REPORT OF THE FOLLOW-UP MEETING TO  THE STUDY TOUR OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS TO INDIA AND SRI LANKA

 Bujumbura, Burundi, 9 – 14 June 1999

I.                  ORGANIZATION OF WORK

1. The follow-up meeting to the study tour of women entrepreneurs to India and Sri Lanka was held in Bujumbura, Burundi from 9 to 14 June 1999 in the conference hall of Hotel Source du Nile. It was organized by the African Centre for Women (ACW) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in co-operation with the Government of Burundi and with assistance from the Government of the Netherlands and the UNDP office in Bujumbura.

Attendance

2.                  Participants were women entrepreneurs who had taken part in the study tour, leaders of associations of women entrepreneurs as well as representatives of technological and business support institutions.  Also present were representatives of the Asia Centre for Entrepreneurial Initiatives (ASCENT), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the Africa Regional Centre for Technology (ARCT) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).  The list of participants is reproduced in Annex 1. 

Programme of Work 

3.                  The programme of work reproduced in Annex II had the following main items: 

1.                  Opening ceremony

2.                  Overview of the background, objectives and work programme of the study tour follow-up meeting.

3.                  Summary of lessons learned from the study tour: individual viewpoints and technological institution viewpoints.

4.                  Conceptual framework for the creation of  women’s business centres 

5.                  Conceptual framework for the establishment of Guarantee Funds

6.                  Adoption of the summary report and recommendations

7.                  Closing of the meeting. 

II.               ACCOUNT OF PROCEEDINGS  

Opening ceremony 

4.                  The meeting was officially opened with three statements.  The opening ceremony was graced by the presence of Her Excellency Mrs. Sophie Buyoya, wife of the Head of State. On behalf of the Government of Burundi, Her Excellency the Honourable Romaine Ndorimana, Minister for Social Action and Women’s Advancement, welcomed all participants, more particularly Mrs. Josephine Ouedraogo, Director of ACW, who had expended so much effort to hold the meeting in Bujumbura.   She then thanked all the businesswomen and representatives of institutions from Africa and Asia who had come to share their experiences with their sisters of Burundi.  She briefly described the situation prevailing in the country and wished the meeting every success. 

5.                  In her statement, Ms. Kathleen Ann Cravero, UNDP Resident Representative in Burundi said that her organization was supporting the economic empowerment of women in general, and of rural women in particular.  In that regard, UNDP had drawn up a regional programme for the economic empowerment of women and the current meeting should be seen in that context. 

6.                  She found the current meeting particularly timely for the women of Burundi who, in addition to their disadvantaged status, were afflicted by the crisis in their country.  Most of them were still languishing in camps for displaced persons, seeing their children die of hunger without being able to give them the least help, being themselves compelled to beg or sell their bodies for their daily bread. 

7.                       She emphasized that poverty eradication constituted one of the pillars on which sustainable human development could be built and concluded with the hope that South-South partnerships would be strengthened. 

8.           Ms. Josephine Ouedraogo, Director of ACW, began her statement by thanking Ms. Sophie Buyoya, wife of the Head of State of Burundi, for having graced the opening ceremony with her presence.  She then expressed her appreciation for the quality and warmth of the hospitality accorded to participants. 

9.         In her view, the issue of women’s empowerment and capacity building assumed particular importance at the turn of the millennium if account was taken of the fact that in sub-Saharan Africa: 

-                     48 per cent of the population had no access to drinking water or health services;

-                     52.1 per cent of the women were illiterate; and 32 per cent of the pregnant women surveyed in Harare in 1995 were HIV positive. 

10.       To eradicate all these evils, women should make it their business to be informed, trained and proactive.  Otherwise, no significant and lasting change can be made in the coming five years with regard to eradicating the domestic, intellectual and economic poverty of Africans. Nothing would change if women continued to exclude themselves or to be excluded from information and training networks, loan and investment distribution circuits, technological research networks and political and economic decision-making. 

11.              The consequences of exclusion were enormous in that the informal sector provided self-employment for 50 to 70 per cent of the population in some of the countries.  For that reason, every working person had to demonstrate daily, not only their expertise, but also their capacity for organization, thrift, management, leadership and adaptability, not to mention their capacity to take decisions. 

12.       For the past five years, ECA had embarked on a programme of promoting women entrepreneurs.  Initially, the programme had led to the formation in 1993 of the African Federation of Women Entrepreneurs which had a track record of organizing periodic forums for the sharing of experiences accompanied with international exhibitions and sales. 

13.       ACW was part of the international and regional efforts being made to promote the economic development of women.  In that capacity, ACW had participated in the Africa-Asia Forum organized jointly by UNDP and the United Nations Office for Special Assistance to the Least-Developed Countries at Bangkok in July 1997.  Further to the recommendations of that Forum, ACW, in cooperation with the UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa, had organized in June 1998, a study Tour to India and Sri Lanka for some 20 African businesswomen and representatives of specialized agencies. 

14.       The purpose of the tour was to unleash the creativity of businesswomen, enhance their networking and to lay the groundwork for a three-way cooperation effort, which would combine institutional support with technological research and trade. 

