BiD Network - an on-line community for small business in developing countries now counts over 1900 members and counting...
The Business in Development Network (www.bidnetwork.org) probably the world's first on-line community for poverty reduction and entrepreneurship was launched on January 5th 2006 by the NCDO of the Netherlands. The network has over 1900 members and gets over 400 visits a day. Plans for the BiD Challenge are being submitted from around the world.
The BiD Network an initiative of the Dutch National Committe for International Cooperation and Sustainable Development (NCDO)aims to engage the private sector in commercial forms of poverty reduction. Thierry Sanders, programme coordinator at NCDO, "Development by charity and subsidies is not sustainable in the long run. Business is the prime motor of economic growth in all countries worldwide, more specifically it is small business (SMEs) that comprise 75% of all companies in any country. They employ around 60% of the workforce. Yet finance and support for them is hard to come by. The large and the micro businesses get a large proportion of the attention. Mircofinance is important for poverty reduction, but support to businesses in the range of 2 to 250 employees is one of the keys to economic development. The BiD Network will do its part in making small business visible, attractive and bankable."
We're doing our part to make it happen - now you can do your part by conributing your business plans for poverty reduction and your expertise or finance to the BiD Challenge www.bidnetwork.org/challenge - the world's first business plan competition for poverty reduction and entrepreneurship.
JOIN and MAKE IT HAPPEN !
This site www.businessindevelopment.nl will be replaced by www.bidnetwork.org by Febraury 2006.
