DUSHANBE, October 13, 2014, Asia-Plus – “BIOs Annual Business Planning, “Methodological Approach to SMEs and the Export Check-up,” “BIOs Service Portfolio and Level of Assistance,” “Elements of Marketing Mix,” “Customer''s Satisfaction Measurement and Action Planning for Improvement.”  These are some of the subjects that will be addressed during a three-day training of trainers on marketing, management and export that will kick off in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek on October 15.

According to the Delegation of European Union to Tajikistan, the training is held within the framework of the EU-funded project, Handicraft and Business through Regional Integration and Fair Trade Market.

The training, aimed at 15 representatives from Kyrgyz Business Intermediary Organizations (BIOs) active in the handicraft sector, will be conducted by a senior specialist of PromoFirenze, Special Agency of the Chamber of Commerce of Florence (Italy) specialized in supporting the development of export-oriented SMEs.

The cooperation with PromoFirenze, which is one of the implementing partners of the above mentioned project, will not finish after the end of the training.  In fact, the experts of the Chamber of Commerce of Florence will provide remote mentoring to participating BIOs in the development of new services for their member organizations.  Furthermore, PromoFirenze will come back to Central Asia in 2015 to finalize the elaboration of advisory packages targeting handicraft SMEs.

This activity is part of a series of professional trainings that aim at enhancing the role and technical skills of local Business Intermediary Organizations (BIOs): attendees will explore concrete ways to improve the daily management of their organizations, reinforcing and diversifying their mid/long term sustainability.

“Achieving sustainability is a crucial issue for Kyrgyz BIOs,” Elvira Karipova, Project Manager at

the Bishkek Business Club (BBC), implementing partner of the EU project in Kyrgyzstan, explained.  “By reinforcing their knowledge of business planning and management and by developing their capacity to offer new services, our BIOs will get closer to that objective.”

The training will be replicated in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, from October 27-30.

The project, Handicraft and Business through Regional Integration and Fair Trade Market, has a

duration of two years and, as part of the EU Central Asia Invest Program, will reinforce the cooperation among Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in the handicraft sector.  The Italian NGO Cesvi is the main implementing agency and is co-funding the project, whose budget is totaling almost 590.000 Euro.