Belgian entrepreneurs make aid unneccessary

Belgian entrepreneurs make aid unneccessary

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  Belgian entrepreneurs make aidunnecessary Entrepreneurship creates dynamism in the community and promotes business growth. Many people have had enough of the poverty in the South. They want a success story and they want to see progress. The Belgian association Ondernemers voor Ondernemers (Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs) is producing impressive results in the South. More than making a profit Many entrepreneurs nowadays also want to fulfill a social function. Ondernemers voor Ondernemers (Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs) channels those entrepreneurs’ desire for action - with dazzling results in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs has three ‘products’ for the purpose in its portfolio: projects for business-oriented NGOs, direct investments in companies in the South, and exchanges of expertise. Use what works In recent decades NGOs have achieved a great deal in a variety of fields: health, education, hygiene, agriculture... Anyone who makes a field visit now - to Ethiopia, for instance – will see massive progress in comparison with the situation thirty years ago. And the NGOs have made a major contribution to that progress. Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs draws on the expertise of several NGOs and collaborates with them in business-oriented projects. At the moment 107 Belgian companies are supporting NGO projects that provide training, launch local businesses and arrange microfinancing. In 2012 they provided support worth over 700,000 euros. If you choose this formula, you can use the local knowledge and experience that the NGOs selected by Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs possess in particular regions. That maximizes your project’s chance of success. Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs, a network of more than 135 companies committed to socially responsible investment in the South. Investing directly in local businesses At the moment Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs is testing five projects in which enterprising people from Belgium are giving entrepreneurs in the South a helping hand. Together they are developing local economic activities with a socially responsible ethos. The economy in the South is based to a large extent on small local businesses, but with our help small businesses can become big. Every top company once began as a small one. Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs is seeing that the test projects are creating a lot of employment and developing a dynamism that rubs off onto many people. With this formula you can choose to take a stake in the local entrepreneur’s equity, or lend start-up capital to the new business. In both cases you recover your money with interest or dividends. You make it possible for a business to start up in the South, and who knows, you may be financing the new Bill Gates, Richard Branson or Warren Buffet! Exchanging expertise Entrepreneurs have a better chance of succeeding if they have the right knowledge. That is why Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs also promotes exchanges of expertise between business from the North and the South. This genuinely is an exchange, because simply transplanting knowledge about doing business in Belgium to other parts of the world does not work. You have to adapt to the local circumstances. Because there is a need for it, Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs wants to expand this third service sensitively, possibly in collaboration with others. Choosing this formula often has a very positive effect on your staff’s motivation. Your HR policy takes a giant leap forward and your company’s vitality gets a boost too. New vitality As of September 2012, Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs is the new name for the Corporate Funding Programme, which was set up in 2001 under the chairmanship of Fons Verplaetse, the former Governor of the National Bank. The new namecreatesgreaterclarityaboutwhodoeswhat. At the moment Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs comprises a network of 107 large and smaller companies. The association assists companies with the choice of projects and sees to it that the staff are involved in the projects. Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs organizes familiarization trips in which the participants discover a country from the inside. And membership of Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs is not just confined to companies and entrepreneurs; all enterprising people, all those who really want to change something in the South, are welcome. FotoIsabelCorthier More information: www.ondernemersvoorondernemers.be or contact Inge Overmeer: inge@ondernemersvoorondernemers.be – 016/33 27 21