Newsletter October, 2009

IN ThIS ISSUE NUmbEr 10

• Special note from UNCTADSecretary-General

• e New "Look" in PolicyCircles Around the World

• Directors meeting in Jor-dan.

• Empretec regional Train-ing of Trainers: Nigeriaand brazil

• Dominican republic:Xiomara, the youngest Em-pretec trainer

• Empretec and businesslinkages in Zambia

• Ugandan youth takes upbusiness challenges.

• International events

• regional events

• Networking

• What's happening in theworld wide Empretec com-munity?

UNCTAD's Empretec programme provides a one-stop-shop forinformation and business training. By stimulating public-privatesector partnerships and developing an institution with a forward-looking advisory board, Empretec centres play a major role in

connecting entrepreneurs with institutions.Wherever implemented, the training workshops create lifelongbonds that are essential for future business growth, forming acritical mass of successful, committed entrepreneurs who then

become the driving force of the project.

Since the 1980s, developing oun-tries have been facing the twinchallenges of how to seize the in-creasing trade and nvestment op-portunities brought about byglobalization and economic liber-alization, and how to upgrade their

productive capacity to meet globalstandards. Global competition isputting great pressure on smalland medium sized enterprises(SMEs), which constitute the en-gine of most developingeconomies, but are ill-equipped tocompete in increasingly competi-tive international markets.

SMEs are a major source of em-ployment and income, and stimu-late broad-based and equitabledevelopment. To achieve a moreinclusive and sustainable global-ization, therefore, it is crucial toprepare SMEs to succeed in aworld of sustained competition,continuous innovation and in-creasingly sophisticated productand trade standards.

Special note from UNCTAD Secretary-GeneralSupachai Panitchpakdi on the occasion of the 20th

anniversary of Empretec Argentina:

Since its inception in Argentina in1988, UNCTAD's Empretec pro-gramme has offered support toSMEs to achieve these objectives.We are grateful to the EmpretecArgentina Foundation - our firstEmpretec centre - for its pioneer-ing spirit, its loyalty to the Em-pretec philosophy and for itslong-lasting commitment to thecause of SME development. We are

also grateful to the Banco de laNación for its extended supportand for being UNCTAD's Empreteccounterpart in Argentina for morethan 20 years. Over the last twodecades, Empretec Argentina hasbeen developing skills with a newfocus on technology-orientedSMEs, adapting the entrepreneur-ship training to the rural settingand establishing partnerships. e

Empretec Argentina Foundationhas evolved into a facilitator ofpublic-private sector partnershipsfor SME development.

UNCTAD and Fundación Ar-gentina look forward to introduc-ing new innovative ideas toincrease SME development and en-gage in several more decades offruitful and effective cooperation..

e Washington Post writes: Ac-counting giant Ernst & Young pulledout charts and graphs at a recentpower lunch in Washington with fe-male lawmakers to argue a provoca-tive bottom line: Companies withmore women in senior managementroles make more money. e latestissue of Foreign Policy magazinesweepingly predicts the "death ofmacho." Economists at Davos thisyear speculated that the presence ofmore women on Wall Street mighthave averted the downturn. estudies Ernst & Young rounded upshow that women can make the dif-ference between economic success

and failure in the developing world,between good and bad decision-making in the industrialized world,and between profit and loss in thecorporate world.

is gender-centered trend seemsto be reverberating in global eco-nomic circles. Once again, theUnited Nations is well ahead ofthe curve, by 15 years. From 1 to12 March 2010, the Commissionon the Status of Women will un-dertake a 15-year review of theimplementation of the BeijingDeclaration and Platform for Ac-tion and the outcomes of the

e New "Look" in Policy Circles Around the Worlde Washington Post Sunday, July 12, 2009

By Katty Kay and Claire Shipman.Fixing the Economy? It's Women's Work.

twenty-third special session of theGeneral Assembly. Emphasis willbe placed on the gender perspec-tive towards the full realization ofthe Millennium DevelopmentGoals, taking stock of the progressmade on gender equality andwomen's empowerment, dis-cussing and sharingpolicy design and implementationbased on successful experiences inengendering economic and labourmarket policies. UNCTAD will takepart in the Beijing review. Simon-etta Zarrilli will represent UNC-TAD as the Gender and TradeFocal point, and she will also carrythe voice of the Empretec commu-nity.Send your inputs, ideas to simon-etta.zarrilli@unctad.org.

