Thread:Providing BDS (16)

Many thanks to you all for the comprehensive discussion on the topic, and the experiences shared. Your discussions have touched on many aspects of the topic. I would like to take advantage of this opprotunity to make one point which might be beneficial to all of us. One point which we probably need ot make is that, in reality BDS for small scale entrepreneurs are facilitated by various and different players. One can provide an aspect of it such as business training, another provider will look at another area such as market information and yet another on facilitating access to finance. This means as BDS providers, we need to know who is providing and what and where, and develoip linkages with other providers. This can lead to a referral mechanism if an entrepreneur needs something which we can not provide. In addition, as facilitators we need to have a directory of various providers so that we can refer young people accordingly. This is an important point so that we can provide or facilitate comprehensive support to our target groups. Jealous