In delivering on the objectives of this workshop, Mthente developed a comprehensive training package and the whole training program made reference to the basic BEDCO business plan that Mthente facilitated in the past.

This training workshop was focused at developing skills for the following areas:

• Case writing
• Writing a work-plan
• Developing and writing a business plan
• Providing business counselling session(s) to entrepreneurs
• Assessing the current position of an enterprise (snap shot) over a short interview session; and
• Providing business support services

A total of 14 trainees attended the session over a week period. This group was composed of:

• 3 Business Counsellors
• 4 Business Researchers
• 4 Business Management trainers
• 3 Managers of the said department

In order to fully train and equip the trainees, Mthente’s facilitator initially offered a ‘lecture’ on the above mentioned areas and supplemented that stage with a ‘Q and A session’ for the purposes of ensuring clarity. Thereafter, the trainees were given exercises to work on in order to assess their theoretical understanding. Last but not least, in order to provide the trainees with hands-on experience, especially in terms of offering business counseling, they participated in role playing.