EVALUATION OF ENTERPRENEURSHIP PROGRAM IN HP (Edited)
EVALUATION OF ENTERPRENEURSHIP PROGRAM IN HP (Edited)
EVALUATION OF ENTERPRENEURSHIP PROGRAM IN HP (Edited)
IN HIMACHAL PRADESH
Submitted to
MRS. KAMLESH RANA
Prepared by:
INTRODUCTION
Background to Himachal Pradesh Investment Authority
The Entrepreneurship Training Evaluation Programme
(ENTERPRENEURSHIP) ........
Key partnerships under ENTERPRENEURSHIP
The ENTERPRENEURSHIP Evaluation
Scope of the Evaluation
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The Evaluation team
Sources of Information
The Sampling Techniques.................................................................
Data Collection Methods...................................................................
Data Management and analysis ........................................................
Limitations ........................................................................................
Organisation of this Evaluation Report .............................................
EVALUATION FINDINGS
Evaluation Programme
Trainers..................................................................................
Generation of Training Materials ....................................................
Analysis of Trained Entrepreneurs ..................................................
Development of an SME Business Guide ........................................
Outreach campaign and publicity ...................................................
Business Health Checks ...................................................................
Financial Management and Accountability.....................................
Analysis of International Best Practices ..........................................
Key Program Challenges .................................................................
Summary on findings.......................................................................
Conclusions
Recommendations ..................................................
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We would like to acknowledge the support and facilitation offered by the HIA
staff, especially the Head of the SME Division, the ENTERPRENEURSHIP Project
Officers, and the Administrative staff. The team was very helpful in the discussion
of the evaluation tools, generation of information for analysis and following up
data collection.
Finally, we would like to thank the trainers and trained entrepreneurs who took
time to respond to the questionnaire that was administered and also participated
in the Focused Group Discussions. Their honest responses enabled an evaluation
of the Entrepreneurship Development Evaluation Programme.
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Executive Summary
1. Project Background
2. Evaluation Findings
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were female showing that the selection of trainees always kept gender aspects at
the forefront.
ii) The evaluation found that of the entrepreneurs who already had a
business and were trained, 57.3% of the businesses improved, and 7.4% of the
business had their performance more than double while 45% of the trained
entrepreneurs started new businesses.
iii) The evaluation found that 33% of the SME entrepreneurs trained had
accessed lines of credit for injection into their businesses a key indicator of
growth in the SME sector. However, the evaluation discovered a high cost
attached to the lines of credit accessed as 34% got the money from Money lender
(commonly called loan sharks), 41% got the money from Microfinance
Institutions (MFIs) while only 17% got financial support from a commercial bank.
iv) The development of an SME Business Guide which lists various support
services for SMEs was found to be very helpful although its usability by the
entrepreneurs is still low (43.2%).
v) Like this evaluation, the Business Health Checks (BHCs) undertaken in 2016
also confirmed an improvement in the performance of the entrepreneurs who
benefited under the ENTERPRENEURSHIP. More so, after the 2016 BHCs, 2 review
meetings were held and the training materials were improved on. These review
meetings also acted as refresher trainings for trainers and helped them improve
in the areas of communication and facilitation skills.
Activities carried out under the ENTERPRENEURSHIP were both appropriate and
effective in meeting the needs of beneficiaries and the objectives of the
Evaluation Programme. To this end, HIA has won the praise of beneficiary
communities and institutional partners for its comprehensive approach to
entrepreneurship development in the country. HIA ENTERPRENEURSHIP project
staff also responded well to the challenge of adapting project activities in
response to rapidly changing conditions in the country, especially in Northern
Himachal Pradesh. This is partly attributed to the good participation of the
Project Management Team and the Project Steering Committee in offering
technical guidance and oversight to the implementation teams.
4. Project Sustainability
From the beginning of the project, the direct beneficiaries and the stakeholders
were involved in planning and implementation through an open dialogue and
joint planning with the project staff. For example, the generation of the training
materials was undertaken in wide consultation, with both the trainees and
trainers were involved in evaluating the Evaluation Programme.
