Red de Cajas de Herramientas de Gestión Empresarial para MIPYME
en Centroamérica y el Caribe

The Digital Divide

The revolution in information and communication systems and the ensuing new opportunities for accessing markets and knowledge have a direct impact on the present and future social and economic situation in every country in the world.

In March 2000, the number of Internet users increased at a rate of 150,000 every day. This number will in all probability have grown further by now, but it describes the activities of only around 5% of the global population, and these 5% represent people living in certain relatively advanced areas. There are more Internet users in Finland than in Latin America and the Caribbean, for example.

One of the greatest challenges facing national governments and international cooperation is the need to overcome this "digital divide" in developing and newly industrialising countries and to create links between people and businesses throughout the world, because those who miss out on travelling with the "Internet express" will increasingly be marginalised.

The challenge of establishing a knowledge-based economy is primarily lies not in creating new knowledge but rather in distributing this knowledge to all areas and encouraging people to make use of it. To put it another way: it means creating generally accessible information systems that serve the (latent) demand.

Internet for MSMEs in Central America and the Caribbean

The number of people accessing and using the Internet in Central America and the Caribbean varies in different countries. It is estimated that there are 65,000 Internet users in Guatemala, 40,000 in El Salvador, 20,000 in Honduras and 20,000 in Nicaragua, although these figures are constantly on the rise.

In these countries, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs, in Spanish MIPYME) account for up to 85% of the urban working population in industry, commerce and services. They contribute a sizeable amount to the gross national product (30.9% in Guatemala, for example); they represent the most important economic sector, and their potential is far from fully exploited.

The large number of MSMEs in Central America and the Caribbean is in stark contrast with the quality of the services and information accessible to them. An estimated 70% of all MSMEs abandon their activities shortly after they are set up, because they find themselves unable to survive and compete on the local market, let alone on the world stage.

One of the main reasons for this is the fact that entrepreneurs have insufficient knowledge of instruments that would enable them to run their enterprises efficiently and in a market-oriented way and therefore do not make enough use of such tools. These include general fundamental business principles such as business planning, bookkeeping, knowledge of demand structures, marketing strategies, ways of providing finance, and much more besides.

There are therefore three problems of prime importance in the battle against the "information vacuum" affecting MSMEs in Central America and the Caribbean:

1. The absence of an information system for MSMEs that will adequately meet the demand;
2. Insufficient use of modern information technologies in disseminating and making use of knowledge;
3. A lack of cooperation and communication between information providers in the region.

Red de Cajas de Herramientas

On the initiative of the GTZ's economic development and employment promotion projects within the Sector Network for Economic Development and Employment Promotion in Central America and the Caribbean, operating in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, an innovative instrument has been created to counter this set of problems:

"Red de Cajas de Herramientas de Gestión Empresarial para MIPYME en Centroamérica y Caribe"

What is "Red de Cajas de Herramientas de Gestión Empresarial"?

It is a business management network for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in Central America and the Caribbean, an Internet-based information system which provides selected, up-to-date information in an appropriately edited form to the target groups in question via a portal.

Target groups:

Two target groups are served by the Internet portal:

1. MSMEs in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic;
2. Institutions/organisations/consultants etc. that support and promote MSMEs in the region.

Although, in conceptual terms, these may be two target groups, in practice the target group structure is much more heterogeneous, because the network extends across five different countries. During project planning, one of the factors taken into account was that the two target groups in the respective countries have widely differing opportunities and habits when it comes to using the Internet. A distinction therefore needs to be made between instruments that are applicable at the regional or national level and also between types of information that are significant for entrepreneurs themselves or for institutions, organisations, consultants etc.

Structure of the portal

On the main page, the user can choose between links to access the various countries and a link to a page showing regional information.

The page displaying regional information contains a number of documents and numerous links to other pages on topics that concern the region as a whole and are applicable in all countries involved in the project, including business consulting, good management, market indicators, certification, training documentation, trade agreements, banking systems, financial advice etc. The information provided here is of particular interest to users who already have experience with the Internet and who advise MSMEs.

