Providing BDS
Dear Participants,
Welcome to the new module on this IPYET series, on Providing Business Development Services (BDS). I believe that many of us as practitioners and technicians in youth entrepreneurship in our various capacities will find the topic familiar and the discussions very rich and interesting. To start the discussion, in your view, what is the importance of BDS in youth entrepreneurship?
I invite you to share your experiences and knowledge on this subject.
Business Development Services (BDS)are“… services that improve the performance of the enterprise, its access to markets, and its ability to compete. It also includes an array of business services[such as training, consultancy, marketing, information, technology development and transfer,business linkage promotion, etc.], both strategic [medium to long term issues that improve performance] and operational [day-to-day issues]. BDS are designed to serve individual businesses, as opposed to the larger business community.”
(Committee of Donor Agencies for Small Enterprise Development, 2001)
Importance
1. Basically they encourage employment creation.
2. BDS promote economic security by creating an enabling environment for poor entrepreneurs and women to invest in nutrition, housing, health and education of their families.
3. It has the potential of increasing the profitability and promotes growth and competitiveness of enterprises which impacts directly on income levels.
4.It can contribute to development goals in the areas of economic growth and also poverty reduction.--<a href="User:Kafuiaheto">Kafuiaheto</a> 08:47, 22 March 2011 (UTC)
Hi Chirove, looks like this is going to be an interesting discussion. Be-The-Best!
Greeting from the Land of the Brave
The Namibian Experience
The Ministry of Trade and Industry in collaboration with the Financial Institutions in Namibia have taken a keen interest in creating the most conducive environment and support mechanisms to allow business to thrive as a result, in Namibia there is a significant increase in the provision of Business Development Services (BDS) in recent years.
These services are very important to youth entrepreneurs in Namibia because they offer a platform to access services include training, advice, mentorship, coaching, business planning packages, business infrastructures as well as financial services. SMME Development Services which are supporting youth in business (who often don't have collateral) in their efforts to access loans from mainstream banks has been established, whereby young people are also receiving the above-mentioned assistance to start or expand their businesses and create additional employment opportunities.
Hello Mr Chirove Good topic indeed. Business Development Services are Services which are commonly used by business men and women in order for them to operate effectively and efficiently and grow their businesses with a view of contributing to economic growth,employment generation and poverty alleviation using information,training,business conselling,etc.
IMPORTANCE
It enables Entrepreneurs to create employment
It helps in reducing poverty
It also improves the income levels of businessmen and women.
In my view BDS helps to provide focus and sustainibility to a youth enterprise.
Gabriel, Zambia
To me, BDS provide parental guide for the young entrepreneur.
Dear Chirove, Thanks for moderating this interesting topic, which is one of the backbone for any business development process as well as in growth stage (micro, small, medium and large enterprises). Especially for the youth led enterprises, the BDS provision is most. Practically youth entrepreneurs need more than access to credit., they equally need to know how to develop their business plan, business management, management of business finances (budgeting), time management, , improving sales, managing and reducing costs, , stock control techniques, marketing etcs.
Basically youth Enterprises needed the most integrated business support services like appropriate Skills training, Business counselling/Mentor support. Access to MIS, as well as Business expansion support. Therefore, effective BDS provision is one of the important elements for youth entrepreneurship development and for their sustainability .
Would like to hear more from other colleagues!!! With best Regards, Ekanath
Hi Chirove ,
Business Development Services(BDS) are services rendered by entrepreneurs to help them operate efficiently and grow their businesses with the purpose of contributing to economic growth, employment generation.examples are; Business plan, Export promotion, Business counselling, Poverty alleviation, Technical assistance etc
BDS in youth entreprenuership is a vital key mainly to help the youth to develop their business plan,to render technical assistance where necessary, improve productivity, which is important in employment creation for youth,etc
I like your point where you say BDS can lead to employment creation for the youth. This is critical as there are not many jobs available for youths. So if BDS can enable them to create jobs for themselves and other youths that is very important in the economy of the nation and alsoin keeping youths from harmful vices.
Hi Chirove and Hi All,
Business Development Services (BDS) are very important for the survival of youth entrepreneurship, because majority of youth entrepreneurs are small scale business owners who are faced with the challenges of starting and managing a business. The youth entrepreneurs have more challenges because they are the group of small business owners that usually have less funds and little of the experience needed to run and grow a successful business, and so provision of a range of services( information, training, counselling, consultancy, buisness linkages , ICT, etc) that will enhance their abilities to run their business and also promote the growth of their enterprise, is essential for their continuous existence.
(from the working paper, International best practice in micro and small enterprise development, prepared by 'Maurice Allal', has been produced as part of the ILO/UNDP 'Support for Policy and Programme Development project on Micro and Small Enterprise Development and Poverty Alleviation in Thailand (THA/99/003)'.)
Business development services (BDS) refer to the provision of information, knowledge and skills, as well as advice on the various aspects of a business. This definition of BDS implies a conscious action performed by the service provider for the benefit of the receiver of the service. Thus, the action of an individual using savings for establishing a business may not be considered as a "financial service". Similarly, information obtained inadvertently by an entrepreneur (e.g. on a supplier of materials) may not be considered an "information service". This is an important distinction that is not made by some practitioners who tend to use the term business development services whether a service provider is involved or not.