15.              She was particularly grateful to the UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa, the Asian Centre for Entrepreneurial Initiative and the State of Karnataka.  She observed that the outcome of ECA’s 40th Anniversary Conference organized in April 1998 had encouraged ACW to become involved in the creation of business centres and guarantee funds that would enhance women’s entrepreneurship. Accordingly, she recalled that the current meeting should come up with a partnership programme whose immediate objective would be to establish business centres and guarantee funds.  Such a partnership should also aim, in the medium-term, at building and operating national, regional and international networks which will help to galvanize a change in attitudes and overcome resistance to increasing the visibility of women’s work and experiences. 

16.       In her opening statement, Ms. Sophie Buyoya first welcomed all the African and Asian businesswomen who had traveled to Bujumbura at a time particularly focussed on the reconstruction of Burundi.  In her view, any genuine emancipation of people should begin with economic freedom.  That was why the Fourth Conference on Women held in Beijing in September 1995 had raised the banner of the Forum whose purpose was to institute macro-economic policies and development strategies that met the needs and rewarded the efforts of women living in poverty. 

17.              The current meeting should be seen within the context of enhancing the economic empowerment and productivity of women.  Since the Asian continent was well advanced in the preservation of foodstuffs, Africa might do well to follow its example because food industry development should be the strategy to be pursued by African countries whose economies are basically agricultural. The main objectives of the meeting were: 

a)                  To see what impact the study tour had had on the business performance of participants,  the environment in which they operated and the lessons to be drawn; 

b)                  To deepen participant knowledge of food processing technologies as practiced in export-processing village clusters and women’s business incubators using new management methods; 

c)                  To discover or to rediscover the Asian environment with a view to identifying the prospects  for genuine, multi-facetted, multi-disciplinary and sustainable partnerships; and 

d)                  To gain an understanding of the institutional machinery for promoting women’s businesses in member countries and assess the potential for creating business centres and guarantee funds that would enhance women’s entrepreneurship. 

18.       The institutional mechanisms for promoting women’s entrepreneurship in the various countries should look at the prospects for creating women’s business centres and guarantee funds as a genuine  means of boosting women’s entrepreneurship.

19.       She ended by thanking all the organizers of the meeting, especially ACW, for having chosen Burundi to host the meeting and declared open the Follow-up Meeting to the Study Tour of African Women Entrepreneurs to India and Sri Lanka. 

Briefing on the background and objectives of the meeting  and presentation of the programme 

20.              Mrs. Francoise Wege, of ACW introduced the objectives of the meeting.  She explained that the meeting was taking place within the context of the objectives of ECA, (which include assisting in the economic development process in member States and developing partnerships) and that the meeting was expected to help consolidate existing linkages.  

21.              She went on to mention existing frameworks for cooperation such as the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), the 1994 meeting held in Bandung, Indonesia, which adopted a trade and investment network and the successful Asian experience of technology transfer.  She explained that ACW was involved in assisting women entrepreneurs in the areas of development of skills, investment opportunities, training and information flow.  

22.              She recalled that, for sometime now, women from Asia had been participating in activities of African women entrepreneurs such as the 1997 Trade Fair and AFWE-organized meeting held in Accra.  

23.              The over-arching objectives of the meeting were to strengthen economic partnerships among women entrepreneurs and African and Asian institutions as well as to define the institutional framework for setting up business centres and guarantee funds. 

24.              She explained that there were three categories of participants: 

 i)         Study tour participants,

ii)         Leaders of women entrepreneurs’ associations, and

iii)         Partners, including those from Asia, the private sector (banks, chambers of    commerce etc.); Intergovernmental organizations, as well as United Nations agencies.  

25.              She went on to say that the meeting had been designed to promote dialogue on the prospects for Africa-Asia partnerships between business entrepreneurs and brainstorming on the framework for creating business centres and guarantee funds as mechanisms for strengthening women’s entrepreneurship. 

26.              She concluded by stating that the meeting should: 

·        Identify areas of economic activity, which hold prospects for building economic partnerships between African and Asian businesses and what needed to be done to consolidate such partnerships.

·        Define the framework for establishing business centres and the preliminary options that should guide the formulation of project documents on the establishment of such business centres.

·        Define the framework and the institutional and financial conditions that must be met in order to create a guarantee fund for women entrepreneurs. 

Lessons drawn from the study tour 

27.              In her presentation, Ms. Opportune Santos, ACW consultant, first reviewed the background and objectives of the study tour that had taken African women entrepreneurs, NGO and technological institution officials to India and Sri Lanka from 4 to 28 June 1998. 

28.              The main objectives of the study tour had been  to: 

·        Build the capacity of women entrepreneurs through the sharing of information and training, the adoption and use of processing and packaging methods and the acquisition of inexpensive but good quality technologies;

·        Establish regional and subregional networks; and

·        Develop a regional information centre with national branches. 

29.              Her presentation was based on reports sent to ACW by some participants.  Other participants attending the meeting were invited to share their experiences after the presentation. 

30.              It became clear, on the whole, that participants had appreciated the study tour and the visits to the particular countries visited. The main lessons drawn could be summarised in six statements: 

·        The social organization within the enterprises allowed them to find corporate solutions to difficulties that would have been hard to resolve individually;

·        The India state of Karnataka had created an environment  conducive to the establishment of ancillary technical and research structures;

·        User-friendly manufacturing   technology that was affordable had been developed and popularised;

·        Product and processing research had been systematically integrated;

·        Many of the women who took part in the study tour had been inspired by the recovery of cereal and fruit by-products;

·        The women entrepreneurs had discovered role models like Ms. Madhura and her fellow business colleagues who had generously shared their experiences. 