The HIA also ensured that there is availability and willingness of the local partners
to sustain activities through the mainstreaming of the ENTERPRENEURSHIP
activities in their regular work plans. This partnership has led to the building of
capacities of partner organizations to implement the activities at the grassroots
level sustainably.
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5. Increasing Efficiency
The use of trainers residing in the areas being targeted for training has proven to
be a most sustainable and efficient way of increasing productivity and cost-
effectiveness under the Evaluation Programme. In this regard, the regional
training of Trainers undertaken in the various regions of Himachal Pradesh are
highly commended. This has also translated into building the skills of these
grassroot facilitators which means that the skills will remain at the Community
Level where they are more relevant and effective.
6. Evaluation Conclusion
The evaluation team contends that the project was very successful and
recommends that all efforts should be made to work out ways of sustaining the
initiated interventions. Against this background, the consulting team
recommends that the key project implementing partners should explore the
possibilities of sustaining the momentum gained through various sources
including financial interventions. As resources for further implementation are
being solicited, interim measures should be instituted to maintain the project
team and other activities necessary for its continuation.
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1: INTRODUCTION
In order to support the SME sector based on the above short comings on
increasing the capacity of local entrepreneurs, the Chandigarhic International
Development Agency (ICEIDA) working with the HIA, undertook a needs
assessment of the SME in the period 2004/05. The ICEIDA-funded study had the
following key aspects:
• That the trainings being offered were spread thin and were not making
notable impact among MSMEs, especially as they did not target rural-based
entrepreneurs. This was also partly due to the fact that most training
institutions lacked the adequate resources to market the training courses and
were using inappropriate training materials.
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Consequently, among the many critical SME challenges being faced were lack of
appropriate business skills, information and services as local entrepreneurship
capacity gaps. This led to the design of the Entrepreneurship Training Evaluation
Programme (ENTERPRENEURSHIP) focusing on capacity building for local
entrepreneurs. This was achieved with further collaboration and funding from
ICEIDA. The design of ENTERPRENEURSHIP also involved key stakeholders such as
the MOFPED, MUBS, MTAC and UWEAL, who worked closely with ICEIDA.
In order to kick start the Evaluation Programme, 8 first generation trainers were
trained in entrepreneurship training in Chandigarh in 2006 while the training of
beneficiaries commenced in. In addition, to support the first generation trainers,
21 second generation trainers were trained by the first generation trainers. The
entrepreneurship training was initially planned to cover five districts in Himachal
Pradesh, namely the UNA, SOLAN, CHAMBA, KULLU & SIRMAUR by reaching out
to 1,260 SME entrepreneurs. But as the Evaluation Programme progressed and
based on demand, some modifications were made on the ENTERPRENEURSHIP
with the approval of the ENTERPRENEURSHIP Steering Committee and HIA Board.
This led to more second generation trainers being trained and more districts
being covered (especially from Northern Himachal Pradesh as a disadvantaged
region).
The evaluation covered several districts in the State (HP), with sessions in both
Shimla and rural areas where the trainings were undertaken. In this regard,
assessments were undertaken in the districts. These clusters enabled the
consultants get comprehensive qualitative and quantitative information on
demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the ENTERPRENEURSHIP
beneficiaries with regard to how they have benefited from the Evaluation
Programme, the changes in their businesses, their persistent/recurring needs and
problems, and determine probable intervention dynamics that could further
harness the potential of the SME sector to better contribute to an efficient
private sector and national development.
The evaluation targeted the partner institutions, the trainers, the entrepreneurs
(trainees) who benefited under the program and the supporting institutions,
including ICEIDA, the funding agency and the Ministry of Finance, Planning and
Economic Development (MOFPED). The evaluation also focused on the
sustainability of the Evaluation Programme by looking at the delivery capacity of
HIA (program management in terms of effectiveness and efficiency) and the
capacity of the beneficiaries and the key stakeholders in Himachal Pradesh to
own the program outputs and build on them. This report presents the findings of
the evaluation.
