More than 50 entrepreneurs from Pavlodar city and region took part in a one day workshop organised by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The event focused on the use of services offered by outsourced consultants, how they can benefit companies and the opportunities consulting can bring regarding increasedeffectiveness and the development of small and medium business.
The workshop, Consulting Opportunities for Entrepreneurs from the Pavlodar Region, entailed a series of free presentations, master classes and business games describing modern innovation in business management. The programme of the event also included sessions dedicated to project and business process management, marketing, lean manufacturing, Kaizen (Japanese for “good change”) and small and medium-sized (SME) business automatisation and human resource management.
Business people from the Pavlodar region, as well as their peers from Karaganda, Kostanai, Almaty and Astana, learned about the importance of external expertise for business development, increasing the overall performance of an enterprise, developing administrative processes, improving the knowledge and skills of businessmen and increasing the efficiency and competitiveness of the enterprise.
The event coincided with the beginning of a new EBRD information campaign in Pavlodarfocused on the importance of consultancy and external advice for small- and medium-sized businesses. The Know How Campaign, as it is called, is being offered in 25 countries across southern and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, North Africa and the Middle East, including Russia and Mongolia, in 2014.
In addition to financing, the EBRD provides business advice and industry expertise to small and medium-sized enterprises as part of a three-year programme funded by the Kazakh government called Business RoadMap2020. The bank is very involved in a state programme called Strengthening the Potential of Enterprise. Representatives of the EBRD in Kazakhstan explained to businessmen how they can get a grant covering up to 75 percent of the full cost of such consulting up to a maximum of $12,950 (€10,000) per project.
The EBRD in Kazakhstan has been advising small and medium-sized firms across the country on business matters since 1998. To date, it has helped almost 1,000 enterprises by utilising more than $18.1 million (€14 million) in donor funding and $8.2 million (€6.3 million) in cost-sharing contributions from client enterprises.
