Made possible by
Fritz Sybergs Vej 9
DK 8270 Hojbjerg
Scandinavia
info@dynamicbusinessplan.com
Mocuba Entrepreneurial Experience
Article about the use of The Dynamic Business Plan in entrepreneurship education in Mozambique.
As a team of young Mozambicans recently took a course in entrepreneurship,
Mogens Thomsen was satisfied. Course material originated from his
website about starting a business.
By Marta Gramstrup Rasmussen,
Udvikling (Danish
magazine for development issues)
40 entrepreneurs
It is not every day that the city Mocuba in north-eastern Mozambique will have a team of newly graduated entrepreneurs. Therefore, both the mayor and the traditional leaders present when it happened.The 40 entrepreneurs have followed a course that made use of the material available on Dynamicbusinessplan.com. The site, which is Danish, gives advice on how to start a business from scratch.
Although the material on the page today is used in Mozambique, it was not originally intended for the audience:
- The material on the page based on Danish experience. But it struck me that the material could be used globally, says entrepreneur consultant Mogens Thomsen, who is behind the website and also has been working in developing country for several years.
Mogens Thomsen believes that there are some general things that entrepreneurs should have control over, wherever in the world they want to start a business.
- It is important to be aware of ones own resources, product, customer, purchaser and future plans. The things are not country specific, but company specific. The only element that can vary greatly are organizational structure, he says.
Mogens Thomsen points out that the material on the page must be viewed as a framework one can relate to, when starting a business.
- Within the framework conditions will be different depending on where in the world you are situated and what kind of business you have, he says.
A good tool
In Mozambique, there is general lack of access to technical and practical knowledge on starting up private businesses. Therefore Dynamicbusinessplan.com is a useful tool considers Helia Nsthandoca who has taught the young entrepreneurs and today Mogens Thomsens local partner in Mozambique.
- I work with young people who have exciting ideas with the potential to be good business. Often the young ones do not the faintest idea how to go about it. With the website as a tool, I can help them implement their ideas and perhaps create a business that can give them some income, she says.
Helia Nsthandoca had to give her students a short course in the use of computer and Internet, because very few of them could in advance. With 40 students, two computers and several crashes from the internet provider it was a challenge.
Difficult to get money
At the same time, she points out that the Mozambiquans adolescents often
have difficulty finding financing for projects. Therefore, after asking her a
page of links to organizations that finance development projects in the region.
For this reason, Mogens Thomsen also wishes to cooperate with countries and
organizations which can help to develop the website, so it hits more specific to
the needs of individual countries.
- If we had a Mozambiquan version of the website, we could gather knowledge about the local laws on entrepreneurship and miscellaneous utilities. The same applies to other regions in Africa, he says.
Currently, Mogens Thomsen, therefore, started to contact the teachers at
universities in Africa, development organizations and consulting firms. His goal
is that the website will be the worlds most used when it comes to students and
entrepreneurs seeking basic knowledge about starting a business.
Saturday, 27 October 2009
