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A preliminary evaluation of the world's largest skills enhancement program for entrepreneurs

Moremong-Nganunu, Topyame, Hindle, Kevin and Cunningham, Everada 2006, A preliminary evaluation of the world's largest skills enhancement program for entrepreneurs, in AGSE 2006 : Regional frontiers of entrepreneurship research 2006 : Proceedings of the 3rd Regional Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research conference, 2006, AGSE, [Auckland, New Zealand], pp. 1-22.

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Title A preliminary evaluation of the world's largest skills enhancement program for entrepreneurs
Alternative title A critical description of the world's largest skills enhancement program for entrepreneurs : a predicate to program evaluation
Author(s) Moremong-Nganunu, Topyame
Hindle, Kevin
Cunningham, Everada
Conference name Regional Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research. Conference (3rd : 2006 : Auckland, New Zealand)
Conference location Auckland, New Zealand
Conference dates 8-10 Feb. 2006
Title of proceedings AGSE 2006 : Regional frontiers of entrepreneurship research 2006 : Proceedings of the 3rd Regional Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research conference, 2006
Publication date 2006
Start page 1
End page 22
Publisher AGSE
Place of publication [Auckland, New Zealand]
Summary Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) is an entrepreneurial training program created, sponsored and disseminated by the International Labour Organization. SIYB is, arguably, the world’s largest skills enhancement program for entrepreneurs. SIYB has been in operation since the early 1970s and currently operates in almost 80 countries. During the last decade, more than 100,000 entrepreneurs, thousands of trainers and hundreds of small enterprise development organizations around the world have participated in it (Samuelsen 2003). Surprisingly for an education program of this magnitude and potential global importance, there has been relatively little program evaluation performed. What evaluation has been conducted has been unsystematic, qualitative and unsatisfactory (Harper 1985).

Meanwhile, in the nation of Botswana, since the mid seventies, there has been a huge growth in programs devoted to the training of small and medium entrepreneurs. The SIYB program has formed a significant component of this entrepreneurial training effort in Botswana (ILO 1996). SIYB training was initially supported by the United Nations and later by the Botswana government. Since its introduction into Botswana in1983, the SIYB program has been evaluated only once, in 1993 (Samuelsen 2003). The methods used (subjective questionnaire administered to an unsystematic sample of past participants) fails to provide a satisfactory evaluation of the program. So, in Botswana and worldwide, the world’s largest entrepreneurial training program continues to run in the absence of any knowledge concerning its efficacy. This paper describes the various elements of the SIYB program and places it in the context of the data-rich Botswanan environment. The descriptive work is a necessary predicate to creation of a research design capable of providing the detailed, critical program evaluation that has been so conspicuously lacking throughout the history of the SIYB initiative.
ISBN 9780855908171
0855908173
Language eng
Field of Research 150399 Business and Management not elsewhere classified
Socio Economic Objective 910499 Management and Productivity not elsewhere classified
HERDC Research category E3.1 Extract of paper
Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30029653

Document type: Conference Paper
Collection: School of Management and Marketing
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