What is SIYB?

The "Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB)" Program of the International Labour Organization is a system of inter-related practical management-skills training package for small-scale enterprise owners and managers. It encompasses a range of cost-effective and practical training, monitoring and evaluation methodologies and instruments which were designed to meet the management training needs of potential and existing small business persons.

The overall objective of the SIYB Association is to contribute to the economic development and to the creation of new and better jobs in any country it practices. Within the framework set by the development objective, the first immediate objective of the SIYB program is to enable local Business Development Services (BDS) organizations to effectively and independently implement business start up and improvement training and related activities for potential and existing entrepreneurs.

The second immediate objective is to enable potential and existing small entrepreneurs through these SIYB partner organizations to start viable businesses and to increase the viability and profitability of existing enterprises, and to create quality employment for others in the process.

The Start & Improve Your Business (SIYB) programme is a management-training programme with a focus on starting and improving small businesses as a strategy for creating more and better employment in developing economies and economies in transition. With an estimated outreach of 4.5 million trainees, continuously growing network of more than 17000 trainers and 200 Master Trainers in 2500 partner institutions SIYB is one of the biggest global management training systems used for the support of micro and small enterprises (MSEs) currently on the market. Initially developed in the 1980ies, it has now been translated into more than 40 languages and introduced in more than 100 countries. With a consolidated step by step approach our immediate objectives are: To enable local Business Development Service (BDS) providers to effectively and independently implement business start up and improvement training and related activities To enable potential and existing small entrepreneurs, both women and men, through these BDS organizations to start viable businesses, to increase the viability of existing enterprises, and to create quality employment for others in the process. The ILO has on demand now adapted training material originally developed for Zambia and Tanzania on waste management, to suit the Zimbabwean context, with a focus on waste recycling as a business idea for community based organisations. The adapted training package Start Your Waste Recycling Business comprises four key documents (i) Technical Handouts (ii) Business Manual (iii) Business Plan and (iv) Trainers Guide.