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Published on March 12, 2008

To bridge the gap between quality and quantity of small- and medium-business enterprises (SMEs), Thailand's Industrial Promotion Department is trying to put struggling small businesses on the road to sustainable growth.

The move came after Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) created the International Network of Institutes of Small Business Counsellors (APEC IBIZ), the APEC international training and certification programme for consultants, counsellors and other professionals who assist entrepreneurs. This is to increase the competitiveness of APEC SMEs amid higher competition in global markets.

Viriya Ketwong, one of APEC IBIZ's 24 head players, said his team is continuously trying to put the programme into practice.

"We want to have about 25 certified counsellors for each session, but we find most of them do not go out and give advice," he said.

But his team is not giving up and it aims at having at least 200

business advisers by the end of this year.

Viriya also plans to build SME clinics in big cities as well.

"This is a highly successful

model in Japan. Advisers there will help entrepreneurs whose business size is lower than Bt200 million," he said.

The business counselling programme will take 400 hours and mainly focus on in-depth but concise business-related fields.

Chadaporn Nawan

Bizweeks