Project profile — Entrepreneurship Development in Ethiopia

This project aims to support entrepreneurship development and job creation by increasing the competitiveness of Ethiopian small and micro enterprises (SMEs) and by creating a supportive environment for SME growth. The project supports Ethiopian entrepreneurs, especially women, to grow their businesses. The project aims to support SME growth by undertaking the following activities: (1) training new and existing entrepreneurs on business skills and identifying business opportunities; (2) setting up five Entrepreneurship Development Centres; (3) training and certifying business advisors; (4) providing business development services to entrepreneurs; (5) training government SME institutions to establish and implement entrepreneurship development programs; (6) conducting stakeholder engagement and sensitization workshops; and (7) organizing annual policy dialogue forums between the Government of Ethiopia and stakeholders.

The expected intermediate outcomes for this project include: (1) improved profitability and competitiveness of up to 35,000 small and micro enterprises; (2) new jobs generated by small and micro enterprises; (3) greater accessibility of business development services in Ethiopia through the establishment of five business development centres; and (4) better collaboration between the public and private sector in addressing business constraints.

Results achieved as of the end of the project (March 2016) include: (1) six Entrepreneurship Development Centers (EDC) are operational and functional in six major cities of Ethiopia, offering entrepreneurship training and business development services; (2) in those six EDCs, 275 business development advisors (18% women) were trained on business diagnosis and health checks, investment opportunity diagnosis, business plan writing, business counseling, sub-contracting, financial analysis and marketing issues; (3) 5,811 entrepreneurs (including 2,150 women and 62% youth under 29 years old) have been trained through 126 entrepreneurship training workshops designed for potential and existing entrepreneurs; (4) 6,102 prospective graduates from six universities were trained on entrepreneurship as a potential career option; (5) the Innovation Service Hub was launched and has started providing service to entrepreneurs with innovative ideas; and (6) greater awareness and enhanced policy dialogue on micro and small enterprise development, through activities such as the Innovation for Development Breakfast Meetings, workshops with the National Network of Social Innovators for Human Development, and the Global Entrepreneurship Week. These results have contributed to the creation of 878 new businesses and the expansion of 1,417 existing business (52% women owned), and helped create a total of 18,259 jobs out of which 4,568 jobs were created from start-up businesses, while 13,691 were created from existing businesses.