A Green Entrepreneurship training workshop brought together 37 entrepreneurs from various sectors, mainly active in the management of plastic waste, the manufacture of solar equipment, energy efficiency in the transport of dairy products in rural areas and the operation of mobile solar kiosks. The workshop also brought to practice 19 “Start and Improve your Business” (SIYB) Programme (GERME) trainers.
GERME (Gérez mieux votre entreprise) is a management training programme developed by the International Labour Organization (ILO) with a focus on starting and improving small businesses with the objective to create more sustainable jobs for women and men, especially in emerging economies. It allows entrepreneurs to develop and improve their skills in procurement, stock management, marketing, cost estimation, maintenance of accounting records, planning of activities and human resources management.
With a well-estimated awareness program in more than 100 countries, it is one of the largest global programs in this field.
Together with the Partnership for Action of Green Economy (PAGE) and the Green Jobs Opportunity Support Program (PACEV), ILO organized a first workshop in November 2017 to further strengthen a pool of trainers from Senegal and Burkina Faso already being trained within the GERME programme. In the GERME process, the implementation of programs first passes through the trainers who later accompany the ultimate beneficiaries.
At this second stage of the training, the trainers provided coaching for female and male entrepreneurs, with the support of an SIYB master trainer. The training provided the basis for promoting the integration of the environmental dimension in the supply, production and marketing functions of existing companies’ goods and services; orientation towards green business ideas and, where appropriate, the creation of green businesses in Senegal.
Important and interesting results were obtained on the knowledge of environmental challenges, consequences and solutions; about the green business as a concept and its benefits, about the characteristics of a green entrepreneur and green business ideas; on the steps of creating a green business; on the greening of production processes and the monitoring and evaluation of the appliance.
Find out more about the Green Jobs Opportunity Support Program (PACEV), the GERME Methodology and PAGE’s and ILO’s involvement:
The Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE), supports the Green Jobs Opportunity Support Program (PACEV). PACEV (Programme d’appui à la Création d’opportunités d’Emplois Verts) is a joint program of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development and UNDP. Its purpose is to ensure the sound management of the environment and resources and to reduce poverty by creating green jobs.
ILO’s support consists of improving the skills of eco-entrepreneurs who are beneficiaries of PACEV. The objective is to reinforce their capacities in creation and management of companies oriented towards the protection of the environment.
In this support, the ILO is using the GERME Network. The GERME methodology meets the training needs of potential entrepreneurs and those in practice starting from the business idea to the improvement of management skills through the creation of viable businesses. This methodology provides a differentiated response depending on the level of education of the ultimate beneficiaries, the problem of the creation and management of companies. It is applied in more than 120 countries around the world and is placed in most training programs of governments and development organizations.
The biggest innovation in the environmental dimension has been the development of the Green Enterprise Brochure (BEV). This brochure takes into account the three dimensions of the methodology (orientation to self-employment, business creation and business management) with a “green view”. The Green Business Brochure is part of the GERME product series and the Green Jobs package from the ILO.
All images by PACEV (Programme d’appui à la création d’opportunités d’Emplois Verts)