Business Professionals Network (BPN), celebrating its 20th year, has an established presence in Nicaragua, Rwanda, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia and Mongolia. The organisation provides business development services to livelihood-sustaining and dynamic enterprises, consisting of a four-year program, grounded in the values of running a professional business, and delivering the “Four Pillars” (business education, coaching, loans, and a business owners’ association) to help the entrepreneur and his or her business grow. Argidius has supported BPN in Nicaragua since 2012. In 2018 an evaluation was commissioned on Rwanda and Kyrgyzstan, where the program was perceived to be working most effectively, to understand what works well and what could be improved as BPN considers changes under its new leadership. The 22 interviewed entrepreneurs predominantly had revenues of $20k-$50k in the year prior to participation.
Key findings
- Most of the interview entrepreneurs have hired more staff and have seen a doubling or tripling of revenues. Entrepreneurs identified key changes in their businesses of better financial management, more focused product and service offerings, flatter organisations, and a greater focus on understanding and servicing the customer.
- The business education has been consistently delivered, coaching is an underutilised offer that is being more actively pushed in Rwanda, the loan offer is market dependent and the business association has great potential to continue to build community that is supportive of BPN’s work.
- Entrepreneurs mentioned the value of learning from their peers, being connected to peers, and knowing that they are not alone in the challenges they face. They often form friendships and WhatsApp groups. However, there is no formalised BPN-facilitated interaction between peers.
- BPN, despite its non-profit status, is a commercially-minded organisation, charging entrepreneurs what is considered a fair price for participation in the programme.
