Ready4Finance - Preparing entrepreneurs for access to finance

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BiD Network’s advisory service team together with local partners in countries like Mexico, Burundi, Colombia and Liberia have been implementing the Ready4Finance modular training. The goal of this training is to provide a tool for intermediaries to help improve and develop entrepreneur’s access to finance in emerging markets.
Accessing finance is one of the critical tasks entrepreneurs have to face in order to grow their businesses. BiD Network’s Advisory Service has developed and deployed the Ready4Finance modular training curriculum with topics in Business and Financial Planning, Pitching, Financial Structures, Team Building, Investment Processes among others.

The goals of the training
Thanks to the support of FMO and Hivos, we were able to develop training modules which focus on, among other things, increasing knowledge, improving skills and changing attitudes in aspects related to business planning and accessing finance.

The exercises are designed for both starting and more experienced entrepreneurs, providing the possibility to share experiences and knowledge. At the same time the training includes more advanced modules such as valuation and negotiation for entrepreneurs.

The process and the following steps
BiD Network developed the training material and piloted it with 4 of our International Partners in Mexico, Tanzania, Colombia and Uganda in 2011. 66 entrepreneurs, 10 representatives of International Partners and 5 members of the staff of BiD Network participated. The outcome of the pilot was very positive for the entrepreneurs as well as for the following steps and lessons learned for BiD Network and the partners. Entrepreneurs indicated that the training was highly interactive and contained relevant and new material for them. A majority of entrepreneurs mentioned that they wanted to make major changes to their business plans as a result of the week-long training. International partners indicated that the materials were well-organized, contained easy-to-use trainer instructions, and that the didactic methods used were the right ones for their target groups. They have indicated that there is a lot of potential to use the materials also to generate income for their organizations.

After this pilot BiD Network conducted several “Train the Trainer” sessions in Liberia, Mexico and Burundi to train and license local partners in deploying the material. The licensing process is meant to ensure the quality of the trainer. In Liberia, Mexico and Kenya the International Partners have already been licensed and the staff is ready to provide training to the entrepreneurs. In the course of 2012 we expect to have licensed all of our International Partners and have their staff provide trainings locally. At the moment all of the material is being translated to other languages and further deployed in our focus countries.

Both, the pilot in Mexico, Tanzania, Colombia and Uganda as well as the “Train the Trainer” session in Burundi, showed to be of great value for both the entrepreneurs and the international partners.

Feedback from entrepreneurs and candidate trainers

“I will always be thankful for our victory at ‘Farmers in Business Challenge’, and I will always be grateful for the contribution of Ready4Finance training towards that success.” Kiwanuka Richard Ntambi, Winner of Farmers in Business Challenge 2011, Uganda

“These trainings are very well laid out as they expect the trainer to be a typical facilitator, letting participants give their own examples, letting them discover mistakes in the course of the exercise and then helping them correct them.” Christian Nibasumba, Burundi, Candidate Trainer Ready4Finance

“The trainings will be very useful to the entrepreneurs I will be working with during the next year. There are many people here in Rwanda with brilliant ideas that are feasible and profitable but they lack the knowledge and skills to put them on paper and start their own businesses.” Hervé Kubwimana, Rwanda, Candidate Trainer Ready4Finance

“Attending the training helped me to learn different strategies of financing my business. From the exercise on company valuation, I understood that my company value was too low. I might have given out a lot of shares to conventional investors in order to get start-up capital but the training helped me to think of how I can raise funds without giving up with my business.” Againe Sharon, AgaSha Business Network, Uganda

For more information on the Ready4Finance training program, please contact our Training and Assessment Coordinator susan.randall@bidnetwork.org Susan Randall.