BDS are provided to help owners of enterprises get new ideas on how to improve their business through, for example, increasing productivity, reducing production costs, or accessing a more profitable market. These services include the transfer of information in various forms through, for example, consulting services or special events (e.g. exhibitions and trade fairs). The impact of this category of BDS depends on how the owners of enterprises make use of the new ideas.
Dear Rabrod,
Many thanks for the additonal information and referenching. As indicated, this is field that is developing and practice sometimes in countries and specific situations have been implemented with varioations based on local contexts. We all want to do somthing that works in our country or setting isn't it? Jealous
In my view,
BDS are realy important in youth entreprenurship, for example, this has been my experience for my organisation. we started off as a small enterprise in 1998 and worked as youths who only had skills in carpentry and no knowledge about business management etc.
But as we went on some organisations started providing information in regard to what we need to put in plce such as the first thing was legality, we were advised to register our organisation as an NGO and letter we were also advised to register as a training centre in order to qualify to offer training to fellow youths.
After registrations the benefit of us having registered our organisation, we started benefiting from TEVETA were most of our Instructors were sent for training. after training of the instructors, the traini9ng at the centre improved and we could manage to raise enough income to sustain the instructors.
on the other hand we did not have adiquente equipment, space, materials and operational funds. we learned a number of skills which includes the proposal writing, stretegic plannning, etc. we receved funding from various donors from our start to now the organisation has received funds more than Euros 200,000.
the BDS, that our organisation received was mainly not in form of money, but was mostly in form of , staff training, providing of equipment, and space as well as advise from many partners including those we are working with in terms of ICTs.
The importance attached here are that, the BDS will enable an enterprise grow and be able to employ, contribute to national economy.
Dear Rabrod,
Many thanks for sharing your experience in this elaborate manner. Your experience points to one more point which we need to make, 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.
Hi Chirove
In my view, Business development services are services that help in improving the performance of entrepreneurs, expand, sustenance of youth enterprises and it enables young men and women to participate actively and fully in their society and economy.
Creation of employment and Poverty alleviation.
hello Jelous, I addition to what collegues have already said, I think the provision of BDS services to youth enterprises is one of the critical factors for success. It enables them to diagnose problems early in the business and address them for business growth. I believe BDS is the soft capacity required that enables finances and availability of markets to work for young people.--Smauye 06:18, 23 March 2011 (UTC)
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
Thanks Chirove for touching the key issues of making database of BDS providers including their products and services that they are offering in the markets. It will help support youth enterprises to select the appropriate services . Sometime B2B linkages would be the ideal place to include the both BDS supply side and demand side aspects
In my view,the importance of BDS in youth entrepreneurship can be seen by first defining BDS. Business Development Services (BDS) are generally defined as:
“… services that improve the performance of the enterprise, its access to markets, and its ability to compete. The definition of ’business development service’… includes an array of business services [such as training, consultancy, marketing, information, technology development and transfer, business linkage promotion, etc.], both strategic [medium to long term issues that improve performance] and operational [day-to-day issues]. BDS are designed to serve individual businesses, as opposed to the larger business community.”
(Committee of Donor Agencies for Small Enterprise Development, 2001)
From this definition it can be noted that BDS encompasses a wide array of services which are critical to the development and growth of an enterprise. It is most likely that not many youths may have had the necessary business developement knowledge and skills. Some youths could be grade 7 or 9 dropouts or those that have not gotten places in higher education. So BDS helps bridge that gap by enabling the youth entrepreneurs have the basic and significant business services that can lead to a sustainable business as opposed to one that fails to survive due to lack of necessary business skills and know-how.
Hi! Chivore and the rest of the team.
According to country's definition , these are services that are used by entrepreneurs to help them set up,operate, grow their businesses efficiently, hence contributing our EDD strategy.
I would say after several years of working as a youth activist, I have realized that BDS is very very important in youth entrepreneurship, some years back young people used to get grants from the government without the assistance of the BDS ending up with businesses which are not sustainable. But now with the assistance of BDS young people's businesses are able to grow and be sustainable.
Cheers!!!!!
Goodday
From WJ Mbongwe
The Importance of BDS in Youth Entrepreneurship
Busuness Development Services are very important to youth entrepreuship in the sense that these programeme or iniatiaves help to nurture to young person to mature businesswise and be able to withstand challenges associeted with starting or runnning a business
Hello Collueges, In my view, the importance of Business Development Services underscores the whole essence of a business venture. These are tested and trusted initiatives that guide the Entrepreneures in their quest to create wealth, generate employment and eradicate poverty through self employment. The BDS is a road map that when properly followed, can lead to the achivevement of dreams and aspirations of youth Entrepreneures.
BDS (the provision of services and products to entrepreneurs) is very important because it helps their businesses grow and raise their profits. While it is true that some businesses have grown without seeking BDS, for most young entrepreneurs, the lack of information, training infratsructure, etc has been the greates challenge to starting or expanding their businesses
Mulakom, you are right. But I do not know how readily available how BDS providers are in your country, and their costs. Few exists in Ghana, are often expensive for young entrepreneurs to access.
BDS are very important because they provide the support services often required by the entrepreneurs in undertaking and sustaining their businesses. Young entrepreneurs could even obtain more business ideas or refine what they possess through the BDS.
Please we need to be careful and in our training sessions emphasize on who and what sort of services young entrepreneurs should expect from BDS. I am of the view that quality business advice should not be expensive. In choosing BDS providers young entrepreneurs should look out for those who understand their business philosophy, their vision and goals.They could check for the track record of such providers.