31.              Regarding the impact of the study tour on the activities of individual women entrepreneurs and their associations or organisations, the experience had been enriching and informative.  The documentation collected had been comprehensive, helpful and some participants had already put into practice what they had learned from the tour by restructuring their organisations along the Indian model and manufacturing equipment suited to African conditions. 

32.              One other impact was that, on their return home, participants had been able to share what they had learned from the various encounters with other associations and substantive ministerial departments. 

33.              Regarding the suggestions and recommendations, all participants recommended that: 

·        Such study tours between Africa and Asia and among African countries should   continue to be organized;

·        A technology information and transfer centre should be established;

·        An information sharing network should be created;

·        Women’s business centres should be created along the lines of ASCENT in India. 

34.              During the  general debate, participants made the following recommendations: 

·        Documentation on the study tour should be sent to all member States in order to facilitate dissemination;

·        Care should be taken, when selecting study tour participants, to accord priority to women entrepreneurs and institutional structures having common interests in agro-food processing technology;

·        Inter- and intra –African study tours should be promoted and permanent information sharing machinery established;

·        Networking should be facilitated or established between African entrepreneurs and the existing research structures;

·        Appropriate enterprises should be selected, that is to say those whose activities match the business activity of participants in terms of banana, groundnuts processing etc. ;

·        Efforts should be made to impress upon society in general the interrelationship between formal and informal entrepreneurship and development.  Without women operating in micro- and small scale enterprises where their numbers count, there would be no genuine economic development;

·        Information and communication should be developed in the food processing technology sector by creating data-sharing networks, websites, showrooms and other permanent exhibitions which will fill the communication  gaps hindering various initiatives in Africa and ensure that no subregion is  excluded in  terms of the establishment of women’s business centres and guarantee funds;

·        An enabling institutional support framework should be created to promote women’s entrepreneurship. 

Lessons drawn from the technology transfer standpoint 

35.              From the technology point of view, the lessons drawn from the study tour were presented by Ms. Sabina A. Mensah of GRATIS, Mr. Ousman Kane of ARCT and Mr. Ousman Kornio of APICA. 

36.              In his presentation, the Executive Director of ARCT reviewed the study tour to India and Sri Lanka positively, notwithstanding the improvements to be made. 

37.              He then described ARCT’s experience in terms of: 

·        Technological needs assessment and research;

·        Information and documentation;

·        Research/development and demonstration;

·        Advisory services and technological consultancy;

·        Human resources training and development;

·        Scientific and technical partnerships and co-operation;

·        Incubation of technological enterprises. 

38.              Given its experience and mandate, ARCT could eventually make an effective contribution to the promotion of women’s entrepreneurship in Africa and actively support the facilitation of networking relations between African businesswomen and concerned institutions in Asia.  Such a contribution should be seen within the context of a partnership between ARCT and ACW with financial support from development partners like UNDP. 

39.              The Secretary General of APICA acknowledged the extremely high importance of the study tour.  Site visits to businesses and technological institutions had made participants to discover interesting technologies in the fields of pastry making, fruit juicing, drying and cashew nut processing in Sri Lanka not to mention the processing of coconut fibre and dairy products. 

40.              In addition to the businesses visited, the tour had provided opportunities for establishing contacts and sharing ideas with institutions like the food technology centre (CFTRI) which was a centre of excellence providing university training to artisans and industrialists in food processing techniques and technologies through short- and longer term courses. 

41.              The tour had promoted a development dialogue between Africa and India in the sense that the Karnataka State authorities had demonstrated their preparedness to facilitate the procurement of equipment they produced for African women. 

42.              He highlighted the helpfulness of the technological information received in India and the role that APICA could play as a technological research and development institution.  He proposed a series of follow-up activities along lines that he deemed worth pursuing. 

43.              With regard to the GRATIS project, Ms. Sabina Mensah described the objectives, beneficiaries and activities conducted under the project since its launching in 1987 by the Ministry of Environment and Technology in Ghana. 

44.              The project objective was to promote grassroots industrialisation in Ghana by providing advisory services to entrepreneurs seeking to expand their business activities through the introduction of new products or manufacturing processes. 

45.              GRATIS had developed a wide range of activities spanning product design, manufacture, distribution and sales.  In this area of technology transfer, she highlighted the problems that had to do with information flow, financial management and the paucity of financial resources. 

46.              Depending on the area of business activity, the technological processes could be simple or highly complex and so could the type of equipment required.  These could be imported or locally produced to suit the circumstances. 

47.              India was well ahead in some areas of fruit juicing, drying and processing, oil seed processing (from decortication to packaging), dairy product processing technology and others. GRATIS would like to establish contacts with CTRI and was counting on ASCENT to facilitate the exercise. 

48.              The general discussion revealed that the visit to India and Sri Lanka had provided opportunities for contact and networking.  Several businesswomen felt, however, that it was not so much the fact of having seen the equipment used in the various businesses that counted as the ideas and creativity that the tour had unleashed. 

49.              One speaker took issue with the amount of energy that women expended in food processing and underscored the need to find labour-saving solutions for women.  In this connection, Ghana’s experience with the programme of promoting the use of improved stoves to reduce the use of fuel-wood was described. 