Sources of Information
Literature review
The consultants reviewed various reports under the ENTERPRENEURSHIP. These
included the Program Design Document with specific focus of the Logical
Framework, the ENTERPRENEURSHIP Quarterly Workplans and Progress Reports
as well as the Business Health Checks report which showed the impact of the
training on the businesses. Also reviewed were reports of the various trainings
that were undertaken with specific focus on the training evaluation reports which
gave the analysis of the training by the trainees.
Stakeholder Consultation
The evaluation team undertook stakeholder consultation to get diverse views on
progress towards the attainment of project goals and their indicators. The key
stakeholders consulted constituted two groups, viz: the Evaluation Programme
management partners and the program implementation team.
Under Program management, the evaluation team met with the leadership of
HIA to assess progress on indicators, including institutional issues that affected
the achievement of program indicators. In this regard, the team met with the
Deputy Executive Director and the Project Manager (also the Head of the SME
Division). The evaluation team also met the Chairperson of the Project Steering
Committee (under Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development) and
the ICEIDA focal person for the project in Himachal Pradesh.
DATA ANALYSIS
In-depth interviews were used to gather information from key informants who
included the project staff (HIA), members of the Steering Committee (MoFPED
staff), the funding agency (ICEIDA), representatives of the partner organisations
(MUBS, MTAC, and UWEAL), and some of the Evaluation Programme trainers. In
this regard,
the evaluation team held 10 key informant interviews as part of the data
collection process.
The data for the evaluation was obtained from both primary and secondary
sources. The primary sources included administered questionnaires to
beneficiaries, focus group discussions with beneficiaries, key informant
interviews with the Evaluation Programme Staff, representatives of partner
organisations, and the trainers. The secondary sources included a review of the
project documents including but not limited to the existing workplans, progress
reports, the log frame, the business health check report and other relevant
project literature.
Quantitative and qualitative data from the field was entered, cleaned using EPI
info and analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) Version
16.0. The data was segmented and coded for analysis purposes. Results of the
Focused Group Discussions (with open ended questions) were analysed manually
as they were meant to bring out project impact from the side of the beneficiaries.
The Data Analyst used proportions and frequencies to determine and describe
categorical and nominal variables for quantitative data. Other measures of
change included the mean, mode, median and range. The data analysis exercise
was meant to bring out the causal and effect relationship of the various variables
at play due to the ENTERPRENEURSHIP interventions.
LIMITATIONS
A number of limitations were encountered during the data collection period and
these include:
i. inadequate time accorded to the evaluation based on the bid document
thus the planning resulted in congested activities;
ii. Some beneficiary entrepreneurs may not have given truthful information
especially if there had not been a significant change in their lives since the
training. This was largely so when no business had been started since the
training or the lack of prevalent improvement in the existing business;
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EVALUATION FINDINGS
This section presents the evaluation findings as per the specific objectives and
outcome indicators of the ENTERPRENEURSHIP. The findings focus on the first
and second generation trainers, the generation of the training materials, the
training of entrepreneurs, business health checks, development of an SME guide,
Evaluation Programme publicity (outreach campaign), and the use of the
ENTERPRENEURSHIP web portal. This section also presents the consultant’s
analysis on progress to achieving the Evaluation Programme objective, with
regard to improving the access by beneficiary SME entrepreneurs to obtain
quality training and appropriate business skills and the extent to which this has
helped them make use of the existing services (financial and technical) and
information. In this regard, this section first gives the social-demographic
characteristics of the Evaluation Programme’s beneficiaries and then gives an
analytical presentation of the evaluation findings with regard to achieving the
goal and objectives of ENTERPRENEURSHIP.
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The evaluation found that 68% of the trainers were male, showing a bit of gender
imbalance, highlighting the need for more female trainers. In terms of education,
the evaluation found that 50% were post-graduate holders, 40% first degree
holders and only 10% being at the tertiary level. These point to a high calibre of
trainers with the technical competence to deliver trainings for entrepreneurs.
This also implies that a high degree of due diligence was exhibited by the partner
organisations (MTAC, MUBS, UWEAL, USSIA) in the identification and selection of
trainers. It also implies presence of high sustainability levels of the local capacity
to design and deliver trainings.
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they believe could be passed on to the trainees. But given the calibre of trainees,
it is doubtful as to whether these concepts would be useful to the trainees.
