Micro Enterprise Fundamentals (MEF)
Training description
Microenterprise Fundamentals™ (MEF) is an innovative new curriculum for youth and adults with limited literacy skills. It builds on the idea that micro entrepreneurs can be successful businesspeople without being literate or highly educated. Using experiential and interactive learning techniques, this course teaches students basic business concepts that help build better entrepreneurs with emphasis on practical hands-on learning that is relevant and interesting to students. MEF can be used as a key element of any strategy supporting the successful expansion of micro-entrepreneurship.
Microenterprise Fundamentals™ teaches participants to understand basic business concepts
At the end of the MEF course, participants are able to:
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Articulate how basic business concepts impact their lives and their microenterprises;
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Make better financial planning decisions;
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Understand the key issues involved in marketing;
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Conduct effective costing and pricing; and
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Start their businesses with a new mind set
Training objectives
Microenterprise FundamentalsTM, an Integrated Approach to Income Generation, Household Nutrition, has three overarching aims. At the end of the training, the following objectives are planned to be achieved:
1. Learners demonstrate financial discipline and plan the use of their resources in order to achieve their personal and business goals.
2. Learners understand the role of risk in microenterprise and make informed decisions and take advantage of safe opportunities in their
personal lives and businesses.
3. Learners identify key steps basic business management considerations and practices and apply learning to their family or individually run
microenterprise (or future enterprise)
Who should attend this training
This course has been adapted for use in Nigeria with particular focus on business skills and embedded nutrition education. The course is designed to be appealing in a wide variety of settings, and the following points describe the range of people who will find this course relevant:
Out of school youth
Disabled populations
Victims of insurgency, vulnerable children care givers
Men and women.
This course is appropriate for populations in both urban and rural settings. Learners need not have basic literacy and numeracy skills. However, learners who cannot read and write can successfully complete the course if grouped with learners that can read and write. There are no other pre-requisites for participating in this course
Training summary
This course provides approximately 28 hours of instruction that can be delivered as most appropriate for the learners. This does not include field-based activities that are encouraged to compliment classroom-based learning.
Training is delivered at an adequate pace and to enable learners have time to absorb learning, in order to ensure high levels of engagement and learning.
The following table shows each session and the approximate amount of time it takes.
A complete course has the following sessions
1. Introduction to the Course
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Business Introduction
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You and Your Business
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Adding Value
2. Business Simulation 1
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Business Planning
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Market Information
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Record Keeping
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Costing & Pricing
3. Business Simulation 2
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Financial Planning
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Savings and Credit
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Nutrition and Income Generation
4. Business Simulation 3
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Household Nutrition as investment
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Balanced Diet
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Hygiene and Food Preparation
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Child and Maternal Health
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Introduction to VSLA
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Sharing and Closing
Training Location: Abuja
Training type: On-site.
Training Duration:
2 Days: Available training days are 9th -25th July 10am -1pm each day
Training Fee: NGN 20,000 per participant
About facilitator:
The facilitator is a Livelihood, food security and economic development specialist with about 12 years’ work experience in the International NGO sector. The facilitator is well traveled within Nigeria to various states conducting similar trainings within about 8 years of NGO sector work experience.