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December, 2004 |
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Visiting Business People |
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"Small businesses should form their own clusters" Mrs. Dorit Elmaliach, Managing Director of MATI: Small Business Development Centres in Northern Israel, was in Nepal late November to conduct a training programme on microenterprise development organised by Agriculture Development Bank of Nepal. Excerpts from a brief interview with her: Could you please describe MATI in brief ? MATI is the Hebrew acronym for Small Business Development Centres in Israel. They were first established in 1991 by the local municipalities, the government of Israel and Jewish organisations. They work as a non-profit organisation, with aims of supporting entrepreneurs and small business owners in establishing, managing and expanding their businesses through MATI centres’ services such as information and guidance, professional counselling, referral to sources of funding, training, networking and eventually enabling them to overcome challenges prevailing in the business world. In 1994, the Small and Medium Business Authority was established under the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labour to serve as an umbrella organisation for all MATI centres scattered around the country. The functions of this authority are to formulate policies for encouraging small businesses, entrepreneurship and related activities and to coordinate the operations of various agencies working in this realm. Now there are 69 MATI centres in Israel and a few more are in process. They are mostly active in peripheral areas of the country. How does MATI Centre help new entrepreneurs or start ups ? If an entrepreneur with a business idea approaches MATI centre, it would assist and help the entrepreneur on how to translate his/her idea into a viable small business making use of the centre’s services such as business planning and linkage, training, guidance, financing, providing office space, forecasting problems and providing solutions to them. It is important that I mention that 75% of the new jobs in Israel are being created by small businesses. When a new small business job is created there is an added value of two and a half new jobs. Creating new jobs through MATI centres is the most efficient and effective way for the government to reduce unemployment. It costs about only USD 1,000 to USD 2,000 to create one job in small businesses. What are the considerations that have to be taken into account in order to establish a new entrepreneurship ? There is need for a good business idea that can address a real need existing in the market, innovation with added advantage, funds for initial investment and its survival. Also the personality of the entrepreneur is an important factor which demands creativity, flexibility, readiness to take reasonable risks, motivation and learning ability. How did you find the efforts being carried out in Nepal to help the small enterprises ? As it is my first visit to Nepal, I would only say that there are real efforts being made by the government of Nepal to create awareness about the importance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and to establish support systems for entrepreneurs and organisations that are working to develop SMEs in Nepal. What would you particularly like to change or improve in the Nepali system of helping small businesses? I recommend that they continue providing different kinds of skill-oriented training which are suitable for the Nepali people. These training should also include courses for new entrepreneurs as well as for owners of existing businesses on common ways of marketing, improving management skills such as using financial reports, preparing business plans, innovation in business and more. Another way to develop small businesses would be by training them on networking within the country and beyond. Therefore, the best way is to continue learning and sharing knowledge and ideas with other countries. How do you see the benefits of the MATI model being replicated in Nepal ? As I mentioned earlier, 75% of new jobs in Israel are created by small businesses. Creating new jobs through MATI centres is efficient and an effective way of reducing unemployment. One important aspect of the MATI model being replicated in Nepal may be reducing unemployment. MATI works as one-stop-shop that provides important services to new entrepreneurs and MATI centres’ services are directed towards ensuring success of small business ventures creating employment for the entrepreneur himself and others. Another important aspect may be advocacy and policy lobbying for the development of small businesses. What is the future of small businesses in the era of globalisation? It is very challenging. They will have to unite through different ways of networking within and beyond the country. Small businesses must find creative ways for cooperation in common marketing, common R and D or common ways of developing product-specific clusters. Ranjan Dhawan, General Manager of Punjab National Bank (PNB) of India was in Kathmandu late November to participate in the 10th anniversary of Everest Bank Ltd., a Nepali subsidiary of PNB. Ashwin Malik, Chief Operation Officer-North, of India’s liquor giant the UB Group’s spirits division, was in Kathmandu late November together with Dilip Garg, Divisional Vice-president, Sales and Sanjay Roy, Marketing Manager, in connection with the launch of Bagpiper Whiskey in Nepal in a new package. |
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