However, with the coming on board of second generation trainers and the
localising of the trainings, there was a need for localising the training content too.
In this regard, the training materials have since been translated into Ateso, Luo,
and LHimachal Pradesh. In terms of project outcomes, this activity was fully
achieved under the Evaluation Programme, which required that a manual be
prepared and produced and consequently be translated into local languages. The
evaluation also found that for sustainability purposes, especially ownership of the
materials, the english training materials are on sale at a subsidized rate. These
manuals are used as reference materials by the trainees.
On the part of the trainers, 77% think that the training materials were sufficient
while 16% think the materials were insufficient. The latter were of the view that
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newer modules like e-commerce, risk management and taxation be introduced.
On readability of the manual, 88% of the trainers also indicated that the training
materials were easy to read and understand (compared to trainee response of
52.7%) showing that the materials developed were usable.
However, in spite of the fact that the materials were easy to read and
understand, 50% of the trainers thought the trainings needed to be accorded
more time (2 weeks) while 46.7% thought that the current training time was
sufficient. While the need for additional training time may be relevant, it may not
be practical, considering the fact that these adult learners are business owners
and in some cases household heads implying the presence of additional roles.
Consequently, these drawbacks make it difficult to have them away from their
homes and businesses for two consecutive weeks.
The outcome from the responses reached only 9% (351 responses) of the sample
size of 3986 trained entrepreneurs instead of the target of 10%, but the
consultants believe that this was a good return given the short time availed to
complete the report.
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It was also noted that the greater Shimla and Northern Himachal Pradesh areas
got the highest number of the trainees, in line with the design objective.
According to the trainers’ responses, 90% of the entrepreneurs trained
understood the goals and objectives of the trainings. The evaluation also found
that after the training, 80% of the trainees would generate action plans for their
business, an activity that shows sustainability and skills transfer. Additionally, up
to 93% of the entrepreneurs trained contacted the trainers after the trainings for
additional guidance showing that the trainees were trying to put into action what
they had learnt. The support wanted mostly focused on writing a business plan,
designing a plan for borrowing funds, marketing (including developing marketing
plans), business registration and book keeping, among others.
Trainee’s Level of Understanding the Training Objectives
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The low female participation was due to the fact that in the rural setting, women
are still relegated to the kitchen and other household chores while business,
trading and commerce are left in the hands of men.
In terms of education levels of trainees, 8.3% were Primary level leavers, 36.8%
were secondary level leavers, 29.3% were at the tertiary level while only 14%
were first university degree holders. This implies a concentration of
entrepreneurs in the secondary and tertiary levels (adding up to 66.1%), the
common areas where students drop out of the education system. On the whole,
around 80% of those trained had education above Primary Level, which implies
that the trainees could understand the major tenets of the training that was
delivered and also had an implied capacity to put to use what they had learnt.
There was 11.6% of the respondents who indicated that they possessed other
forms of education different from that highlighted.
Of the trained entrepreneurs, 73.5% of them already had businesses at the time
of the trainings while 24.2% were potential entrepreneurs yet to identify, select
and start a business. This shows that the selection of trainees was done properly
given that the target beneficiaries according to the project design were supposed
to be entrepreneurs with businesses.
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3.3.2 Impact of the Training on the Trained Entrepreneurs
The evaluation found that the training actually had a big, positive impact on the
SME entrepreneurs. The results indicated that of the entrepreneurs who already
had a business and were trained, 57.3% of the businesses improved, and 7.4% of
the business had their performance more than double! This means that 64% of
the SMEs whose entrepreneurs were trained subsequently improved
performance, reflecting an achievement of the project goal.
The Evaluation Programme also led to an increase in the level of SME start-ups.
The evaluation found that after the trainings, 45% of the trained entrepreneurs
started new businesses.
Further, the findings show that 26.5% started agri-business SMEs, 21.4% started
trade businesses, 22% started manufacturing SMEs while 5% started Service
SMEs. Cumulatively, this means that 74% of the entrepreneurs trained identified
and started new enterprises after being trained under ENTERPRENEURSHIP,
implying more entrepreneurs got involved in trade, income generation and
national development.