50.              Participants also stressed the need to support people setting up business in the food sector because they faced financial problems in travelling to participate in meetings and seminars.  They were also technically constrained as in the case of gari processing women in Ghana.  The governments concerned were urged to ensure that the formal sector served as a booster to informal sector activities. 

51.              The representatives of Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire informed participants about their experiences in terms of the co-relation between develoment in general and the business of agricultural product processing and conservation. 

52.              The women entrepreneurs observed that African governments did not promote private initiative as India did.  Despite their lack of technology, women were not waiting to be provided for but were hustling to access the required information and technology. 

53.              Participants highlighted the difficulty of being both producer and exporter and considered the importance of specialising in a specific sector of activity. 

54.              In conclusion, participants stressed the need for information flow and suggested that, initially, this might be done electronically.  However,  live participation in meetings and seminars was equally important. 

55.              They invited donors to invest more  resources in food product processing businesses as a way of encouraging and supporting women's entrepreneurship. 

Highlights of the key issues and concepts developed during the study tour 

56.              The Director of ACW reminded participants in this session that the current meeting formed part of the process that began in July 1997  at Bangkok when  the Africa-Asia forum was organized with  assistance from  the governments of Thailand and Japan.  On that occasion, the women entrepreneurs attending the Bangkok meeting had demonstrated  their determination  to move on from lip service to practical action.  Her particular gratitude went to Ms. Morgan of UNDP for the  resource allocation which had made possible a study tour rich in  positive experiences on the whole.

 57.              With that brief introduction, she invited Ms. Viola Morgan to chair the session. 

58                Ms. Viola Morgan presented background information on the study tour and explained that during a meeting held in Bangkok in July 1997 on Afro-Asian cooperation in the economic empowerment of women, 35 African countries had been represented. The African participants had caucused and agreed on priority areas in which they sought Asian cooperation, namely, food processing technologies, textiles and business centres, which the meeting had endorsed.  In addition, the “ESCAP model” had been introduced.  This was a project of the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) that involved training for Asian women working in the agro-food processing industry.  Ms. Madhura Chatrapathy had been the trainer and been later invited to the First Global Women’s Entrepreneurship Trade Fair and Investment Forum in Ghana at which time ECA and UNDP had decided to apply the “ESCAP model” to Africa. 

59.              It had also been decided to establish focal points throughout Africa including one for each subregion.  Furthermore, ECA, UNDP and ESCAP had been designated focal points within the context of three-way co-operation. 

60.              She then invited the facilitators, Mrs. Madhura Chatrapathy of India (tour organiser) and Ms. Gisele Yitamben (tour coordinator) to share their experiences of the study tour. 

61.              Ms. Chatrapathy saluted the entrepreneurial initiative of African women, despite many constraints.  She commended the staff of ACW for the work they had done and gave the example of Thailand, where grass roots women were instrumental in the economy and explained that South Asian women needed exposure to South-East Asian experiences. 

62.        Being the owner of a food processing industry herself, the programme she had initiated provided leadership and on-the- job training for grassroots women and study tours.  This collective training approach of sending them to visit other countries widened their horizons. 

63.                          The idea of business incubators had been her brainchild after coming across the practice in the United States of America.   These were production and processing centres which went beyond mere facilitation.  She informed participants that Kartanaka State could provide women with training, assist women entrepreneurs by contributing to tour travel expenses, open trade fairs to women entrepreneurs who so request and take in business entrepreneurs for on-the-job training.  In addition, she promised to make available information on training schemes and trade fairs in India. 

64.              The Asian study tour had given participants an opportunity to assess technologies in terms of whether they were marketable, affordable and so forth, and funds were available from which women could purchase some equipment that had been demonstrated.  She ended by emphasizing the concept of shared learning and the importance of being exposed to different approaches and applying them locally.  

65.              Ms. Giselle Yitamben described her experience as a study tour participant and how she had benefited from the Indian experience.  She then explained how participants in the group she led to India and Sri Lanka were of three categories: NGO leaders, representatives of technology institutes and entrepreneurs.   

66.              She had identified suitable participants partly through a questionnaire that had been sent out and through information AFWE had provided from the field.  Cameroon, Ghana and Uganda had been heavily represented partly due to relevant UNDP projects operating in those countries.   The technological institutes (GRATIS, APICA and ARCT) had been recommended by people in the field. 

67.               She stated that the businesswomen, NGO representatives, technology institutes and regional officials had traveled on the tour with the objective of visiting enterprises, sharing views, learning processing techniques, identifying new technologies and facilitating the learning of business development. 

68.              Businesses of various sizes had been visited and a roundtable meeting organized with the authorities.  In Sri Lanka, one export village visited was selling rural products directly on the world market. 

69.              During the study tour, participants learned about the concept of entrepreneurship and benefited from technical training.  The Indian women met in the field expressed their interest in coming to Africa to learn within a similar context.   

70.              Mr. Ramachandran described the concept of export production.   The idea of the export-processing village began with the product itself and went on to identify an exporter who had a market.    In Sri Lanka, the government played this intermediary role while in Ghana the role was played by an NGO. 

71.              Mr.Aubaud who worked for African businesses exporting to France and French businesses exporting to Africa described another experience.  While the European market had a high demand for African products, the problem of standardization in order to make such products competitive remained.   Africa could, however, explore two possibilities: that of conventional distribution and the major supermarket distribution channels sector. 