News: Empretec Women in Busi-ness Award 2010 rolls out 40!!!!Nominations have been forwardedfor the Empretec Women in Busi-ness Award 2010. Amazing stories,jostling to be heard. anks to Em-pretec Argentina, Benin, Brazil,Botswana, Chile, Dominican Re-public, Ethiopia, El Salvador,Ghana, Guatemala, Guyana , Jor-dan, Nigeria, the United Republicof Tanzania, Uganda, Uruguay, theBolivarian Republic of Venezuelaand Zimbabwe.

Directors meetingin Jordan

Empretec regional Training of Trainers:Nigeria and brazil

e Empretec Director's meetingtakes place in Amman, Jordan26-28 October 2009, hosted byEmpretec Jordan and BDC. ereare meetings on the 26 and 27,with a study tour to Petra andthe Dead Sea on the 28th.

e directors' meeting will dealwith the crises in the globaleconomy. For instance, a moder-ated interactive session allowingthe directors to "practice whatthey preach" by using Empretec'sown methodology to strategizinghow the Empretec centresaround the world can addressthese issues and better assisttheir entrepreneurs to not onlysurvive these uncertain timesbut to succeed. A workshop onbest practices reviews progressachieved by the different centresand building on their strengths;directors selected follow-up ac-tions. e directors also takestock on fundraising, trainingand outreach material and im-pact assessment. e EmpretecAlumni Jordan join for a specialrepeat workshop.

Two regional Training of Train-ers workshops took place this sum-mer. e goal of the workshopswas to train trainers in how to ef-fectively trim the original 10-dayEntrepreneurial Training Work-shop to six days. is workshophas been highly anticipated asmost directors welcomed the op-portunity to give shorter Entrepre-neurial Training Workshop butwere keen on not losing any of theimpact of the longer version.

e main goals of the Trainingof Trainers workshop were to:

• Standardize procedures amongthe Empretec community accord-ing to UNCTAD directives on theEntrepreneurial Training Work-shop methodology and a specialsurvey developed by SEBRAEBrazil;

• Achieve more effective resultsfor the enterprises; and

• Prepare the Empretec Centres towork with the six-day version ofthe Entrepreneurial TrainingWorkshop.

e first regional workshop washeld from 1 to 4 July 2009 in

Abuja, Nigeria. It was graciouslyhosted by the Nigeria EmpretecFoundation under the supervisionof the director, Mrs. Onari Duke,and Victor Konde of UNCTAD.Roberto Gandara and Renato San-tos were the International Train-ers. e activities were carried outwith 28 participants from 8 coun-tries in partnership with SEBRAEand UNCTAD.

e second Training of Trainerstook place in Rio de Janeiro from12 to 15 August 2009 with 28 par-ticipants from 9 Latin Americancountries. e international train-ers were Sandro Morales and Clau-dio Forner.

e workshop was unique in thesense that it was rare to have sucha number of ETW trainers gath-ered in a single room to shareideas and compare notes on whatthey thought they had been doingright for many years. e criticalself-assessment of the participantsprovided a great mirror to all tosee themselves in the proper light.

e philosophy behind themethodology is so important and

central to the successful imple-mentation of the EntrepreneurialTraining Workshop programme,and the refresher course came atthe right time for both long-termand new trainers alike to revisetheir notes.

It was noted that this Trainingof Trainers should occur regionallyevery year. It was also recom-mended by various centres thatUNCTAD should implement thestandardization of the certificationof trainers.

Dominican republic: Xiomara, the youngestEmpretec trainer, with an amazing talent

Xiomara is good at motivatingpeople. at is how she addressespeople on Facebook, invitingthem to attend the Empretectraining in Santo Domingo, theDominican Republic: (www.face-book.empretecdominicana)

Do you have good ideas and yetyou have not managed to startyour own enterprise?

Are you dreaming of your fi-nancial independence and beingyour own boss?

