The face-to-face training of 'I Can Manage My Business', aiming at providing SMEs with knowledge and skills, took place in Ordu. Experts delivered training on 'international trade and cross-border e-commerce', 'green transformation', 'digital marketing' and 'access to finance' to SME representatives.

I Can Manage My Business Programme which was launched in 2019 to support SMEs with knowledge and skills they needed to realize their growth potential, continues to reach the business world with comprehensive training sessions organized all over Türkiye. 

Representatives from SMEs, public institutions and non-governmental organizations attended the event hosted by the Eastern Black Sea Federation of Industry and Business (DOKASİFED) in Ordu. The programme is carried out in partnership with the Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation (TURKONFED), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Visa with the support of 30 banks and e-money organizations.

In the programme which is at its 3rd year, nearly 4,000 SMEs have been reached so far, through training sessions on finance, digital marketing, e-commerce, management strategies and branding. The initiative also included digitalization, coaching and mentoring support in line with SMEs’ needs. Digital marketing consultancy, and e-commerce and export infrastructure support were provided to more than 300 select SMEs. This year, the topics of international trade and e-commerce and, with the financial support of Akbank, the theme of green transformation were also added to the training contents.

TURKONFED Chairman Süleyman Sönmez said, "Productivity and service economy are becoming more and more in focus in the economic world. When we look at our country, we believe that productivity is the main determinant of our long-term growth goals and achieving the level of development we desire. In order to achieve this, the efficiency of SMEs -which are the backbone of our country's economy-, needs to be increased." Referring to the role SMEs play on employment, Sönmez continued; "Enhancing the productivity of SMEs, which have created 66 percent of the increase in employment in the last 10 years, is one of our biggest aims in this field. This means that the number of decent jobs in our economy will increase, which in turn will drive prosperity."

Sönmez emphasized the responsibilities of SMEs and continued, "SMEs, which have such an important role on the road to our dream of a strong, developed and prosperous Türkiye, also have responsibilities. We believe that the increase in productivity I mentioned is possible when SMEs get digital and adapt to the green transformation. If we focus on our goals together, we  are sure that our SMEs will shape the future of Türkiye. Within the scope of 'I Can Manage My Business' programme, we continue to meet with the business world all over the country in order to demonstrate this belief and prepare our SMEs for the future." 

DOKASİFED Chairman Zeyyat Kafkas said, "The economic development of our country is possible with the development and strengthening of our SMEs. SMEs assume responsibility in every field from employment to exports, create value with their production power from local to national scale. 'I Can Manage My Business' programme, which has been implemented in cooperation with TURKONFED, UNDP Türkiye and Visa, and brings us together today, also contributes to the development of the capacities of our SMEs by creating important solutions based on their needs."

Following Ordu, the programme aims to reach a total of 1,000 SME representatives until April 2023 with face-to-face events in three more cities and with 79 on-demand training video contents on six different themes in the online education portal.

Note to editors: You can find on open.undp.org, detailed information on the UNDP’s all development projects in some 170 countries and territories worldwide. open.undp.org is a component of UNDP’s implementation of International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) to which UNDP is a signatory. Click for info on: Visa Europe | I Can Manage My Business