FormatAide

ouseholds in rural areas are in debt”. Having faced multiple events in 2010 (earthquake, hurricanes, cholera), these populations should be put at the center of today’s reconstruction efforts and tomorrow’s plan for development. FormatAide is a social nonprofit venture created in January 2009 that aims to use the entrepreneurial approaches to create a continuum of services for SMSEs to help with the recovery of Haiti’s economy. FormatAide defines organizational capacity building as the development of core skills, strategies, management practices and system that enhance organization’s effectiveness, sustainability and ability to fulfill its mission. FormatAide is the combination of two words from French and Haitian Creole, which means Help (Aide) through Training (Formation). FormatAide seeks to provide education opportunities to different sectors of Haiti’s society to lead to sustainable change. FormatAide believes that training Haitian people is the essence of Haiti’s recovery. FormatAide’s mission is to contribute in the reconstruction of Haiti’s economy by investing in education, training and breakthrough ideas. Our vision is that one day; every Haitian will have the skills they need to take care of their families and their communities. KoreBiznis is a pilot program that FormatAide will implement to provide the skills, insight, and assistance needed by the small medium sized entrepreneurs to successfully run their businesses. KoreBiznis is also a combination of two Haitian Creole words that means support (kore) to business (biznis). KoreBiznis seeks to promote an action oriented model that provides resources that can be used immediately at the speed of different type of small to medium sized businesses. KoreBiznis wants to bring business training to small business leaders while their businesses are still operating and build a network that connects small medium business entrepreneurs to share successes, best practices, and overcome challenges while finding partners, vendors and grab opportunities. KoreBiznis is uniquely positioned to train thousands of Haitian business men and women to improve their capacity and efficiency in managing their businesses in a sustainable way. Several studies revealed that Haitian’s interests are to gain independence from constant assistance. People will not be able to obtain jobs if entrepreneurs do not receive the assistance needed to help them grow their businesses and provide jobs to people. How can the vicious cycle of indebtedness be broken if the businesses are already weak? Haiti has received tremendous amounts of aid, but charity is like putting a drop into a sea of need. Traditional charity often meets immediate needs but too often fails to enable people to solve their own problems over the long term. Haitian people no longer want to passively sit when they know that change can happen and that they can make it happen. Haitian people seek dignity, not dependence and training based approaches pave the way to achieve Haiti’s goals. Training based approaches have the potential to grow when charitable dollars run out, and they must be a part of the solution to the big problem of poverty in Haiti. The Small Medium Size Enterprises (SMSE) in Haiti all have the same barriers: lack of access to credit, weakness in managing operations, inefficiency in controlling quality, lack of marketing strategies, lack of network for buying raw materials for producing and selling goods. Thirty-five percent of the Haitian population works in the business and industrial sectors; however the businesses and industries face many obstacles. For instance, low education levels and poor money management are huge challenges to conduct business in Haiti. Many business owners and managers do not have the appropriate level of skill to properly run their businesses and grow them in a sustainable way. KoreBiznis envisions improving the success rate of entrepreneurs and SMSE businesses to ultimately contribute to Haiti’s economy development. FormatAide wants to use capital from philanthropy to train business leaders to make disciplined investments that yield both financial and social returns. KoreBiznis’ intended impact is to adapt the 8Factors framework, one of the most powerful management tools available for today’s entrepreneurs and small business owners, to provide training in the fields of management, marketing, finance, communication and leadership to business entrepreneurs so they can spark Haiti’s economy recovery. KoreBiznis’ value proposition also includes a second group of customers, the well-established medium to large businesses that are looking for growth. This customer segment will be receiving a cost-effective paid training that is tailored to their specific needs with one-on-one consulting with their core management teams. This segment will subsidize the KoreBiznis’ self-sustainability. Teaching a cost effective framework of foundation courses to this customer segment will ensure that the larger business leaders, cooperation and college students also receive the training that they would otherwise be denied based on availability, price, geography or time. We want to merge academic training with practical skills through a cost effective model that will improve business performance as a whole. This aspect in KoreBiznis’ concept will bring additional revenue that will be reinvested in KoreBiznis’ operation over the long term to remain sustainable itself and continue to run its different projects. Training business leaders will empower them to be an active part of Haiti’s economy which will ultimately turn Haiti into a place where all individuals are be able to spot challenges, address them, and improve their lives for a brighter future.