Four-Day Business Development Workshop

Delivery mode: Face-to-face or live online, instructor-led training
Duration: Four days
Language: Arabic or English, as required
Target countries: All Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries
Delivery locations: Jordan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and other MENA countries, subject to agreement

Course Overview

This programme supports entrepreneurs and SMEs to identify commercially viable opportunities within the green economy and to improve the sustainability of new or existing businesses. It covers green products and services, circular business models, resource efficiency, customer demand, responsible marketing, and enterprise resilience.

Participants work step by step from opportunity identification to a practical business concept. The programme can be adapted to youth enterprises, women's businesses, livelihood projects, cooperatives, start-ups, and SMEs in agriculture, food, water, energy, waste, repair, tourism, transport, construction, and other sectors.

Recommended for

The programme is recommended for:

• Aspiring entrepreneurs and start-up teams
• Existing SMEs seeking greener products, services, or operations
• Youth, women, refugee, and returnee enterprise programmes
• Business-development service providers, incubators, and accelerators
• Cooperatives, producer groups, and social enterprises
• Livelihood, innovation, and private-sector development programmes

Training Objective

The objective is to enable participants to design or strengthen commercially realistic businesses that solve environmental problems, use resources efficiently, and create decent green employment.

By the end of the workshop, participants will be better able to:

• Identify green-economy problems that can become business opportunities
• Define target customers and test the value proposition
• Distinguish genuine environmental value from unsupported green claims
• Design a resource-efficient and circular business model
• Estimate key costs, revenues, partners, and operational requirements
• Identify green skills and jobs required by the enterprise
• Assess environmental, market, and implementation risks
• Prepare and present a concise green business concept

Main Training Topics

Day One: Green Economy Opportunities and Customers

• Green-economy needs, market failures, and business opportunities
• Local environmental problems and underserved customers
• Sector and value-chain opportunity mapping
• Customer discovery and problem validation
• Inclusive opportunities for women, youth, and vulnerable groups
• Responsible environmental claims and market credibility
• Selecting a priority business idea

Day Two: Sustainable Business Model Design

• Green value propositions, products, and services
• Circularity, repair, reuse, sharing, and waste-to-value models
• Resource-efficient operations and supply chains
• Key activities, partners, technologies, and green skills
• Cost structure, pricing, revenue, and financial assumptions
• Environmental and social impact indicators
• Drafting the green business model

Day Three: Feasibility, Funding Readiness, and Pilot Design

• Testing technical and market feasibility
• Risks, permits, safeguards, and implementation barriers
• Funding readiness and communication with financiers
• Pilot design and minimum viable offer

Day Four: Green Employment, Action Planning, and Pitching

• Green employment and team-development plan
• Ninety-day enterprise action plan
• Business concept presentations and feedback

Training Methodology

The programme uses a participatory, practical, and adult-learning approach. The methodology includes:

• Green opportunity mapping
• Customer and stakeholder exercises
• Business-model development
• Sector examples and case studies
• Cost and risk analysis
• Peer review and pitching
• Pre- and post-training assessments

The content can be adapted to participants' occupations, literacy levels, target sectors, project activities, country context, and organizational priorities.

Workshop Outputs

Participants will receive:

• Four days of instructor-led training
• Green business development tools
• Draft green business model
• Ninety-day action plan and short pitch
• Certificate of participation, subject to agreement

The contracting organization may also receive:

• Attendance and assessment results
• Summary of business concepts
• Workshop report
• Recommendations for coaching, incubation, or technical support

Group Size and Fee Information

Recommended group size: 15 to 25 participants.

Fees are provided upon request and depend on delivery location, duration, language, customization, venue, travel, participant numbers, and the number of workshops requested.

Organizational Bookings, Customization and Partnerships

Organizations interested in purchasing or customizing this programme should submit an enquiry outlining their requirements. Organizations seeking to become authorized SRD partners to market and deliver the programme in their country should also provide a brief organizational profile, examples of relevant environmental, green-employment, green-skills, or green-economy training assignments, and selected client references. Suitable applicants will be invited to an introductory meeting to discuss the cooperation model, responsibilities, commercial arrangements, quality standards, and next steps toward signing a partnership agreement.

How to register or enquire

Training, organizational, and partnership enquiries: trainingThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.