Their small organization allows them to quickly respond to business opportunities in contrast to large corporations, which require lengthy opportunities identification, scanning and decision-making processes.  The MSEs, especially micro-enterprises, “offer both a safety value for the survival of displaced and surplus workers unable to find steady wage employment and an opportunity for the entrepreneurial poor to raise their incomes.”  MSEs also “offer a vehicle for acquiring and applying skills to raise productivity and private sector growth, providing better wage-earning opportunities for the poor while raising national income.”

Moreover, they have been observed as effective in democratizing patterns of ownership in areas where they are established.  In the countryside, MSEs have been instrumental in effecting economic and social transformation in otherwise sleepy and economically backward underdeveloped rural settings.

The MSE sector is comprised of artisans, craft persons, informal workshops, village processors, traders and organized factories operating on their own or for markets of large enterprises – as in the case of the so-called modern sub-sector of the MSEs.

From this whole spectrum, one can get a picture of the sector as broad, covering a wide range of enterprises that include from the simplest and most traditional to the most modern and up-to-date from informal enterprises (non-farm, rural-urban based) to actual ancillaries and sub-contractors of high technology large enterprises.

The definition of MSEs varies depending on the purpose and country context – the variances depending largely on a country’s level of economic development, the structure of its industries and its development policies and priorities.  These mutations in definition make it difficult and at best limit inter- and cross-country comparisons on MSEs though raw data on the subject maybe available.  While this is so, MSEs are usually defined by the number of employees or by assets, but as mentioned, these definitions vary by country, institution and objective, thus no precise definition is adopted here.

RATIONALE

With the increasing pace of globalization, Asia-Pacific countries are exposed to swift changes that affect employment, income, quality of living conditions, and access to resources and opportunities.  Countries that are least prepared are encountering massive dislocation and loss of jobs for many of their constituents.  This has further aggravated the poverty, food insecurity and other sub-human conditions of about 900 million of the world’s poor who are living in the Asia-Pacific region.

Experiences have shown that micro and small enterprises are able to respond to the needs of the poor to have access to employment and resources.  Micro-finance for example, has an outreach of more than 20 million individuals out of the 100 million targeted by the Micro-credit Summit Campaign started in the US in 1997.  The sustainability of MSE development has become very strategic, the dynamism of development officers more imperative, and role of APRACA very crucial in promoting and ensuring the world’s poor in this part of the globe to have access to resources, employment, and opportunities.

The course offering was conceived to respond to the critical and urgent needs of APRACA member institutions which are in search for new approaches, innovations and institutional arrangements and proven best practices and benchmark technologies in fostering the growth and development of the MSE sector.  To meet the challenges of globalization and deregulation of agriculture, trade and investments, especially in countries with large rural poor, poor resource endowments and subject to catastrophes of conflict and national disasters, MSEs must receive full support as these enterprises create a high multiplier effect for income and employment creation.  Serving MSEs involves high risks and costs both in the financial and technical assistance frontier.  Simply following the old paradigm is not going to show the possibilities for strong outreach and sustainability even when appropriate policies and institutional designs are employed.

Within the context of APRACA’s mandate and vision “to promote efficient and effective rural finance systems in the Asia-Pacific region and facilitate access of an ever-growing marginal section of the population to affordable financial services,” the training course on MSE Development, Management and Finance will help strengthen and build the capacity of its member-institutions to provide more efficient and effective services that will develop MSEs in a sustainable way.

Additionally, the course is structured to substantially address the concerns of APRACA member institutions in terms of achieving outreach and sustainability of providing operational and strategic  services to MSEs in a cost-effective manner with the ultimate objective of improving MSE performance in the region and furthering their expansion and growth as a means to eliminate poverty; achieve economic growth; create sustainable livelihood and employment; and meet social agenda, environmental objectives and food security. 

Specifically, the training course aims:

1. to strengthen the technical and managerial capabilities of APRACA member- institutions in the development of MSEs;
2. to enhance the effectiveness, efficiency and outreach of APRACA member-institutions in the delivery of their respective financial services and technical assistance for MSEs; and
3. to institutionalize effective techno-managerial and competency–based training program on MSE Development, Management and Finance among APRACA member institutions.