United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...
programme established by the
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is an intergovernmental organization within the United Nations Secretariat that promotes the interests of developing countries in world trade. It was established in 1964 by the ...
(UNCTAD) to promote the creation of sustainable, innovative, and internationally competitive small- and medium-sized enterprises ( SMEs).
Programme
EMPRETEC is an integrated
capacity building
Capacity building (or capacity development, capacity strengthening) is the improvement in an individual's or organization's facility (or capability) "to produce, perform or deploy". The terms ''capacity building'' and ''capacity development'' ha ...
programme of UNCTAD in the area of SMEs and
entrepreneurial
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...
skills promotion. It is dedicated to helping promising entrepreneurs put their ideas into action and fledgling businesses to grow. The programme is part of UNCTAD's mandate on enhancing
productive capacity Productive capacity is the maximum possible output of an economy. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), no agreed-upon definition of maximum output exists. UNCTAD itself proposes: "the productive ''resources ...
and international
competitiveness
In economics, competition is a scenario where different economic firmsThis article follows the general economic convention of referring to all actors as firms; examples in include individuals and brands or divisions within the same (legal) firm ...
for the benefit of
economic development
In the economics study of the public sector, economic and social development is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and ...
, poverty eradication and equal participation of
developing countries
A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...
and
transition economies
A transition economy or transitional economy is an economy which is changing from a centrally planned economy to a market economy.
Transition economies undergo a set of structural transformations intended to develop market-based institutions. T ...
in the
world economy
The world economy or global economy is the economy of all humans of the world, referring to the global economic system, which includes all economic activities which are conducted both within and between nations, including production, consumptio ...
.
The name EMPRETEC - the Spanish acronym for emprendedores (entrepreneurs) and tecnología (technology) - was first introduced in
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...
in 1988. Since its inception, the EMPRETEC programme has been initiated in 36 countries. Early counties were Brazil, Venezuela, Chile and Uruguay in South America and Ghana, Nigeria and Zimbabwe in Africa.
EMPRETEC's core product, the Entrepreneurship Training Workshop, is based on the research conducted by a psychologist from Harvard University, Professor
David McClelland
David Clarence McClelland (May 20, 1917 – March 27, 1998) was an American psychologist, noted for his work on motivation Need Theory. He published a number of works between the 1950s and the 1990s and developed new scoring systems for t ...
, who had done extensive work on entrepreneurship since the late 1950s. His
Need theory Need theory, also known as Three needs theory, Umuc.edu. Retrieved July 16, 2014. proposed by
target group
A target audience is the intended audience or readership of a publication, advertisement, or other message catered specifically to said intended audience. In marketing and advertising, it is a particular group of consumer within the predetermined ...
s of entrepreneurs (ranging from business leaders and
public sector
The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, inf ...
s to entrepreneurs with limited literacym as well as women entrepreneurs). This can be done through a range of customized products that are available upon request.
UNCTAD installs the programme at the requests of its member States and in cooperation with the national public and private sector organizations that are responsible for and contributing to SME development in the country. Although the implementation of the EMPRETEC programme depends on the needs of the beneficiary country, there are several necessary steps to take toward the implementation of the EMPRETEC programme. After the implementation of an EMPRETEC Centre's sustainability through the provision of revenue generating activities such as Business Development Services (BDS) and UNCTAD's Business Linkages programme.
Awards
Since 2006 the programme has resulted in the Women in Business Awards which are given every two years to the leading woman who has achieved success after EMPRETEC training.