Management training to empower and develop women entrepreneurship and SME's, Indonesia

Most of the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME's) in Indonesia are owned by women and 30% of them are run by women. Many women entrepreneurs face obstacles in improving their business, a.o. due to gender, culture, lack of knowledge on regulations, lack of skill, networks and credit access.

APINDO, the Employers' Association of Indonesia, is not very well known by the SME's in the regions. One of their objectives is to empower SME's  by improving their knowledge on business. For this reason APINDO decided –with the support of DECP-  to organize a  two day management training for Women Entrepreneurship Development (WED) in Bandung, capital of the West Java Province. In total, two of these trainings were held: one on 10-11 December and the second one on 11-12 December. A total of  145 participants took part in the training, 95% of them women.

The first day was filled with a presentation/introduction of APINDO and how APINDO can assist SME's. Also a short presentation on DECP was given by Mr. Ariefin Makaminan, Deputy Director of INA (Indonesia Netherlands Association) and PUM representative in Jakarta. At the end of the first day a company visit was made showing the participants how a developed SME should be managed.

The second day of the training was spent on role play and presentations regarding:

* Industrial relations for SME

* Implementation of Occupational Health and Safety (OSH)

* CSR and Sustainable Development

* Company and financial Management as well as access to finance

* Product and Quality improvement

* Marketing

The training was considered very informative and helpful by the participants.