A researcher of the Private Sector Development Policy Research Centre, Olga Azhgibetseva, attended a three-week intensive training program in Sweden.

Around 60 participants from five countries (Albania, Georgia, Kosovo, Moldova, and Ukraine) attended the course. Each country was represented by a group of professionals consisting of businessmen or people serving in top positions in their organizations, which were a mix of business support organizations, ministries, chambers, research, and policy centers. Georgia was the largest group with 13 participants.

The Private Sector Growth strategies training program included the following modules:

1) Private Sector Development

2) Internalization and the global and regional context

3) Strategies for enterprise development

4) Leadership for change implementation

“Every module was discussed over a couple of days from different prospects and angels. We had a number of outstanding speakers from business support organizations and businesses who discussed Private Sector Development issues in Sweden or in the region. We visited innovative centers, where we saw how the Swedish government uses different innovative approaches during meetings with private sector representatives. We also met representatives of state organizations which financially support enterprises with high risks.”

This training was the second of a total of five phases:

1) A national start-up seminar

2) A three-week training program in Sweden

3) Implementation of Organizational Action Plan and Common Action Plan for Private Sector Development

4) A one-week regional follow-up seminar in one of the participating countries
5) A final seminar in each country

Olga would like to thank SIDA and the ISET-Policy institute for granting her the chance to participate in such an informative training program, learn from Sweden and other countries' experience, and become acquainted with around 60 professionals from different segments of the private sector.