IFC partners with Aga Khan Foundation to help small businesses in Pakistan

By Nagesh Narayana
Microfinance Focus, Jan. 21, 2010: IFC has signed an agreement with the Aga Khan Foundation in Pakistan (AKF) to support the growth of smaller businesses in Pakistan by providing training and skills development to businessmen and women in the country.

IFC and AKF(P), will partner to offer IFC’s Business Edge management training product to Pakistani entrepreneurs seeking to grow their businesses.

IFC will train 20 Business Edge trainers who will be selected by AKF(P). These trainers will then deliver Business Edge training for small and medium enterprises at workshops to be held between July and November 2010 in Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral. For more information about Business Edge see www.businessedge-me.com.

Al-Nashir Jamal, AKF(P)’s CEO, said, “Business training not only benefits businesses, but those employed by them by giving individuals the skills they need to find employment. This partnership with IFC will help fill a gap in business management training in Pakistan, helping entrepreneurs gain the skills they need to grow their businesses.”

Khawar Ansari, IFC’s Business Edge Country Coordinator, said, “Small and medium enterprises are catalysts for growth and employment generation. By expanding the reach of our Business Edge program in Pakistan, we will provide a greater number of smaller businesses with the training they need to grow and create jobs.”

IFC and AKF previously partnered to create the First Microfinance Bank of Afghanistan and the First Microfinance Bank of Pakistan. Both organizations work towards creating opportunities for people to escape poverty and improve their lives.

IFC’s Business Edge is delivered by selected local training partners and certified local trainers and sets a new standard for business training in developing countries. It was rolled out in the Middle East and North Africa region in 2004 and is available in Afghanistan, Egypt, Pakistan, and Yemen, and in other IFC regions including Latin America and the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa.

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