Author: Duncan Macqueen
This training programme provides an outline for a refresher course on two toolkits that have been developed to support practitioners in improving business incubation and risk management processes – plus adding a new module on 30 practical options to climate-proof your business:
- The ‘FORBINC – business incubation’ toolkit provides a framework for developing business incubation services within, primarily, a producer organisation but which could also be applied to other organisational structures (such as a non-governmental organisation or NGO).
- The ‘Securing the future’ risk management toolkit provides a framework and set of tools designed to guide a process of identifying and assessing possible business risks.
- New training modules based on ‘Diversification for climate resilience – 30 options for forest and farm producer organisations’.
Across all sectors Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) demonstrate high failure rates after 2 to 5 years of operations. This is also true of enterprises run by many different types of Forest and Farm Producer Organisations (FFPOs). While plenty of guidance exists on how to set up a new business (i.e. business start-ups), there is little guidance on how FFPOs can help support enterprises over time (i.e. ‘business incubation’) and plan proactively to overcome risks of failure (i.e. ‘risk management’) which includes overcoming risks associated with climate change (i.e. ‘climate resilience’). Together with mainstreaming gender equality, these training approaches provide a set of tools and methods for FFF facilitators and FFPO business coaches to support FFPOs in strengthening their business development service delivery to members.