Training › Small Enterprise training
Stop selling at a loss: know what every product really costs
Do you know what each product really costs you, counting your own salary, transport and the wear on your equipment? Many busy businesses are selling below cost without knowing it. In one to two weeks you work out the full cost of your own products and set prices that leave a profit.
▶▶ Watch the short introduction to the course on YouTube
What you walk away with
- ✔The full cost of each of your main products or services
- ✔Prices checked against full cost, so every sale makes money
- ✔Your break-even point, and which lines to push, fix or stop
- ✔An Excel workbook that does the calculations for you
See the prices Start the course
Proven training, used around the world
This course is adapted for Zimbabwean conditions from the International Labour Organization’s Improve Your Business programme, part of the ILO’s Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) programme, and is delivered by SMEAZ trainers certified in it.
Owners who took this training have started businesses, created jobs and raised their profits. Read the ILO’s 2025 success stories →
Choose how you want to learn
Self-paced online
On your phone or computer, in short sessions, whenever suits you. An AI coach comments on your answers and a SMEAZ consultant reviews your work.
Webinar
Everything in self-paced, plus live group webinars on Zoom with a certified trainer: ask your questions, discuss your work and learn with other owners. Dates are announced in the course WhatsApp group.
Live class
Everything in self-paced, plus training days at a venue with a certified trainer, printed manuals and catering. 2 training days. Register now; you pay once the date and venue are confirmed.
Already have the self-paced course? Add a webinar or a live class on the course page and pay only the difference. Pay by EcoCash or Paynow; the self-paced course opens as soon as your payment is confirmed.
Where two prices are shown, the first is for paid-up Small Enterprise, Medium Enterprise and Corporate members, and the second is for everyone else, including Standard members, Start-up members and non-members. Sending your bookkeeper or a manager? On the course page, choose Buying for your staff?: pay once for as many seats as you need and receive one code per person, which opens the course on their own login. Each certificate carries your business name.
About the course
Know what every product really costs you, so you never sell at a loss.
For owners, managers and bookkeepers with no accounting training. You sort your costs into materials, labour and overheads, take a month of figures from your own records (the owner’s salary and depreciation included) and work out the full cost of each product or service with the costing form that fits your business: a shop or wholesaler, one main product, or several products. Then you use it: prices above full cost, your break-even, and which products to push, fix or stop. It builds on the costing section of Develop Your Business Plan. Adapted for Zimbabwean conditions from the International Labour Organization’s Improve Your Business programme. It is one of the six Improve Your Business modules, each of which can be taken on its own.
Who it is for
- Owners and managers of businesses that are trading but do not know what each product really costs
- Bookkeepers, accounts staff and managers sent by their employer: the plan is agreed with the employer, and the certificate carries the business name
- Members whose Action Plan includes costing or a pricing strategy
What you will do
About 9 hours in all: roughly 4 on screen and 5 with your own records and products. Most learners finish within one to two weeks.
- Welcome (30 minutes). Why every price must rest on a full cost, and a picture of your business and how it prices today.
- Know your costs (1 hour). Material Costs, Labour Costs and Overhead Expenses, depreciation and the owner’s salary.
- Get your cost data (1.25 hours). One month of figures from your record book, salary register and asset register.
- A shop or wholesaler (45 minutes). Material Cost per item and the Overhead Charge.
- A single product (30 minutes). Total cost per month divided by the number made.
- Several products (1.25 hours). Direct and indirect costs, and the five-step Product Costing Form.
- Cost your own products (1.75 hours). The form that fits your business, applied to your main products and checked.
- From cost to price and decisions (1.25 hours). Prices above full cost, fixed and variable costs, break-even, and which lines to push, fix or stop.
- Your Costing and Pricing Plan (45 minutes). A check of your costing practices, a dated action plan, and review.
What you leave with
- Your Costing and Pricing Plan: your costs by type, a month of cost data, the full cost of your main products, prices checked against it, your break-even and a dated action plan
- The SMEAZ Costing workbook (Excel): the three Product Costing Forms, salary split, depreciation, prices and break-even, worked out for you
- A Certificate of Completion when your plan is approved, and a Certificate of Competence once your costing is in use in your business
How the self-paced course works
- Work on your phone or computer, in short sessions. Your answers are saved as you go.
- Every exercise is about your own business, not a textbook case.
- An AI coach comments on your key answers and asks the questions a consultant would ask.
- A SMEAZ consultant reviews your finished work and replies with comments.
- Your certificate carries a number and a QR code that anyone can check on our website.
Ready to start?
Start the course Join the live class list
You will be asked to log in to your SMEAZ website account first. No account yet? Registering is free and takes two minutes.
What comes next
Price your bids from your costing with SMEAZ Tender Watch and Tendering Essentials. Then set up the records that feed your costing every month in Record-Keeping, on the Small Enterprise training page.
Questions? Message us on WhatsApp.