Have you always felt that only

little bit is missing to meet yourobjectives?

Empretec is an intensive expe-rience, interactive and transform-ing, that looks at how to evaluate,put in practice and strengthen theentrepreneurial behaviours thatimprove the performance of amanager and the business. eparticipants join with a challenge:critically examine your personalstrengths and weaknesses andapply them to generate thechange you need.

Empretec and business linkages in Zambia Two work-shops took place in Zambia on business Linkages:

• 12 October 2009 - a workshop for policymakers in Lusaka, target-ing parliamentarians and key staff in relevant ministries (e.g. na-tional planning, finance, industry, etc.) on the need to providesupport for and encourage entrepreneurship and the formationof business linkages;

• 14-15 October 2009 - a technical workshop in Siavonga, for direc-tors or heads of institutions that are or may be involved in sup-porting and implementing business linkages in theirorganizations or among their members, such as investment pro-motion, entrepreneurship and SME agencies, heads of incubatorprogrammes and selected banks and private sector players. eworkshop was conducted by Fiorina Mugione, UNCTAD; FaustoCassemiro of Proyecto Vinculos Brazil; and Noemi Lintini of theZambia Development Agency;

Empretec Zambia is mentored by Empretec Zimbabwe.

Ugandan youth takes upbusiness challenges

Youth in Uganda is embracingentrepreneurship. EnterpriseUganda is inspiring young peopleto start their own business. Re-sults are stunning. Uganda is nostranger to crisis: the countryhas dealt with the challengesarising from the present globalrecession in the context of its ef-forts at tackling issues-poverty,civil unrest and unemployment.Yet, with no credit available,youth are starting new smallbusinesses.

International events:• e Global Entrepreneurship Week takes place around the world 16-22 November 09. e United Nations

Agencies in Geneva (UNCTAD, the International Labour Organization, the United Nations Development Pro-gramme, the Untied Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the United Nations Industrial DevelopmentOrganization and others) are collaborating to put together an event at the United Nations offices in Genevaduring Global Entrepreneurship Week. e event will include a kickoff reception followed by a week-long dis-play in one of the main areas of the United Nations building. e display will highlight the entrepreneurshipwork of the various United Nations agencies and will provide an opportunity for the delegations of the 192member countries of the United Nations to learn more about the importance of entrepreneurship and theUnited Nations' work in this area;

• e Donor Committee on Enterprise Development will take place in New York on 18 and 19 November 09;

• e Multi-Year Expert Meeting on Entrepreneurship Policy and Capacity Building on Science, Technologyand Innovation will take place in Geneva 20-22 January 2010. Nominations of experts to participate shouldbe channeled through the official United Nations missions of your countries in Geneva.

regional events:• Empretec Regional Training of Trainers will take place in South Africa 7-11 December 09;• A study tour on Business Linkages will take place in Brazil in December 09.

Networking• Facebook group for Latin American Trainers: EMPRETEC - Instructores Latino América;• Your pictures at : UNCTAD's new global Flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/empretec/.

What's happening in the world wide Empretec community?• Our first centre, Empretec Argentina, celebrates 20 years of existence!• BDC President and CEO, Mr. Nayef Z. Stetieh, has been appointed as a Member in Jordan Higher Education

Council (HEC);• UNCTAD will visit the Empretec Centres in Botswana and Nigeria in December 09;• e Empretec Africa Forum reviews its business plan under the leadership of Busi Bango of Empretec Zim-

babwe;• Dominican Republic - official launch of the Empretec centre will take place in November 2009;• Enterprise Uganda is host of the Global Entrepreneurship Week in Uganda;• Empretec Peru partners with Instituto Peruano de Acción Empresarial (IPAE) and undertakes the first

ETWs in collaboration with Empretec Uruguay;• Empretec counterpart in the United Republic of Tanzania is the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation, which

has offered to host the Empretec programme for a 12 month pilot phase. Two workshops take place before-the end of the year;

• Empretec Zambia takes strides supported by Empretec Zimbabwe, and one Entrepreneurial Training Work-shop before year's end;

• Millennium Development Goals Fund projects kick off in Viet Nam and Panama. Recruitment of project'scoordinators is taking place!

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