CENTRE FOR SELF-HELP DEVELOPMENT

Institute of micro-finance and cooperative development.

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Entrepreneurship Development Program for Branch Managers

A five-day specially tailored program on entrepreneurship development was organized by Centre for Self-help Development (CSD) for the Branch Managers of Swabalamban Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Ltd. from August 29 to September 2, 2022 (Bhadra13-17, 2079) at Dhulikhel. It was a TOT program intended to improve the capacity of the Branch Managers to train their own staff on how to improve the entrepreneurial skills of their member clients. The aim of the program is to make all the members entrepreneurs rather than mere borrowers. This is taken as a mechanism to get the clients out of poverty and raise their income level and standard of living by undertaking locally potential farm based activities.

The training facilitators were Mr. Gokul Pyakurel and Mr. Rajan KC who provided in-depth knowledge on the concept and importance of entrepreneurship development, the proper way to select a right business out of their potential market, identification of value-added enterprises and right way of identifying entrepreneurs. The five-day training program consisted of three days of theory and practical sessions, one day of field visit of borrowers for identifying businesses and the fifth day was spent on business plan preparation and presentation.

In a special training session, CSD Chairman Mr. Shankar Man Shrestha discussed on the current situation of the microfinance in Nepal and highlighted on the needs for the economic transformation of clients, and urgency and relevance of entrepreneurship development among microfinance members. He also emphasized the importance of microfinance institutions' role on import substitution of the country by encouraging all of their clients to become entrepreneurs and produce agro-based products so that we get self-reliant in food production. “Now, every MFI must address the issues at the branch level. Microfinance organizations must collect detail information of their clients and categorize them as a full-time, mid-level and startup entrepreneurs and also serve them accordingly. If you can turn all of your clients into entrepreneurs instead of just giving them loan, you will solve 90% of the current problems. Thirty years ago, Nepal used to export wheat, mustard and rice. We are now importing all these products from other countries. When India stopped exporting wheat, the price of wheat flour increased by 24 rupees per KG. Microfinance must boost its members' entrepreneurial skill and encourage them to start production-based businesses in order to reduce food-related imports from other countries. Another pressing need for microfinance is the development of a new and emerging generation of entrepreneurs with technical expertise for transforming current subsistence activities into commercial enterprises. You must take the lead to prepare the members' children to fulfill the future gap of smart new generation in MFIs.” Shrestha stated. He also suggested all the trainees to pass on their knowledge and skill acquired in the training to five others and then those five also should do the same and the process should move on.

Chairman Shrestha further added, “We should never take legal action against our members nor follow coercive methods to collect loan back. We must foster an entrepreneurial culture among our clients and assist them in improving their financial condition. Towards this, we should adopt a zero-tolerance policy on duplication of clients and actively work to prevent it elsewhere. As a good branch manager, you must visit your clients on a regular basis, plan your visits ahead of time and stick to your schedule. A loan should be granted only after an examination of the customer's needs and capacity. We should not compel clients to take more loans.”

Mr. Govinda Chapagain, Deputy CEO of the Swabalamban Lagubitta Bittiya Sanstha Ltd. speaks in the opening session encouraged the participants to learn from the training and apply the learnings in their jobs.

Mr. Bechan Giri, Executive Chief of the Centre for Self-help Development (CSD), in his opening remarks, stated that CSD has been working as an umbrella organization to simultaneously develop the capacity of microfinance institutions and microfinance cooperatives, and their employees. He suggested the participants to take advantage of this learning opportunity and be competent officers.

At the closing session, Mr. Narendra Singh Bista, Chief Executive officer of the Swabalamban Lagubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited, said that the five-day training course was timely and relevant in present situation and the training will help the institution in its future activities. He also instructed the branch managers attending the training program to implement the lessons learnt in the program with heart and soul. He also thanked the training team for conducting the program in a very creative manner.

Mr. Gokul Pyakurel, one of the trainers remarked that the training was intended exclusively to help the branch managers to move forward with a creative approach and hope that it will also increase the branch efficiency by developing entrepreneurship skill among the members.

The training was held at the request of the Swabalamban Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Ltd. and was attended by 33 branch managers, including 2 women and 31 men. Each of the participants had also developed a one-year action plan for his/her branch's entrepreneurship development and promised to apply the skills and knowledge gained during the training in their line of work.

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