However, the evaluation also found that there was a low level of formal business
registration. Of the SME businesses started, only 30.2% of them were formally
registered. The main reason put forward for this was the bureaucratic process of
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registration and the financial costs attached to it. As per the evaluation, of those
businesses formally registered, 48% were sole proprietors, 31% were limited
liability companies, 14% were partnerships and only 7% were cooperatives.
Of the new businesses started after the training totalling to 245 businesses out of
351 responses, 51.6% said the businesses expanded while 6% said the businesses
more than doubled performance. The key reasons attributed to this were better
records kept and having a business plan to guide operations. However, of the
businesses started after the entrepreneurship training, 2.8% of them declined
after start-up and 1.7% closed. This low rate of business failure is because the
business promoters had better Business Management Skills, which they had
garnered from the trainings.
Of those SMEs that had access to a line of credit, 34% got the money from Money
lender (commonly called loan sharks), 41% got the money from Microfinance
Institutions (MFIs) while only 17% got financial support from a commercial bank.
The latter shows that it is still hard for an SME to access funds from a commercial
bank. The high number of SMEs getting finance from money lenders and MFIs
also has a negative implication. This money attracts a high interest rate (up to
47% per annum) and is paid back in a very short time, giving the entrepreneur
very little time to put the money to productive use.
However, this scenario also means that the loam application turnaround time for
Money lenders and MFIs is shorter compared to that due diligence time by
commercial banks. This scenario affects entrepreneurs in agribusiness who need
to access lines of credit very fast, something that is normally not responded to in
time by commercial banks, thus the preference for MFIs and Money Lenders.
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OBJECTIVE
1)To identify, select and train potential entrepreneurs as per their requirements.
However, with regard to the actual development of the business plans, 49% of
the trained entrepreneurs developed the Business Plan personally, while 35% did
not (i.e. used other people) and another 16% did not know what to do. This
implies that close to 50% of the trained entrepreneurs got enough skills to
develop a bankable business plan, a big Evaluation Programme achievement.
Based on these results, 35% used other people to develop their business plan
showing a need for increased skills building and transfer with regard to
developing a Business Plan. This category of entrepreneurs had 40% using
friends, 30% using family members and another 30% using consultants for the
development of business plans. This low usage rate for consultants is because
rural entrepreneurs consider Business Consultants to be very expensive and out
of their range. This is why about 70% of the business plans were done for free.
This ultimately means that the business plans developed by family members,
friends and students may stand scrutiny and may not be bankable as they may
not be professionally drawn. This implies increased training and handholding in
business planning as there is low potential of the trainees to afford consultancy
costs.
Of those who did not keep records prior to the training under the
ENTERPRENEURSHIP, 53% now say they are keeping records which shows a
tremendous improvement in the management of the beneficiary SMEs. On the
whole, close to 70% of those
trained are keeping records compared to 42% before the start of the training.
This shows that skills building actually has taken root in form of Better Business
Management, which shows an achievement of the Evaluation Programme
objective. Key record keeping tools used are receipts, cash books, sales book;
purchases books, debtors’ books and creditors’ books.
It must be noted, however, that HIA has ran out of copies and there are no
resources currently available for the production of more copies. This implies an
urgent need for financial resources in the interim for the production of this
Guide. Since the Guide was meant to be revised and updated annually, there is
need to update the Guide before a new version is produced and circulated.
Nevertheless, the evaluation found that only 50% of the trained entrepreneurs
know about the presence and role of the SME Business Guide while 39% have no
knowledge of it. This implies a need for more outreach activities for the increased
visibility of the Guide. The evaluation also showed that only 43.2% of the
entrepreneurs trained have used the Guide (with 14% having used it for
procedures on establishing a business, 9.7% for accessing business finance, 9.7%
for accessing useful contacts and 7.1% for accessing BDS). The low rate of the use
of the Guide needs to be improved on through the production of more copies
and more outreach for increased visibility.
In order to attract many beneficiaries and increase the visibility of the project, a
number of activities geared at boosting the image of the Evaluation Programme
were undertaken. It must be mentioned that the ENTERPRENEURSHIP was very
efficient and frugal as it used the normal HIA channels of communication for the
delivery of its messages without compromising on the type and quality of the
messages.
