Training › Small Enterprise training
Get more done with the team you have
Staff who come late, leave after a few months, or wait to be told what to do? Your people decide your productivity. This course shows you how to hire the right people, motivate them and build a workplace they want to work in, and you put it in place in your own business as you go.
▶▶ Watch the short introduction to the course on YouTube
What you walk away with
- ✔Productivity indicators for your business, worked out with your staff
- ✔A clear structure and job descriptions, so everyone knows their job
- ✔Fair recruitment, motivation and workplace safety plans
- ✔A dated People and Productivity Strategy, reviewed by a SMEAZ consultant
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 staff? 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
Get the right people, keep them, and get more done with them.
For businesses with staff. You measure your productivity, organise your team, recruit the right people, motivate them, make your workplace safe and build a culture people want to work in, and you leave with a dated People and Productivity Strategy for your business. 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 employ staff and have traded for at least a year
- Supervisors 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 the Staff and Staff Welfare section
What you will do
About 12 hours in all: roughly 7 on screen and 5 applying it in your business, with your staff. Most learners finish within two to three weeks.
- Welcome (30 minutes). Why your people decide your productivity, and a picture of your team today.
- People and productivity (1.5 hours). What productivity is, what holds it back in your business (found with your staff), and the indicators you will watch.
- Organise your people (1 hour). A clear structure in which everyone reports to one person, and what human resource management really involves.
- Recruit productive people (2 hours). Work out the work, write a job description, choose fairly, agree the terms in writing, and plan the induction.
- Motivate your team (2 hours). Fair pay and incentives, teamwork, feedback, performance reviews, coaching and development.
- A safe and productive workplace (1.5 hours). Workflow and waste, the five Ss, and a plan to prevent accidents.
- Workplace culture (1 hour). Your values, a code of conduct, fair treatment, dialogue and resolving conflict.
- When an employee is troubled (45 minutes). Recognise the signs and help, confidentially, in four steps.
- Business relations (1 hour). Customers, suppliers, family, neighbours, competitors and support institutions.
- Your People and Productivity Strategy (45 minutes). Check your people practices, write a dated action plan, and send it for review.
What you leave with
- A People and Productivity Strategy for your business: productivity indicators, organisation structure, a job description, recruitment, motivation and safety plans, a code of conduct and a dated action plan
- A Certificate of Completion when your strategy is approved, and a Certificate of Competence once it is in place 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
Need to hire? Members can ask their Member Consultant about SMEAZ’s recruitment service: US$100 per position for junior posts (clerical, supervisor and officer level) and US$200 per position for manager-level jobs, invoiced and paid offline. Then strengthen another area with the other Improve Your Business modules on the Small Enterprise training page.
Questions? Message us on WhatsApp.