Many low income families run small businesses, so the second part of our training the trainers on helping families with financial problems organised by Enfants du Mekong, focused on small businesses. First, participants (who all work in NGOs) experienced running a small business, and identified the challenges of self-employment. We usually run this game using toy banknotes only, but this time our customers also paid by QR code, which is prevalent in Cambodia.
Then participants experienced our training on small business as if they were beneficiaries: through a story, they identified the problems of small businesses and found solutions. One major issue in the story is the lack of bookkeeping which prevents from knowing whether the business is making a profit or a loss. So using the same story, participants practised simple bookkeeping (cash accounting). They used their bookkeeping to calculate the loss of the business, and plan the three coming days to see whether they could pay the loan instalment, and how much they could pay themselves. These three parts (bookkeeping, profit calculation and cashflow forecast) are critical skills for small businesses.
Participants used their new knowledge to practise facilitating parts of the training. We concluded the workshop with some pieces of advice on how to coach vulnerable families during one-on-one visits, and the certificates ceremony! Next step for participants: use their new training skills and the provided materials and methodology to help families in their respective locations (participants came from various provinces of Cambodia, and one came from Laos).