The country pages contain country-specific information and each provide two entry points:

For entrepreneurs
It is assumed that the majority of entrepreneurs have little experience in using the Internet and do not always have access to the Internet. The segment aimed at entrepreneurs therefore mainly contains simple, directly applicable documents which are stored as files within the page and which can therefore also be used offline. Examples of the files for entrepreneurs include documents for business planning, bookkeeping, procedures for dealing with formalities, personnel management, and financing and training opportunities, to name but a few. This segment can be downloaded onto the user's hard disk or written onto a CD, and 90% of it is available offline.

For institutions, organisations, consultants etc.
This target group is experienced in using the Internet and has regular online access. The page therefore mainly comprises links to other pages containing constantly updated information on topics such as importing and exporting, national guidelines, training modules, business sector information, indicators, certification, market information, competition, production, finances and many others.

A functional organisational structure that ensures sustainability

One of the problems we identified is the lack of cooperation and communication between national and regional information providers in the region. This results in existing information systems offering information that, although it is of good quality, is highly sector-specific and therefore not comprehensive.

This is why the GTZ's economic development and employment promotion projects have initiated and supported a new organisational structure for the information system in each country, one that is based on national and regional cooperation. National working groups with representatives from relevant institutions were set up in each of the participating countries to support MSMEs, with contracts in place to consolidate their role¹. The working groups meet regularly and assume responsibility for a range of tasks, including finding appropriate instruments (and devising new ones), maintaining the Website, cooperating and coordinating tasks with other institutions and organisations, reaching out to the target groups, evaluating impacts, and public relations. The groups receive back-up and assistance from the relevant GTZ projects, and are coordinated within the region by the sector network via the project in Honduras. A committee of national representatives from the working groups safeguards the quality of the information provided and draws up regional strategies to improve this quality. A Centro de Servicios was set up in El Salvador to provide technical services for the entire regional network.

Sustainability

Institutional sustainability
Strategies to achieve sustainability have already been implemented during the project planning phase. For example, a feature of the initial steps taken towards creating the network was the involvement in the process of institutions that showed interest and were important for the sector. These institutions were also bound to their obligations through contracts.

From the beginning, the working groups emerging from this process in each country were integrated into both the individual planning phases and actual implementation, and were jointly responsible for the successful outcome. Democratic decision-making processes in combination with coordination by GTZ have achieved results which meet national needs and have led to the institutions identifying closely with the project. This approach enables GTZ projects to gradually transfer responsibilities to national institutions.

The level of institutional sustainability already achieved is expressed by the democratic nature of the network's organisational structure and the fact that it delegates responsibility (as already described). At present, the GTZ projects and regional coordination by the sector network still play a part in planning, implementing and financing the activities, but this will diminish as the national institutions increasingly assume responsibilities of their own and as the organisational structure is consolidated.

Technical sustainability
By using a modern, decentralised online administrative system, the working groups have direct access to their own national pages and can manage them independently; in other ,words they can modify content and also display, delete and change links and documents. The Centro de Servicios helps if technical problems occur in the individual countries.

This approach ensures that the quality of the pages and the process of updating them are not dependent on a single entity; instead, quality and updating are guaranteed directly at the national level without red tape and are monitored at the regional level.

Financial sustainability
While the GTZ projects took care of most of the financing for planning, implementation and backstopping, national institutions were involved at an early stage in financing minor activities, for example travel expenses for attending workshops, devising special instruments that are not yet available, and holding the event to mark the official launch of the pages. Negotiations are also under way with a regional institution in the field of MSMEs which would like to take over ownership of the network at the regional level and, as a result, would be responsible for any (potentially fairly high) costs until the pages can eventually finance themselves. This latter form of financial independence is to be achieved through the sale of advertising space on the pages.

Contact address:

Anja Rohde
PROMYPE/GTZ
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Tel./fax: 00504 - 221 44 69
ar@promype.hn

http://www.infomipyme.com
http://www.infomipyme.org

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¹In Honduras, for example, the national commission for MSMEs (CONAMIPYME), the Foundation for Investment and the Development of Exports (FIDE), the university (UNITEC), the umbrella organisation of the chambers of commerce and industry (FEDECAMARA); also PROMYPE/GTZ, Swisscontact and the European Union.

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