Business Development Services (BDS) Forum

 The 6-Pack for SME Development

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The "Six Pack" for small and medium enterprises (SME) development gives you the opportunity to make your SME development project functionnal in a short time frame: Introduce the BDS approach, agree with partner organizations and train BDS facilitators (two months). After two months you are completely operational for con-crete services on the ground: start the first 6-month BDS -cycle. Simoultaneously implement the other products, especially M+E and networ-king. After eight months you will get the first documented results.

Product description 1: The 6-month BDS Cycle Approach.  Demand-driven Business Development Services (BDS)  product1-six-month-bds-cycles.pdf
90 KB. The demand driven 6-month BDS cycle approach is a participatory method comprising of situation and problem analysis and action planning (one month) and the implementation of services to overcome the identified business constraints (five months). The business owners are assisted by BDS facilitators of partner organizations to identify their main business constraints and to suggest own solutions. The BDS facilitator assists them with refining the owners' proposals and forwards additional problem-solving service interventions in collaboration with BDS providers.  

Product description 2: Internet based BDS and Business Information Portals
product2-bds-internet-portals.pdf 94 KB. Different BDS and business information media - such as Internet BDS Portals, CD-ROM BDS Portals, Email based BDS newsletters and printed handbooks - provide the necessary background information for business counselling, strategy discussion, experience exchange and networking on meso level. They complete the Business Development Services (BDS) of business consultants on enterprise micro level.

Product description 3: Bottom-up Organizational Development and Capacity Building of Partner Organisations  product3-bottom-up-od.pdf 80 KB. The bottom-up organizational development is a simple tool to improve the service delivery performance and management of partner organisations. Start with the existing management system of the organization and improve step by step (bottom-up). Do not force an external management system to a local structure (top-down).

Product description 4: Don't make always the same mistakes in Networking  
product4-networking.pdf 90 KB. Creating a Business Development Services (BDS) Network. The SME/BDS network will be a forum of experience exchange, coordination and policy dialogue between public and private institutions and entrepreneurs. Avoid heavily formalised structure of Network. Structures with President, Secretary, Board of members, Membership fees etc. are not absolutely necessary for efficient networking. Main purpose of networking is experience exchange and coordination. For this, periodical meetings e.g. 3-monthly meetings are sufficient and should not be formalised by rules and regulations.  

Product description 5: Monitoring and Evaluation System for international programmes and projects product5-m+e-development-projects.pdf 73 KB.
One problem in the recent M+E discussion is that emphasis is made exclusively on "Impact evaluation". "Activity monitoring" is too boring for a "scientific-based" M+E discussion. But in our understanding activity monitoring is the basis of impact evaluation: How can you evaluate the performance and quality of a programme if you do not know what and how much has been done? Our M+E system includes activity monitoring as well
as impact evaluation and M+E document management.

Product description 6: Monitoring and Evaluation System for local partner organizations product6-m+e-local-partner-organizations.pdf 81 KB. Taking into account that your partner organizations do not have the financial and management capacities of an international project, you will know that you cannot force a international high level M+E system on a local structure. That is why basic activity monitoring by basic data collection and basic impact evaluation by periodical SWOT analysis meetings will give you better results than the useless attempt to get everything. Together with the "folder method" you will have immediate and complete overview on the existing M+E systems of your
partner organizations involved.

All in One: Products 1-6 in one document
sixpack-for-sme-development.pdf 260 KB

Ethiopian BDS Network, Addis Ababa 2004
20 Success Stories on Business Development Services
bds-success-stories10-2004-web.pdf  580 Kb

Dieter Gagel, Addis Ababa 2003
Introducing counselling services to customers of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia bds-cbe-workshop-10-03.doc Example of BDS with medium and large companies 1,2 Mb

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