Situation

The ISDC is located at the department of trade and industry of Ambo. 

Equipment is composed of PCs, scanner, printers and a photocopy machine.

Two employees are working at the ISDC and one director with a number of staffs for the department.

ISDC has been started in 1999. The personnel have taken part in CEFE training, computer training and library info management training.

Problems

• Detailed information about the ISDC services cannot be provided.

• Services for operators as making contacts for loans and interventions in the case of land problems have been identified.

• Only after some more reserach activity we knew that ISDC is assisting in business planning, management and groups founding in order to get credits.

• No activity for networking between operators and NGOs or other potential BDS providers. A first list of NGOs operating in Ambo zone is rather general and concerns children in the majority. No own research activity to identify partners and BDS providers in the region.

• The library is not adapted to micro and small enterprises (who are illiterates in the majority). Some books about accounting for professional accountants and medium enterprise managers. Some furniture catalogues from Europe, but not adapted to local carpenters.

• A leaflet in Amharic presents the ISDC. Documents and statistics are in Amharic too. No viable statistics about services to operators implemented. No viable presentation in English in order to make contacts with potential donors or international partners. Actually ISDC has only a low budget and is not assisted by ReMSEDA. The photocopy machine is not running.

Proposals of the ISDC staff themselves

• To get further training in business management and planning.

• Computer training.

MSE promotion project services

• Training in needs assessment and business delivery in order to diversify ISDC activities to MSE operators..

• Analyse local NGO services in order to identify BDS provider partner organisations that could deliver services. Initiate networking activities between operators and NGOs.

• Training of the ISDC employees to improve the presentation of ISDC. Translate documents in English in order to present their services to international partners and structures.

• Carry out studies about the micro and small enterprises sector in Ambo zone, document and publicize it.

• Visualize the first results of the needs assessment and action planning in the rooms of ISDC.

• Organize a national ISDC meeting on possibilities to improve the library system. This is a very difficult action, because most of the operators are illiterates and most of the information is rather appropriate to medium enterprises and BDS middlers and not directly to micro and small enterprises ("market information" for local carpenters or metal workers of Ambo - is it really realistic?)

• Make contacts with the Ambo skill development centre in order to organize short-term and tailor made vocational training after needs assessment.