Training programme to boost SMEs productivity

SME's make up more than 80 percent of Sri Lanka's business and accounts for 35 percent of its employment, according to World Bank's Country Director to Sri Lanka Naoko Ishii.

For Sri Lanka, the small and medium business sector could be considered a contradiction in terms, because it also happens to be the largest sector within the nation's commerce.

However, despite being a majority stakeholder in Sri Lanka's economy, the SME sector is notoriously of high risk. According to statistics published by Small Business Administration, a staggering 70 percent of new businesses fail within the first two years of trading. It may be relatively easy to start a new business, but what is the secret to sustaining that business over the longer term? How do you survive the challenges of competitive markets, rising costs and the inevitable imposition of business regulations and legislation? One of the biggest issues for this sector is how to raise their productivity whilst improving working conditions without compromising on the health and safety of their workers. For many in this group, the health and safety practices and stipulations that are implemented by larger companies are either not practical or simply too expensive for small operations to afford.

On November 21-22, the EFC in collaboration with the ILO will aim to dispel the myth that good working conditions for an SME can only be achieved by either increasing costs or reducing productivity and profits.

They will be holding a training course on Work Improvement in Small Enterprises (WISE), which will give SME's low cost, voluntary strategies to improve working conditions and at the same time boost their productivity. The course will be conducted by Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) specialist of the ILO, Dr Ton That Khai, author of many OSH publications including "how small enterprises improve the conditions of night and shift work using local resources." It will cover many areas of interest to SME's, such as material storage and handling; work station design and work organization and welfare facilities. As part of the participative style of the course, a field visit to an SME will also be conducted.

The WISE programme was developed in the Philippines in 1994 and has been successfully applied in many Asian and Latin American countries looking to help their SME sectors. The EFC's course will also explain how SME's can 'future-proof' themselves against unpredicted challenges in the future by becoming sustainable and eliminating any negative impacts on community, the environment and the economy.

The course will be held on November 21-22 in Colombo. To find out more about the course and to book places early, please call: Thamali Senanayake on 286-966-8, or 2867941 or email mailto:[email protected] [email protected] or mailto:[email protected] [email protected]