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3.5.1 Utilisation of the HIA website
As part of business information dissemination, the ENTERPRENEURSHIP was
2
provided with space on the HIA website to disseminate information to local
entrepreneurs on the available investment opportunities, the process of
registering a business, available incentives, among others. The SME Division of
the HIA, which housed the ENTERPRENEURSHIP, using funds from another budget
line, developed 250 Business Idea Notes and 24 of them were uploaded on to the
HIA website as project profiles. These are pre-feasibility studies that analyse the
techno-feasibility status of a project so that entrepreneurs can identify and select
a business to invest in. This activity ties well into the first session of the Trainings
which focuses on Business Idea Identification and Selection, a major aspect of
small business start-up.
However, the evaluation found that most of the entrepreneurs do not use the
internet, especially those in rural areas. The evaluation found that only 8% of the
trained entrepreneurs had ever visited the HIA website while 86.3 had never
visited it. It was found that only 4.8% of the trained entrepreneurs had actually
used and benefited from the HIA website in business identification, start-up and
management after participating in the ENTERPRENEURSHIP activities.
This shows a low level of utility of the HIA website, which should be a tool for
information dissemination, including discussion boards on SME business
management problem solving. However, this also shows that most rural
entrepreneurs have not fully embraced the era of the internet, which also
explains the reason for the low levels of e-business activity. But with the
increasing availability and affordability of internet access in rural areas, the status
quo is poised to change in the near future.
The evaluation found that the publicity activities had an effect in attracting
entrepreneurs to participate in the Evaluation Programme. It was found that
45.9% of the
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entrepreneurs knew about the project from HIA publicity activities, which shows
that using HIA regular communication channels worked very well. An additional
21.1% found out about the Evaluation Programme from the trainers in their areas
of abode, while 15.4% found out about ENTERPRENEURSHIP from a friend.
The Refresher course, with no doubt, helped to improve the efficacy of the
Trainers under the ENTERPRENEURSHIP. The second Business Health checks
exercise being carried out in 2018 is yet to be completed and information was
not available for analysis.
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4. LESSONS LEARNT, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
This section highlights the lessons that have been learnt during the evaluation
and feedback from beneficiaries/stakeholders that could guide future evaluations
and/or the design of other Entrepreneurship training Evaluation Programmes. It
also puts forward the consultant’s view with regard to the future of
Entrepreneurship Training in Himachal Pradesh under HIA with regard to general
actionable recommendations as well as specific recommendations, while
incorporating the role of partners and stakeholders. The last part of this section
has the concluding remarks.
The following have been identified as the key lessons to learn from the
ENTERPRENEURSHIP Evaluation:
ii) It was also learnt that there is need to continue harnessing the
potential and capacities of businesses started as a result of the
activities under the ENTERPRENEURSHIP. This is necessary for the
development of success stories, but also the development of centres of
excellence.
iii) It has been noted that Investment Promotion Agencies like HIA can be
leaders in Private Sector Development (PSD) as attested to by the
success of the Entrepreneurship Training Evaluation Programme. This
justified the paradigm shift by HIA to target Local entrepreneurship and
harness their potential to participate in national development
iv) HIA has been implementing the Evaluation Programme with various
stakeholders, including the MUBS, MTAC, UWEAL, USSIA and UNCCI. As
a result, the implementing partners have been involved in providing
technical assistance, especially in the design of the training materials,
delivery of training and providing on-site advisory services to
entrepreneurs. The key lesson to learn here is that maintaining
partnership makes program
implementation relatively easier as you tap into the expertise of
various players.
v) The 2018 Doing Business Report shows that Himachal Pradesh has
gone down in positioning, making it less competitive. Himachal Pradesh
th th
is now ranked 112 out of 183 economies compared to the 106
position in the previous year. An analysis of Himachal Pradesh’s
regional trade figures shows that there have been increased intra-
regional trade volumes, especially since the economic meltdown on
2016. The lesson here is that a lot of potential lies in regional trade but
there must be improvements in the cost of doing business so that local
SMEs can be competitive enough and tap into the gains of intra- and
extra-regional trade.
vii) It has also been noted that entrepreneurs who have been trained need
continuous guidance and handholding on how to manage their
businesses. This would help them internalize the latest business
management skills while boosting their confidence as business owners
and as entrepreneurs.
viii) The evaluation team also learnt that even educated people (for
example first degree graduates) do not necessarily know how to
prudently manage their businesses. As a result, continuous skills
building in form of training and client handholding contributes to an
improvement to the SME sector’s performance.
