The Multilateral Investment Fund announced the approval of a US$2 million grant for technical cooperation to professionalize management functions in family-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
Family businesses are currently the predominant form of business organization in many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, representing between 65% and 90% of all enterprises. These small and medium-sized companies are beginning to become aware of the importance of professionalizing their management as a way to ensure continued growth.
But when it comes to meeting their training needs, however, this type of enterprises are limited by the fact that not all programs match their specific requirements and circumstances. In general, the management training programs offered by institutions of excellence assume that businesses have specialized functions, making those programs and their specialized products not suited to their needs.
MIF financing will help build the management capacity of these enterprises through the development of a training product suited to the needs of family-owned small and medium-sized enterprises that uses the group learning methodology developed by Fundação Dom Cabral.
The methodology for management training and experience sharing among enterprises to be developed -the Integrated Development Network, or Parceria Integrada-will be tested on 200 enterprises.
The group learning methodology encourages entrepreneurs and managers to meet and share experiences, discuss relevant issues, and seek solutions to common problems, depending on the target areas, while leveraging the know-how of each enterprise.
Fundação Dom Cabral, a Brazilian foundation with a 30-year history in the education and training of executives, will carry out the program and will partner with local institutions in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Local counterpart funds will total US$2.3 million.
The Multilateral Investment Fund is an autonomous member of the IDB Group that promotes private sector growth in Latin America and the Caribbean through grants and investments.
Inter-American Development Bank
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