72.              The representative of COMESA announced her organization’s plan to reproduce the videocassette on the study tour for all member countries and to disseminate the information provided by the Indian delegation.   She deplored the lack of linkages between women producers and technology institutes, women entrepreneurs and the private sector, businesswomen and trading organizations.  She appealed for ECA’s support to address this anomaly. 

73.              The discussions on this theme were continued in working groups and the conclusions thereon reproduced in Annex III. 

Presentation on the conceptual framework on the establishment of subregional business centres 

74.              The presentation, made by Ms. Melkrist Hailu, consultant ACW/ECA,  on the  Conceptual Framework  on the Establishment of Subregional Business Centres had points of discussion on issues like subregional business centres for whom,  subregional business centres for what and subregional business centres  how. 

75.              On responding  to the issue of subregional business centres for whom, the presentation identified the target groups who would be beneficiaries of the services of the business centres, namely, women entrepreneurs operating in the informal and formal sectors within the areas of food processing and textiles. 

76.              As a response to subregional centres for what, with the identification of the  target   groups  and the problems and needs of the target  groups, the presentation enumerated the types  and kinds of services to be provided by the business centres.   

77.              The services  included  information assimilation and dissemination, capacity building and advisory services, and networking and linkages. 

78.              As to the issue of subregional business centres  how, the presentation proposed modes of service delivery, linkages at the national, subregional, regional and international levels and proposed options for the institutional arrangements to finance the business centres themselves. 

79.              The representative of COMESA highlighted the importance of telecommunications to global trade in general and to Africa in particular.  She cited the example of Kenya where a large percentage of the workforce was in the service industry, and pointed out that in rural areas, little trade and investment is possible due to poor telecommunications infrastructure.  She recalled the importance given to information and telecommunications technologies (ICTs) during ECA’s 40th anniversary conference and within COMESA and stressed the importance of reaching governments with the message that telecommunications was essential for women.  She informed the group that the Heads of State from COMESA member States had endorsed a communiqué on women and ICTs and that UNDP had helped establish a focal point system in some COMESA countries.  She then cited the example of tele-centres, through which women, even in the rural areas, could receive information from urban centres and other countries, and reap other benefits such as access to tele-medicine and distance learning.  Finally, she cited the example of “growth triangles” which were being promoted by the UNDP Resident Representative in Zambia as a positive initiative. 

80.              The representative of Morocco made comments drawing on the large number of experiences from her country and others in the Maghreb region, including her experience with a project for women entrepreneurs in her country.  She felt that a business centre should not be a structure, but have as its main focus a means of providing training, access to information, and assist women to feel empowered as entrepreneurs.  She suggested that business centres could help to highlight what exists, where and what has been tried.  Such centres could help to link entrepreneurs and serve as a mechanism for lobbying. 

81.              Other participants stressed the need for business centres to reach grassroots women, the need to take a “bottom-up”, rather than a “top-down” approach and be a conduit for linking and tapping many sources of information.  The case of South Africa and the Sangonet and Women’s Net ICT programmes based there were commended for the level of connectivity with rural women. 

82.              One participant maintained that the exercise need not be restricted to food processing and textiles.  The issue of human resources required to keep a business centre up-to-date was revisited. 

83.              Mrs. Chatrapathy introduced the concept of “business incubators” as it has been applied in India.  She explained that a business incubator is a processing Centre with packaging equipment.  It may also include a library of technical publications, directories of suppliers, etc.  Users pay a lump sum fee for using the Centre for a period of one year.  In India, the fee is the equivalent of approximately $250 and on a case-by-case basis, installment payments are accepted.  Training, lab analysis of products and so forth were provided at no additional cost.  The user of the incubator enters into a legal contract for the year, which stipulates her obligation to replace any equipment she damages, and so on.  The entrepreneur may then use the license of the business incubator, but liability lies with her.  

84.              Through the business incubator, women have access to a network of mentors who can help her with sourcing, marketing, improving or controlling the quality of her product, and providing general business counseling, although the women markets her products herself.   

85.              The business incubator also provides exposure for the new product. Normally, the business incubator is used for only one to one and a half years; however, while one product of an entrepreneur is able to survive in the market, she may continue to use the business incubator to perfect another.  

86.            The technical advisors working with the incubator commit to not disclose recipes or trade secrets and the entrepreneur is encouraged to not share his information with others besides the business incubator staff.   Women using the incubator also tended to organize themselves in groups in order to share costs of transportation, and various inputs.  

87.              The incubator also serves as a packaging bank.  It can purchase bottles in bulk and individuals put their own labels on their products.  

88.              In India, a nominal fee was charged per kilo, for the use of equipment (for small to medium-scale production), in the incubator.  She pointed out that if sophisticated equipment were used, it would not be practical for small to medium enterprise to use later.  Also, plans would have to be made for spare parts and maintenance.  

89.              Finally, she cautioned that not all businesses could be expected to succeed, even with the help of incubators; that the success rate (in India) is about 80 per cent when associated with an incubator versus as low as 40 per cent otherwise. 

