The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank group has committed more support to the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in both strategic planning and technical support. According to IFC, there are 50 SMEs that are being supported in partnership with Access Bank. Most of the SMEs being supported and being equipped with skills on how to plan and develop businesses are clients with the bank The support was announced on Tuesday this week at Serena Hotel at the opening of a four day training program where IFC is training more than 30 business leaders in achieving long term solutions for the challenges they face. “We are equipping the SMEs with technical skills because we want them to be competitive all over the world,” said Ignace Rusengamihigo the director of IFC Rwanda. Rusengamihigo also emphasized skills development in order for the businesses to expand. About 20 trainers are being trained to help on capacity building. IFC has introduced two products that will ensure the development of small businesses. These include the business edge and the toolkit with 27 modules that will promote development. The IFC training package will include human resource management, accounting system, quality management and sales marketing. The training is a follow up of one that was organized last month on the needs assessment of small business practitioners. With business plans, IFC will facilitate small businesses which could not get loans previously to access finances from banks. Ends
