IATP Monitoring and Evaluation Report - IREX

Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs have proven themselves to be important
drivers of change, supporting openness, reform,
and accountability in the community while being critical
agents of economic growth and citizen empowerment.
Since June 2007, 3,006 private entrepreneurs
(1,706 more than the targeted 1,300) in all countries
of IATP operation used IATP center resources, including
nearly 1,000 who received technical training.
In November 2008, the IATP center in Tbilisi, Georgia,
launched a training course for small business owners in
collaboration with a Tbilisi City Hall project. IATP provided
the aspiring entrepreneurs with ICT skills to help
them operate their small businesses more efficiently
and effectively. Businesswoman Tinatin Maure used
her new skills to create a website and develop professional
menus and brochures for her fast food business.
She also sent her managers, who had no prior ICT
skills, to IATP training so that they could learn to communicate
through e-mail and use specialized business
software to track inventory, manage accounts, and
monitor their sales. Maure now has plans to incorporate
Skype technology into her delivery services.
An IATP graduate from Batumi, Georgia, Lela
Verdzadze, is another example of IATP empowering
small business entrepreneurs through technical training.
Verdzadze used her newly acquired ICT skills to
plan, market, and run a private driving school with her
father. In December 2008, Verdzadze completed ICT
basics for small business owners at the IATP center
and has been an active IATP user ever since. Due to
high unemployment rates in Georgia, she decided to
become an independent entrepreneur. Verdzadze used
IATP's free internet access to investigate the best type
of business to open in her home city, visited the tax
department’s website to research the legal requirements
for opening a business, and prepared all necessary
documentation with the help of IATP computers.
In February 2009, Verdzadze and her father founded
their own driving school, offering theoretical and
practical lessons for those seeking a driver’s license.
Lela Verdzadze commented, “With the assistance of
the IATP center, I managed to obtain useful skills and
information and was able to open my own driving
school. To have an independent source of income is
really important considering the current unemployment
rate in the country.” In addition to Verdzadze’s
driving school, IATP users throughout Georgia have
opened furniture stores and salons, among other businesses
(http://iatpnews.typepad.com/iatp/2009/06/
another-user-launches-a-business-with-iatp-assistancein-georgia.html).
More than 145 farmers in Tajikistan acquired new ICT
skills since March 2009, thanks to a burgeoning joint
venture between ITAP and local NGOs committed to
helping develop the country’s agricultural sector. The
head of the Tajik agricultural NGO Lola Farming,
Rustam Nasriddinov, inspired the initiative by asking
IATP to conduct a mobile training-of-trainers (TOT)
course in February 2009. Nasriddinov coordinated the
February TOT session, which was designed to prepare
three NGO employees and five farmers to train farmers
in Tajikistan in basic computer skills, and demonstrate
how advanced technologies could help develop
their businesses. IATP training sessions and internet
access have helped the farmers in a host of ways.
Farmer Hojisobir Safoev reports that since his training
he has used the internet to become more familiar with
common livestock diseases. Safoev’s new knowledge
often helps him and his colleagues prevent, diagnose,
and treat animal health issues. Early care can make a
big difference; as Safoev explained, it can take a long
time for a veterinarian to visit ailing animals and in
some cases a farmer can lose livestock because of the
delay. A farmer from Vahdat, Safarov Islom, recounted
how his son sent him additives from Russia for his livestock
feed. When the package arrived, however, he
realized all of the directions had been rubbed off en
route and he did not know how much product to mix
with his feed. Thanks to IATP-supported training, Islom
researched the brand name online and learned how to
properly use the additives. Farmers trained through
Lola and IATP have even learned to conduct market
research on the internet to fairly price their products
and keep up-to-date with the latest developments in
their industry. As Nasriddinov explained, “Before most
of the farmers in my region used to conduct business
in the traditional way—buying and selling products at
the market. Now many of them do it online.” Some
farmers have even established clients and partners
abroad, shipping and selling their products to foreign
markets.
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