90.              Mrs. Chatrapathy then defined a business centre as more of a resource centre – at least to access information, research findings, management advice and ideas at all levels.  It could be a facility giving entrepreneurs access to facsimile and telephone services and providing a meeting place.  Services offered normally included advice on accessing and approaching markets, competing effectively, guiding, mentoring, and contacts.   

91.              Mr. Bhat then stressed on the point that business incubators were not the same as business centers.  Business incubators were for “premature babies”.  They provided a protective, nurturing environment and could help to enable on informal sector business person to move into the formal sector and provide facilities for modern, high-quality production.  Such incubators need to be fairly small so that they are approachable by small producers.  He defined small as roughly $US 10,000 for entire set up (with locally made equipment), but up to $US 25,000 depending on whether it is set up for juice production bakery, etc.  

92.              It was also advisable for a sponsoring organization to provide the land and building for the incubator in order to ensure commitment to its success.  The maximum number of women using the incubator at a time is twenty.   

93.              He then suggested that a pilot business incubator be set up, modified to suit local condition and then replicated. 

94.              Mrs. Chatrapathy then explained that a business centre and a business incubator could be in the same location, but that they were two distinct concepts.   She explained also that one must consider the selection of users.  She gave the example of cases where an established businessperson may send one of his employees as a potential entrepreneur so that he could make use of the equipment in the incubator.   

95.              She also explained that for some women, interest may taper off and blame is sometimes projected towards the business incubator for not fulfilling expectations.  In such cases there is a need to get at the root of the problem.  

96.               Another example of the types of situations that arise is that of someone who did not want to use preservatives, while the government required their use.  The business incubator cannot disregard such regulations but can lobby for changes in regulations. 

97.              Mrs. Chatrapathy said that in India, being a associated with an incubator often helps women to obtain credit, and that banks often agree to capitalize an entrepreneur’s pre-operation costs once she’s fully operational.  In addition, the incubator assisted women in obtaining their business license.  

98.              The representative of ARCT then commented that in Africa, the political will and enabling environment is often weak, as is the link between research and development and implementation in the field that could improve productivity.  He felt that business incubators could solve such problems.   

99.              Other participants commented on the problem of access to mass produced equipment and lack of information about where one can buy specific equipment, while GRATIS and APICA were named as institutes which do help entrepreneurs obtain appropriate equipment.   

100.          The group was also reminded of the commitment of the government of the State of Karnataka, India to discount purchases of equipment by 25 per cent. 

101.          Another participant shared with the group her experience in Cote d’Ivoire of trying to set up a business incubator and having experienced many difficulties.  She wanted to leave the meeting with  specific steps or criteria recommended for such an undertaking.  In response, Mr. Bhat and Mrs. Chatrapathy said that the Indian business incubator was simply a model and that local adaptations were needed.  They said that they were willing to assist anyone who was interested in setting up an incubator in Africa, and suggested drawing on the African alumni of Asian training centres. 

Conceptual framework of the establishment  

102.          The discussion of frameworks and models for the creation of guarantee funds were led by four speakers who addressed, in turn, the concept of guarantee funds for women entrepreneurs, collective guarantees within the context of women’s entrepreneurship, alternative financing systems and the experience of the guarantee funds in Burundi. 

103.          Addressing the issues of guarantee funds for women entrepreneurs Ms. Opportune Santos first reviewed the financing problems that women entrepreneurs faced with regard to credit access, information and management training as well as legal and social obstacles.  As though those barriers were not enough, the banks did not take the time to review the capacity of women.  

104.          She proposed that guarantee funds should be established and mutual guarantee societies promoted as ways of mitigating the difficulties. 

105.          The clients of the guarantee fund would be: 

·        Women running small and medium-sized businesses in the formal or modern sector.

·        Women heading businesses which are already operational and potential business leaders in the informal sector ;

·        Groups of disadvantaged women operating in the informal sector and receiving guidance from NGOs. 

106.          The purpose of the guarantee fund is to promote women’s entrepreneurship. With the support of business centres and business incubation agencies, the guarantee fund will facilitate the transition of women’s businesses into the modern sector of private financing and market economies.  It will also facilitate their mainstreaming.   Working with the business centres, the guarantee fund will provide women with access to training and information, loan financing, the acquisition of capital equipment and other investments. 

107.          In institutional terms, the guarantee fund could be an independent private fund or a private fund attached to a subregional, regional or international organization engaged in the business of lending.  The partners of the guarantee fund are the users, business centres, national, international, subregional and regional institutions as well as donors and funding agencies. 

108.          To access the services of the fund it will be necessary to be a member of a professional association of women entrepreneurs or recognised active women running legally established businesses.   The mobilisation of resources of the guarantee fund could be effected through third party equity participation, loan interest, sight and term deposits, borrowing, subsidies, local and national savings. 

109.          Eventually, the issue of implementing the steps in the life of the scheme, securing the operating budget, preparing the budget estimates (including the feasibility study) and setting the time frame for project implementation would arise. 

110.          Ms. Anne Balenghien, a lecturer from the University of Rabat in the Kingdom of Morocco, addressed the issue of collective guarantee modes within the context of women’s entrepreneurship. 

111.          To adapt financing to user needs, intermediary organizations should be created to serve as a link between women and the financial institutions.   

112.          Such organizations could be: 

·        Development associations or business support organizations;

·        Producer federations or movements;

·        Mutual savings and loan schemes;

·        Financial  societies; and

·        International brokerage firms. 

