Small

1
Small Medium Enterprise (SME) Development

• Hugh Elford
• Managing Director, Consultancy Solutions Ltd
• Director, Training Revolution Ltd
• attending with the
• British Trade Mission to Rebuild Iraq 2004
• organised by
• South of England Exporters Association
• and UK Trade Investment

2
Personal Introduction

• Original career in telecommunications
• Formed Consultancy Solutions Ltd (CSL) in
  late 1995
• Founded Training Revolution Ltd 2003 as 50
  owner
• More than 13 years in consultancy
• Experience in Bosnia, Egypt, Oman, UAE

3
Company Introductions

• Consultancy Solutions www.consulting-uk.com
• Database of more than 800 freelance
  consultants from many disciplines
• Organises and manages specially selected teams
  to work on contracted assignments for clients
• Experience of SME Development work in Egypt
• Other experience in Bosnia, Jordan, Oman, UAE,
  USA etc
• Training Revolution www.training-revolution.co.
  uk
• Organises training through 19 partner
  companies
• Courses available on large range of subjects
  from business to technology
• If the course doesnt exist, we will create it
  for you!

4
Topics

• Some personal views and experience
• My view on smaller British companies working
  with Iraq SMEs
• My experience of SME development programmes,
  based on Egypt

5
Working in Iraq

• Of course! Many willing and experienced UK
  partners, but..
• Security
• Accessibility
• Facilities
• Partners
• Funding

6
Experience

• Need for donor-funded programmes
• Targeted support to private sector
• Component approach
• Business Upgrading
• Institutional Development
• Strategic Marketing Groups
• Development of Quality Standards
• Training

7
Business Upgrading

• Consultancy support in companies
• Owners vision for the future
• Develop overall business strategy
• Develop supporting plans for products,
  marketing, resources, technology etc
• Work out implementation plan
• Win support, find the money
• Get on with it!

8
Institutional Development

• Very important build for the future
• Encourage membership, mutual support and
  cooperation
• Set high standards, help companies to achieve
  them
• Learn from other countries institutions
  international dimension

9
Strategic Marketing Groups

• Central support to coordinate
• Organise within sectors, eg food
• Meet regularly, networking with others
• Learn from others, share costs
• Support local business strengths
• Missions to other countries

10
Quality Standards

• International Standards ISO 9000 and 14000
  etc
• Very important, especially for exports
• Difficult to achieve for smaller companies
• Hard to keep standards high
• Need for QA specialists in country

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Training

• May be the most important part of SME
  Development?
• Provide a training school with financial
  support for at least 5 years
• Short courses on all business topics at every
  level
• Related directly to local needs
• Instructors from outside initially
• Train the Trainer

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• www.consulting-uk.com
• Questions?
• www.training-revolution.co.uk