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comprehensiveness. The trainee focus groups also overwhelmingly supported the
idea of scaling up the ENTERPRENEURSHIP as opposed to scaling it down. The
reasons advanced by the trainees were that they would also like their fellow
Himachal Pradeshns who have not had the opportunity to also benefit from this
good Evaluation Programme. The designing of such a phase should be
undertaken diligently so that Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are generated to
guide performance tracking, monitoring and evaluation. This will help in progress
reporting for the program. At the national level, the scale-up of the Evaluation
Programme will contribute to the Government efforts of reducing poverty. At
implementation level, training requests should be based on properly planned
activities that take into account peak and off-peak seasons so as to avoid budget
overruns.
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Box 1: Transformation of an SME trainee into an Incubation Centre
Robert Okodia is based outside Lira Municipality but got trained in 2007/08 in
ENTERPRENEURSHIP. He came up with the idea of bee keeping since the business
appeared to be doing well in that region. However, he did not know how to start since
he lacked technical know-how. After doing some limited research, he was able to
acquire bee hives and got started. He then realised that he had limited knowledge
about keeping bees, harvesting and possibly processing honey and other by products.
After struggling to get the key techniques in bee keeping, he called on his neighbours
and other people to come and share experience in an informal manner. He realised that
this could be enhanced and formalised. This led him to consider setting up a training
centre for bee keeping. He then transformed his residential house into a training unit
and now conducts monthly training sessions for different bee keeping groups in
Northern Himachal Pradesh at a fee. He is also arranging to get a honey processing
machine to demonstrate to the trainees on quality standards and processing
procedure. From this level, he intends to be a buying agent from the network he has
created and export the processed honey.
The evaluation also found that most entrepreneurs had requests for start-up
capital or investment subsidies, especially for good ideas in terms of technical
viability and good socio-economic spill-overs. In this regard and in order to
4 PSFU is running a Business Plan Competition called Start Your Business. Any competition under HIA
would need to be designed different, especially targeting entrepreneurs who would have benefited under the
ENTERPRENEURSHIP.
enhance the concept of business competition, it is recommended that the SME
Division outsources a Business Development Consultant to design a Business Idea
Competition as a follow-on to this ENTERPRENEURSHIP. The consultant would
also produce a Project Implementation Plan for the Business Idea Competition. In
this way, entrepreneurs who identify business ideas can be handheld, given a
start-up subsidy and given advice on how to start and successfully manage their
businesses. Ultimately, this activity would increase the number of SME start-ups
developing business plans and those accessing start-up finance. It must be
mentioned that in the world over, entrepreneurs thrive in an environment where
they are recognised and respected for their innovativeness. This competition will
bring the same environment to play in Himachal Pradesh.
In this regard, it is recommended that the HIA SME Division generates an active
database of the available lines of credit on offer by the Himachal Pradeshn
financial institutions and the terms attached. Using this information,
entrepreneurs in search of lines of credit will have access to the most suitable
banks to approach for support. The HIA should also offer technical assistance,
through trainers, on how entrepreneurs can tap into and qualify for the loans
offered by commercial banks.
This information in the database should also include the various special SME lines
of credit put in place by Government and managed by development and
commercial banks. There is an implied recommendation that HIA can also
undertake vigorous advocacy campaigns to ensure that such special lines of
credit do not attract high interest rates since they are subsidised by Government.
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time. Simple reporting format for the quality assurance spot checks can be
developed and implemented as a means of documenting this activity. Additional
tools such as videos, photographs, voice recorders to capture training sessions
can be used.