113.          Explaining the distinction between the concepts of cold guarantees (hot money) and hot guarantees (cold money), she said that hot guarantees were made up of user savings while cold guarantees were State guarantees which may not be repayable.  In other terms, hot money was what users had earned or mobilised while cold money was what they received from third parties, institutions or organisations. 

114.          Normally, hot money was paid back at high rates of interest while cold money was much easier going and could be paid back at lower interest rates.

115.          The presentation showed that there were two collective guarantee options: mutual funds and guarantee funds. 

116.          In the mutual fund scenario, the group is cohesive but in varying degree.  This type of guarantee is frequently found in the developed countries.  The initiative to establish mutual funds may be taken by professional groups or by central and people’s banks. 

117.          Vigilance had to be exercised in the case of guarantee funds because a local association manages the money deposited in a bank.  A second option would be to go for a partnership with the State or national bank while a third would be to replenish the guarantee fund with loan deductions. 

118.          From then on, mixed arrangements can be concluded. 

119.          Mr. Moussa Sanogo, a consultant for the international co-operative alliance presented the paper on alternative financing systems and explained that the problem of development financing had created the need for alternative financing. 

120.          Indeed, access to conventional bank loans and the guarantees required in that particular circumstance had long impeded informal sector development in the broadest sense.  And yet, the potential users of alternative financing were legion and could be estimated at 70 to 90 per cent of the target population. 

121.          Alternative systems were characterised by the type of needs addressed and the type of structure.  They could  be classified into four categories, namely: 

a)      Informal systems (tontines, money-lenders and other schemes) addressing social and/or consumer needs are neither structured nor amenable to internal or external control;

b)      Decentralised financing systems which are of  three categories depending on whether they are organised as: 

-         Savings and credit co-operatives that operate as decentralised mutual funds;

-         Solidarity schemes drawing  inspiration from the principles of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh; or

-         Autonomous village schemes which combine savings with lending operations. 

c)      Projects, NGOs and farmers’ organizations which provided a loan service as an extension of their savings activities;

d)      The specific cases of subsidies relating to future investment or difficult to quantify investment returns on projects like the establishment of schools and health centres. 

122.          The constraints associated with alternative financing generally have to do with competition among variants of the scheme which are also hampered by inadequate accounting and inaccurate and out-of-date statistics on business indicators.

 123.          The advantages of alternative financing schemes have to do with reliance on: 

-         A conducive socio-economic  environment;

-         Generally good communication among stakeholders; and

-         Social pressure which offsets the lack of conventional guarantees and the often exemplary solidarity of members. 

124.          Ms. Beatrice Bukware, President of the Burundi Co-operative Savings and Mutual Lending Scheme, presented the fourth paper on guarantee funds.   It described specific schemes being conducted in Burundi. 

125.          In her view, guarantees were in essence instituted to protect lenders against the risk of borrower insolvency.   It all depended on the loan purpose, magnitude and duration.  It could take the form of personal guarantees or genuine collateral.

 126.           Recourse to mutual guarantee societies and guarantee funds often depended on whether the applicant owned assets which could be offered as collateral.  

127.          Therefore, the guarantee fund limited recourse to mortgages and facilitated credit access.  There were several guarantee schemes whose mode of operation varied with their nature.  

128.          The first example of a guarantee fund was the scheme operated by APEF, Women’s World Banking and BNDE.  A tripartite agreement had been signed among the three partners. 

129.          Among the advantages of this  type of scheme were: 

-         The ease with which borrowers could secure loans;

-         The multiplier effect stemming from the fact that if loans were diligently repaid, the fund could lend to a very large number of borrowers. 

130.          Among the disadvantages were the facts that Women’s World Banking shifted its policy towards its affiliates and the agreement was suspended before it became operational with the result that guarantees have become a cumbersome process. 

131.          The second example was the agro-food technologies guarantee fund (FDTA) operated by the national bank for economic development (BNDE) the national centre for food technology (CNTA) and its clientele.  A co-operation agreement has been signed between CNTA and BNDE.  

132.          Worth mentioning are the advantages and disadvantages.  In terms of advantages, the beneficiaries become familiar with a financial institution and in the event of the demise of the sponsoring institution, they can continue working with the bank and securing loans. 

133.          In terms of disadvantages, the fund only serves the groups sponsored by CNTA.  Other guarantee schemes were the Twitezimbere guarantee fund, the mutual credit co-operative fund (CECM), the national guarantee fund (FNG) and the domestic guarantee fund. 

134.          All these funds have their advantages and disadvantages.  The critical appraisal by participants of each type of guarantee fund could lead to an interesting mix which would provide a suitable formula and provide women entrepreneurs with a sound system of loan guarantees.  

135.          Discussions on the guarantee fund were continued in working groups.  The outcome of those discussions is reproduced in Annex IV. 

III.     KEY RECOMMENDATIONS 

Asia-Africa Co-operation 

136.     The meeting, after considering the presentations made on the lessons learnt and the key concepts developed from the study tour, and after a detailed review of working group discussions, made the following major recommendations on Asia-African co-operation.  

                              i.        Clear and implementable programmes should be designed at national levels to impart and disseminate the experiences and lessons learnt from the study tour.

                             ii.        Women entrepreneurs, the African Federation of Women Entrepreneurs (AFWE), national associations, NGO’s as well as technology institutes should consider the possibilities of establishing business centres or incubators at national levels in order to translate into practice the lessons learnt and experiences. 

