Developing Tajik Business Communications
Tajikistan remains one of the poorest Central Asian countries with badly developed infrastructure and a fragile economy. Despite financial aid from international donors and the Tajik government’s public policy efforts at amelioration, Tajikistan’s economy remains precarious and its business environment unattractive. Tajik SMEs face heavy administrative barriers and repressive implementation of tax collection policies. A key aspect of a difficult business environment is the poor quality of, and access, to business information. Tajik entrepreneurs have few opportunities to influence decision-making, having little or no role in the drafting of legislation, besides being badly informed about it. In this context, BIOs have a key role to play in bringing information and skills to SMEs, to help them navigate in a difficult environment. By improving their capacity to assist small businesses and by creating bridges between the government and the private sector, BIOs boost trade inside Tajikistan and Central Asia. The business community in Tajikistan will not grow unless SMEs recognise the importance of being members of a unified community which needs to lobby in its own interests. Currently, the business community is badly served by the Tajik media, which lacks competences and has fragile institutional stability. Thus, Tajik media needs support to better serve the Tajik business community, while BIOs need support to develop their capacity to meet the needs of SMEs.
The project's capacity-building activities included: - Training on business management for media managers - National conference on business-media interaction for business intermediary organisations (BIOs), small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), media, authorities and international organisations (IOs) - Training for journalists on economic journalism (coverage of issues related to SMEs and economic issues) - Training on branding, marketing and communication for media sales/ marketing staff and for BIOs' staff - Training for media marketing/ sales staff on advertisement management strategy and on organisation of effective sales departments in media outlets - Training for BIOs' staff on lobbying and public relations - National conference on development of services for BIO members(SMEs)based on ICT - Training on financial sustainability and fund-raising for BIOs The project's activities on marketing for BIOs and on awareness-raising for SMEs include: - Production of printed and web-based material relevant to Tajik BIOs and media working in the domain of economic journalism - Development and launch of a new multilingual website for one of the partners - Production of multi-language brochures exposing the most important subjects related to SMEs in Tajikistan - Production of monthly TV shows on one of the national state TV channels focusing on the market economy and on everyday issues faced by SMEs in Tajikistan
The project focused on Tajikistan and included all regions of the country. Its specific objectives included capacity building of BIOs working with SMEs so that they can provide better services to their members and improve public information access on business in Tajikistan, Central Asia and internationally, through enhanced external communication and coverage of business news in the local media. This capacity building project • Enabled BIOs to bring key industry information, services and skills to SMEs to raise their own effectiveness, contribute to economic growth and boost trade • Facilitated information and skills exchange, provided networking opportunities and establish links between leading Tajik BIOs and their colleagues in Central Asia and the EU • Fostered a more attractive business environment by creating a better informed public with improved access to news about SMEs, business and the economy • Forged partnerships and created linkages between media and SMEs for better information sharing and public outreach • Substantially raised professional skills of Tajik journalists to cover business issues, economy, investment and financial sector news • Built capacity of local media managers to operate their media outlets as successful SMEs
The project has brought together business and media community representatives in the following ways: • Up to 50 media professionals trained on business coverage, branding and marketing, targeting journalists media managers, sales and marketing staff • Up to 15 Tajik BIO staff trained in branding and marketing, lobbying, use of communication technologies • A website for NASME with Tajik, Russian and English versions to raise Internews Europe local partner NASME’s visibility, as well as the quality of services it provides to its members, and to allow it to reach counterparts and potential markets inside and outside the country • Publication and distribution of printed brochures, leaflets and guides in Tajik, Russian and English, focusing on key business community topics such as the tax legislation or developing business plans • 12 talk shows on business and SMEs broadcasted on National TV, Tajikistan’s first ever specialised television programme dedicated solely to covering issues of small and medium businesses • A regional networking conference focusing on cooperation between media, business and state, aiming to build linkages and potentially develop cross-border ties, thus contributing to new business relationships, partnerships and growth • A study trip to EU for Tajik media and BIO managers to get familiar with the European experience related to SMEs, to see examples and learn the tools of effective media coverage of business matters
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