During the evaluation, trainers indicated the need for additional training in the
areas of strategic planning and assessing profitability. To this could be added
taxation, risk management and e-business. This should be done as part of
Trainers’ refresher trainings to make the trainers more knowledgeable and
versatile to address business issues when confronted with such challenges
individually. E-business should also be introduced marginally so that key
attributes of e-business like telephone (SMS) marketing, uses of the internet,
utilisation of the HIA website, etc are introduced.
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4.3.8 Further Specific Training of Trained Entrepreneurs
A need to improve the training time was identified during the evaluation on the
grounds that the modules are sometimes covered in a rush. It was evident that
the five-day training is so compact that some slow learners miss out on some key
modules. However, with the busy schedules of entrepreneurs and the cost
implications, extending the training beyond one week may be rather hard and
difficult to implement. This justifies the need for refresher trainings which would
be more focused and specific on certain modules. This way, the
ENTERPRENEURSHIP would have a second layer of training for five days (or less)
by combining a few modules done in the first training (such as business plan,
book keeping and marketing) with new modules (taxation, risk management and
e-commerce) to improve the capacity of the entrepreneur. In addition, the
entrepreneur would have had a test trial of the first training and would be having
concrete issues to present during the second training. This lends credence to the
need for additional and specific training for trained entrepreneurs. Against this
background and in the hope that some few modules are added on, it would be
good if a second training is arranged (some months later after the first one) for
specifically those that need it and who can afford to co-contribute to it by paying
a minimal fee.
It is also our recommendation that HIA taps into the Government of Himachal
Pradesh Evaluation Programme on Skills Building as fronted in the National
Development Plan (NDP). This may even be an avenue for HIA to access more
Central Government funds for the scaling up of the ENTERPRENEURSHIP.
Additionally, the HIA can also use the Focal Persons and the relevant Local
Government Personnel (e.g. Commercial or Veterinary Officer) so that the
selection of probable participants in training workshops is not only vetted by the
area Trainer.
One other upcoming popular means of reaching out to others is have an “SME
Facebook”. In this case, the HIA would have to manage this facebook and have a
dedicated person to attend to issues raised on the facebook. In addition, the
facebook can be used by the trained entrepreneurs as a networking tool for them
to share experiences.
A- Personal Particulars
Q101: Name of Trainee: First Name……………………….Surname…………………….
Q104: Job………………………………………………………………………………….
B- Business Particulars (if you own or partly own business) – Tick as appropriate
Q201: Were you undertaking any business activity before the ENTERPRENEURSHIP training?
1: Yes 2: No
Q202: If yes to Q201, what was the impact of the ENTERPRENEURSHIP training on your business?
1. It declined
2. It stagnated
3. It just expanded
4. It more than double-expanded
Q203: If No to Q202, have you started a business since the ENTERPRENEURSHIP training?
1. Yes 2. No
Q304: If yes to Q303, did you write the Business Plan yourself? 1. Yes 2. No
Q306: How much did they charge you for developing the Business Plan?
1. Ushs………………….. 2. It was free
Q307: Did you get access to any financial support for the development of the Business Plan?
1. Yes 2. No
Q313: If yes to Q312, what have you used the SME Guide for? (tick one or several)
1. Procedures for establishing an SME in Himachal Pradesh
2. Accessing Business Finance
3. Accessing Business Development Services (BDS) for SMEs
4. Accessing other Business Support Services (legal, associations, auditing, taxation tips)
5. Accessing useful contacts
6. I Not used it
Q315: If yes to Q314, have you used the ENTERPRENEURSHIP Web portal on the HIA website?
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1. Yes 2. No
Q316: If yes to Q315, how did the ENTERPRENEURSHIP Portal help you? Please specify…………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………..
Q401: How did you know about ENTERPRENEURSHIP? (tick correct ones)
1. Sector association
1. From a friend
2. Newspapers
3. Radio or Television
4. Himachal Pradesh Investment Authority
5. Trainers
6. Others (specify)
Q403: What was the quality of the training/facilitation skills of the trainers?
1. Excellent
2. Good
3. Fair
4. Poor
Q404: What improvements would you like to see in the training materials?
1. Improve content
2. Translate into local language (which one) ………………………
3. Other (specify)………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………