                           iii.        UNDP should look for suitable arrangements by which study tour participants could have the mandate to disseminate their experiences at national level.

                           iv.        The study tour programme should be widened to cover areas like textiles, leather, handicrafts and cosmetics.

                            v.        Co-operative links should be broadened within Africa and with other countries of Asia.

                           vi.        Commitments should be made by all partners and donor organizations as well as women entrepreneurs in the organization of future study tour programmes, and best modalities of financing, including cost-sharing, should be considered.

                         vii.        ECA and ESCAP should play the co-ordination and intermediary role to link African and Asian entrepreneurs, organizations and institutions.

                        viii.        ECA, UNDP and other partners should support the organization of trade fairs and exhibitions for strengthening networking and linkages.

                           ix.        Exchange of expertise from Asia as well as from Africa must be initiated.

                            x.        Commitments made by the Asian counterparts should be followed-up.

                           xi.        Clear selection criteria for participants should be developed, including the ability to share and impart experiences as well as regional and language balance.

                         xii.        African women entrepreneurs should benefit from TICAD programmes and to this effect arrangements should be made by AFWE, OAU and ECA.

                        xiii.        Reports and information on study tours should be disseminated through regional and international media institutions such as URTNA-Kenya and PANA-Dakar.  

Establishment of Sub-regional Business Centres 

137.     The meeting reviewed the presentations made on the concepts of sub-regional and national business centers as well as business incubators.  Working group discussions and recommendations were also taken into account to come up with the following main recommendations on the establishment of sub-regional business centers.  

                              i.        Business centres at sub-regional levels should be established as servers and linked to focal points at national levels.

                             ii.        A feasibility study needs to be undertaken to determine, among others, the status of the sub-regional business centres: 

§                     Initially as pilot in one or two sub-regions AND later

§                     As independent non-profit NGO OR

§                     Attached to similar service providing institutions/NGOs at sub-regional levels.  

                           iii.        The feasibility study should be carried out by ECA in collaboration with UNDP and completed by the end of this year or latest by the first quarter of the year 2000.

                           iv.        Multilateral and bilateral donors and partner organizations are requested to contribute to the establishment of the business centres both financially and technically.  

Setting-up of Guarantee Fund 

138.     The meeting reviewed various concepts on guarantee funds, looked into the different models of establishing guarantee funds and considered the outcomes of the working group discussions and recommendations.  The following are the main recommendations made on the setting-up of a guarantee fund for African women entrepreneurs.  

                i.        The guarantee fund should be established at the regional/continental level with branches at national levels.

              ii.        The guarantee fund will be established as a foundation operating on a private and autonomous basis with efficient and lesser bureaucratic procedures.

             iii.        The source of finance for the setting up of the guarantee fund will come from women entrepreneurs, financial institutions, private foundations, bilateral and multilateral institutions including the United Nations system.

            iv.        Feasibility should be undertaken to determine and clarify conditions for the establishment of the guarantee fund.

              v.        The feasibility study should be carried out by ECA in collaboration with UNDP and completed by the end of the year or latest by the first quarter of the year 2000. 

IV.     CLOSING OF THE MEETING 

139.          The summary report and recommendations on the items discussed over the four days of intensive brainstorming on building partnerships among African and Asian women entrepreneurs and on the tools for the economic empowerment of women were adopted with a few amendments. 

140.          The closing ceremony was chaired by the Honourable Minister for Social Action and Women’s Advancement. 

141.          During the ceremony, statements were made by the First Deputy President of the Burundi Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Agriculture and Handicrafts and by the representative of ECA.  Both speakers expressed their satisfaction with the conclusions of the meeting and the way in which its business had been conducted. 

142.          The Deputy President of the Chamber of Commerce noted that the organisation of the meeting in Bujumbura at this particularly difficult time of national reconstruction had demonstrated the potential of the women of Burundi and their preparedness to move forward.  His organization was committed to enhancing the guidance, training, information and economic empowerment it provided to Burundi women entrepreneurs and would welcome the assistance of institutions like ARCT, GRATIS and APICA. 

143.          The representative of ECA revisited the objectives of the meeting which had all been achieved.  She highlighted the commitment of partner institutions and agencies to the implementation of the recommendations adopted.  She concluded by thanking the host country for its distinctive warmth and hospitality and participants for their business-like approach to the discussions.  She also thanked the support staff.

144.          Ms. Ramatoulaye Sow, President of the association of Guinea women entrepreneurs read out, on behalf of all participants, a vote of thanks to the Government of Burundi, expressing their appreciation for the warm hospitality accorded them and the facilities they had enjoyed throughout their stay.  ECA was also commended for its initiative in organising such a meeting and UNDP for contributing to its success. 

145.          In reply, the Minister for Social Action and Women’s Advancement lauded the dynamism, openness and enquiring spirit which had characterised the proceedings.  She felt happy with the progress already made in applying the lessons of the study tour.  It was her expectation that all actors would work further to strengthen the relationships existing between women business leaders and the support structures. 

146.          She had no doubt that the proposed machinery of business centres and guarantee funds would help to raise living standards. 

147.          She concluded by thanking ECA (through ACW), UNDP and UNFPA.  She then declared the meeting closed.