Empretec

Empretec
Name	Empretec
Formation	1988
Founder	United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
Headquarters	Geneva
Parent organization	United Nations

Empretec Empretec is a United Nations-backed entrepreneurship training programme that promotes entrepreneurship and small and medium-sized enterprises through experiential workshops, capacity building, and business advisory services. It operates within the framework of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, coordinates with United Nations Development Programme initiatives, and partners with national agencies, multilateral institutions, and private sector actors to support microfinance and private sector development. The programme emphasizes practical skills transfer influenced by behavioral models and enterprise incubation practices drawn from global development actors.

Overview

The programme offers an intensive, practitioner-led workshop known as the Workshop on Entrepreneurial Attitudes and Skills, developed to foster entrepreneurial competencies, business plan development, and market linkages. It aligns with international initiatives such as Sustainable Development Goals, Millennium Development Goals, and Agenda 2030, while interfacing with institutions like World Bank, International Monetary Fund, African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, and regional chambers such as Confederation of Indian Industry and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry. Delivery partners have included national ministries, UNIDO, UN Women, African Union, European Union, and development agencies like USAID, DFID, GIZ, and CIDA.

History and Development

Empretec originated from a UNCTAD initiative in the late 1980s inspired by entrepreneurship promotion trends in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, following dialogues involving Kofi Annan, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, and officials from Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. Early pilot projects engaged institutions such as Instituto Brasileiro de Desenvolvimento, national export promotion agencies, and research partners including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard Business School, and London School of Economics for curriculum validation. Expansion phases in the 1990s and 2000s linked the programme to trade facilitation frameworks under World Trade Organization discussions and to capacity-building agendas promoted by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and Commonwealth of Nations forums. Later adaptations responded to crises by coordinating with International Labour Organization and United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Programme Model and Methodology

The methodology centers on an action-learning workshop that combines psychometric profiling, role play, case study analysis, and business diagnostics, drawing on behavioral theories used by Daniel Kahneman-influenced decision studies, Amartya Sen's capability approach, and Herbert A. Simon's bounded rationality concepts. Trainers are certified through national centres and partner institutions such as Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo, University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, INSEAD, IE Business School, and Fundaçao Getulio Vargas. Components include market assessment, financial literacy tools aligned with standards from International Finance Corporation, Microfinance Institutions Network, and enterprise incubator practices mirrored by Y Combinator, Techstars, and social enterprise models like Ashoka and Skoll Foundation-supported ventures. Monitoring tools reference indicators used by United Nations Development Programme and evaluation frameworks from the World Bank's operations evaluation department.

Implementation and Global Reach

Empretec has been implemented in dozens of countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Oceania through national centres in nations including Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, China, India, Indonesia, Viet Nam, Peru, Bolivia, Uruguay, Hungary, Romania, and Poland. Partnerships have connected it to multilateral programmes led by United Nations Development Programme, African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and bilateral cooperation with Japan International Cooperation Agency and KfW. National roll-outs often involve collaboration with agencies like Ministry of Trade (Brazil), Small Business Administration (United States), Ministry of Commerce (India), and local chambers such as Confederation of British Industry, United States Chamber of Commerce, and Japan External Trade Organization.

Impact and Evaluation

Evaluations by external auditors and academic researchers have examined outcomes on enterprise creation, employment, access to finance, and firm growth, citing case studies from Brazil, Argentina, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Peru, and Jordan. Reports have referenced metrics comparable to studies by World Bank Group, International Labour Organization, OECD, and programme assessments commissioned by UNCTAD and conducted in collaboration with universities including Columbia University, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Stanford University, and University of California, Berkeley. Findings indicate improvements in entrepreneur attitudes, networking, and business plan completeness, with varied impacts on revenue growth and formal employment depending on local contexts shaped by policies from entities like European Commission, African Union, and national investment promotion agencies.

Criticisms and Challenges

Critiques have focused on issues such as scalability, long-term impact measurement, contextual adaptation across diverse regulatory and market environments like those in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America, and the risk of one-size-fits-all curricula when compared to localized interventions by organizations such as Grameen Bank, BRAC, Kiva, and FINCA. Other challenges include coordination with national policy frameworks influenced by World Trade Organization rules, funding volatility tied to donors such as European Commission, USAID, and Government of Japan, and the need to integrate digital entrepreneurship practices promoted by Google, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, and Amazon Web Services.

Category:United Nations programs