Background

In 1999 the New Zealand Government launched a nationwide business stimulation program called BIZ (now called Enterprise Training - ETP) this was before the establishment of Industry New Zealand and the development of the array of Government funded initiatives and assistance now offered to regional communities and New Zealand businesses.

A key objective for the Government was to build strong regions and strong businesses by identifying and facilitating the growth of strong sectors, particularly those with high export/investment potential.

Since the establishment of New Zealand Trade & Enterprise, and the evolution of the program, initiatives have evolved to become more effectively aligned to the management training needs of businesses engaged in activities identified as the drivers of regional economies in particular those businesses in high impact, hi-tech and investment attractive industries.

Objectives of the current (ETP) program

• Improve the management capability of the owners/operators of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
  
• Increase the understanding by SMEs of the value of upskilling assistance. The goal is to encourage them to take greater responsibility for seeking out advice and opportunities for improving management capability.
  
• Ensure, as far as practical, that the program is accessible to as many eligible clients as possible and that the mix of services is able to meet the majority of their management upskilling needs.
  
• Target Maori, Pacific Peoples and Women to accelerate their participation in business and improve the chances of business survival and growth.

How ETP Works

The aim of ETPtraining is to improve the management capability of individual owner/operators of SMEs. For the purposes of eligibility for ETP SMEs are defined as having the following characteristics;

• Are personally owned
• Have up to approximately 50 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff
• Are not part of a larger enterprise
• Are commercially trading
• Have few, if any, specialised managerial staff

There are two other groups that are eligible for ETPtraining services;

• Individuals not yet in business. These clients are only eligible for Start-up training services.
• Trustees and Managers of Maori organisations responsible for the management of Maori owned assets. In the context of their trustee and management responsibilities these clients are eligible to access all ETPtraining services - not just the Trustee Training component.

Mix of Services

Currently a number of different services are purchased which are designed to improve the management skills of eligible clients. These are briefly defined as follows:

Capability Assessments

This is a one to one visitation service designed to establish management capability needs of an individual owner-operator. Focussed towards personal skill development aligned to appropriate provision of training services.

Workshops

Also building from the capability assessment the key objective is to facilitate skill transfer by way of developing practical solutions to real day to day business issues. Workshops can run to the equivalent of full day training.

Courses

A course is a combination of services such as seminars/workshops that are marketed as a series of events that need to have a core group of attendees focussed around sector type training. Cluster groups tend to use this type of up-skilling format.

Follow-up Coaching

A client as a result of attending a seminar, workshop or course earns follow-up coaching. The aim of this service is to ensure the client having attended an upskilling opportunity achieves a pragmatic outcome. The facilitator is there to ensure that the client is able to achieve maximum outcomes from the training.

Distance Learning

Training modules are promoted through the Open Polytechnic with on-line learning recently being included in the range of services.

Other Services or Means of Delivery

New Zealand Trade & Enterprise does consider new services as they are developed on a case by case basis; solid research and justification are the key to accessing this funding mechanism.

New Zealand Trade & Enterprise has Lead Provider Contractors that manage fairly large-scale contracts.