproduced without authorization, on condition that the source is indicated.

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3 Geneva: ILO, 2014 ISBN: 9789221288060; 9789221288077 (web pdf) International Labour Office enterprise development / entrepreneurship / small enterprise / employment creation / training system / training package / ILO Programme / developing countries Cataloguing in Publication DataThe designations employed in ILO publications, which are in conformity with United Nations practice, and the pre-sentation of material therein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the International Labour Office concerning the legal status of any country.

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5 Catalogues or lists of new publications are available free of charge from the above address, or by email: our web site: and layout by Maurizio design by Maurizio Costanza with contribution (original globe design) by Miriam and Improve your Business Implementation GuideiiiForewordThis Guide is intended as a practical tool to support the implementation of the Start and Improve your Business (SIYB) programme. It provides step-by-step guid-ance for the successful introduction of SIYB in a given context, from carrying out an initial market assessment to planning for sustainability.

6 We trust that the Guide will facilitate the introduction of the programme in new contexts and enhance its effectiveness where it is already operational. The intended audience of this guide are Private Sector Development (PSD) practitioners in governments and private sec-tor institutions who want to run the SIYB programme. Its ultimate beneficiaries are potential and already established entrepreneurs who are equipped to create more and better research shows that the majority of jobs in the world are provided by Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), and that in low income countries this share is almost 80%.

7 However, these entrepreneurs often face a number of challenges which prevent them from reaching their potential, including a limited access to Business Development Services (BDS) such as market information, legal advice, and managerial training. The International Labour Office (ILO) has designed and tested responses to these challenges. In the area of Business management skills, the SIYB programme has been at the forefront of the ILO s efforts to support potential and already established entrepreneurs in its member countries since the late 1970s.

8 Today, the programme is one of the largest of its kind worldwide. Through a network of over 17,000 SIYB trainers across regions it has reached an estimated 6 million enterprise -level clients. Demand for the SIYB programme continues to grow, including among new partners such as government departments. Maintaining quality standards globally and pro-viding support for the design and execution of SIYB interventions is therefore critical. Eva Majurin, the author of this Guide and SIYB Global Coordinator, has built on a group of highly engaged practitioners and her own expertise to now put forward a guide that establishes the fundamentals of the programme and its quality standards for the years to PoschenDirector Enterprises department ILO GenevaMerten SieversVCD and BDS Coordinator Small and Medium Enterprises Unit ILO GenevaStart and Improve your Business Implementation GuideivAcknowledgementsThis Guide is based on the experience of SIYB practitioners in particular Master Trainers and Trainers who have tested, shaped.

9 And rolled out the programme in different regions over the past three decades, and would not have materialised without their contributions. It builds on the rich body of literature and guidance materials on SIYB that has emerged in the course of the implementation of the programme. Many thanks are due to SIYB senior Master Trainers Sibongile Sibanda, who field-tested the Guide through the Executing SIYB course in Turin, Italy, in October 2013; to Walter Verhoeve, whose 2012 SIYB Programme Management Guide inspired much of its contents; and to Gemunu Wijesena for his review of the draft manuscript and suggestions based on the experience of the SIYB Association of Sri Lanka.

10 The review efforts and technical contributions of the ILO s Small and Medium Enter-prises Unit (SME) colleagues Markus Pilgrim, Virginia Rose Losada, Stephan Ulrich and Charleine Mbuyi-Lusamba are also gratefully , special thanks go to the SIYB Global Coordination Team members who pro-vided invaluable support to the development and finalisation of the Guide: Merten Sievers (SIYB Global Coordinator from 2009 to 2014), Pranati Mehtha and Thokozile Newman. Start and Improve your Business Implementation GuidevContentsForeword.