Business Center Establishment

Proposed Main Users / Purpose of the Tool:

	Public sector ministries, regional and local governments, international organisations active in local economic development, local non-governmental economic development organisations, and SME promotion institutions.
	The purpose of the Business Centre Establishment programme is to develop and strengthen business centres and other business advisory mechanisms so that they may help small-scale enterprises develop entrepreneurial, managerial and technical skills for further growth and development. Additional purposes are as follows: To help SMEs improve their competitiveness by tapping new markets, developing innovative products, raising productivity, cutting costs, communicating more effectively, creating employment and introducing new technologies; To create a marketplace which brings together service-providers (suppliers), SMEs  (clients), and the economic development institutions that serve as market catalysts; To support economic development through the provision of business advisory services and training services at a local level; To improve individuals’ and small-scaled enterprises’ access to business development services at the local level; To strengthen the supply side of business development services, including training services for entrepreneurs and would-be-entrepreneurs.