Tv24 Desk : UNCDF and its partners have developed and launched basic e-learning modules for small and micro-businesses (SMBs) in Bangladesh as part of the Build Back Better – Enhancing Recovery and Resilience of Small and Micro-Businesses project. This project aims to improve the digital and financial literacy of entrepreneurs in Bangladesh, particularly women, empowering these entrepreneurs to confidently adopt and leverage new digital services that improve their competitiveness and performance.
In the initial phase of the Build Back Better – Enhancing Recovery and Resilience of Small and Micro-Businesses project, UNCDF and Visa partnered with ShopUp and ekShop, two of the most prominent SMBs integrators in the country. UNCDF and Visa also commissioned a Rapid Needs Assessment to evaluate the existing level of financial and digital literacy of SMBs that was launched at an online event on 24 May 2021 with participants from across leading public and private sector organizations globally and in South Asia.
This study found substantial gaps in the digital literacy levels of entrepreneurs in Bangladesh. Over 50 percent of SMBs in the study had poor understanding of how digital and financial services could help their businesses, and financial literacy gaps were even more pronounced for women entrepreneurs. These gender gaps remain despite increasing awareness from women-led SMBs on the need to be financially literate, plan and actively manage their personal and business finances.
Based on the above findings from the assessment, UNCDF and Visa, along with local partners, Aspire to Innovate (a2i), ekShop and ShopUp, have developed a custom suite of basic e-learning modules – ekShop landing page (https://academy.ekshop.gov.bd/)and ShopUp landing page 1 and 2 (https://blog.shopup.com.bd/)– on finance and business management, including audio-visual and app-based tools. The modules available for e-learning purposes will be continually updated with additional content. The modules leverage Visa’s Practical Business Skills (PBS) financial educational programme, and they are also specifically designed to target gender-specific gaps in conceptual ability and technical knowledge, focusing on improving knowledge of interest and inflation rate concepts and calculations as well as providing tools to assist in incorporating these concepts for business decision-making. These basic modules will touch upon the following key topics:
- Creating a business plan: Defining vision and mission, objectives and business strategy as well as basic financial projections
- Financial basics: Creating a budget, saving for success, planning for financing and building business credit
- Financial management: Managing cash flow and expenses, profit and loss calculation, payment options and banking services
- Promoting a business: Creating a digital storefront, enabling site searches, utilising social media and metrics for marketing success
- Business to e-business: Onboarding online customers, inventory management and logistics and promotions for e-businesses
These modules are embedded within the onboarding platform of ekShop and ShopUp in the form of topic-based online lessons. This will allow any small and micro-business on the platform to directly access these tools. In conjunction with the rollout of these modules, UNCDF will provide training support to assist SMBs with the onboarding process, with a focus on closing gender gaps in digital and financial literacy.
Based on feedback from participants on the basic modules, UNCDF and its partners will subsequently develop advanced modules to cover higher-order business knowledge and skills, such as building financial statements and record keeping, business risk management and environmental sustainability.
In the initial roll-out of the e-learning modules, this project will help 5,000 women-led and owned small and micro-businesses acquire the necessary digital and financial capabilities to access and use the tools they need to grow their business in the digital age. This project will give access to digital and financial literacy e-learning modules to 200,000 SMBs over two years.
