ICTs Impact on TWBI and Women’s Private Sectors & Employment Creation

1. ICTs Impact on TWBI and Women’s Private Sectors & Employment Creation Tianjin Women’s Business Incubator Tianjin, China Wang Yan , Zhu Hongyan http:www.tjwbi.com Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and Female Labor Force Video Conference, World Bank Group, Nov.18,2004 Beijng

2. General Introduction • Tianjin is an old industrial city, close to Beijing, also the third largest city of China with 10,000,000 population. • The Problem of laid-off workers became serious with the economic reforms of the country. And the rate of women laid-off is 60%.

3. General Introduction • The women belong to weakness community, • 40-50 age • Lower education accepted • With single skill • With heavy-laden family responsibilities • Face to strict hired condition, difficult to find a new job. • On the other hand, the request of society service ceaselessly increase

4. Background of Tianjin Women’s Business Incubator (TWBI) • A non-profit mixed incubator,Co-sponsored by UNDP, AusAID and Chinese Government • Established in Oct. 10, 2000, it is only women’s mixed business incubator in China. • specializing in assisting women entrepreneurs development and fostering growth in the employment of women

5. Background of Tianjin Women’s Business Incubator (TWBI) • Currently TWBI has a building area of 5,000 sq. meters • 50 tenants • The kind of business including: manufacturing 10, trade 15 and service 23 • Graduated 6 companies • Created 4,000 employment opportunities for laid-off people, they are mainly women.

6. Benefit for women & society • Business start-up assistance for incubatee • Business training, consultancy and mastermind assistance • Assistance enterprise to graduates • Providing micro credit for women small business • Raising Gender awareness • Contributing to the society stability and facilitated economic development • Its operational experiments reference for government legislate policies and regulations maker

7. infoDev ICTs Project In 2003, TWBI obtained the assistance from World Bank infoDev Incubator Initiative Project with its unique environment of employment creation and entrepreneur in China. It establishes a foundation for using ICT on enhancing business effectiveness of both TWBI and its incubatee.

8. Objectives • To enhance the business incubator’s ICT infrastructures and its application level of ICT • To improve and strengthen the incubator’s business incubation capacity and function • To accelerate the pace in facilitating the E-business service of TWBI • To raise the awareness of the incubator and SMEs in using ICT to develop business through the integration of Internet

9. Training Social Service Project Offering TWBI Venture Creation Employment Service System for Women’s Business According to the plan of TWBI ICT Project: • We will provided a virtual incubation platform for the women who wish to get support form the network • We will integrate training, project offering, venture creation, employment and social service to form a circle system for women

10. Activities of infoDev ICT Project in TWBI Activity 1: The ICT Business Plan Competition Activity 2: Set up Women Venture Creation foundation

11. Activities of infoDev ICT Project in TWBI Activity 3: Building The China Women Business Incubation Website

12. Activities of infoDev ICT Project in TWBI Activity 4: Training for the women • ICT awareness and key role in SMEs development training for clients by international and national consultant • providing ICT skills training for women of 5 terms class cooperated with e-north network company, a organization of Tianjin government.

13. Activities of infoDev ICT Project in TWBI • Start-up business and management skills training for target group help them own small business not only realize reemployment and employment creation but also improve their life quality and social status. • Other skills training such as flower art, pets taking, housekeeping to improve the target groups reemployment ratio.

14. Activities of infoDev ICT Project in TWBI • ICT skills training for staff ensure every staff can use computer and access to Internet to send email, search reference materials and up and download documents. • Set up ICT training room providing ICT skills training for women and help them acquire more useful computer skills to realize re-employment.

15. Activities of infoDev ICT Project in TWBI • Posture training for women entrepreneurs enhance their social accomplishment and confidence

16. Activities of infoDev ICT Project in TWBI Activity 5: Exploring Pre-incubation Model Activity 6: Developing Without-Wall incubation services model

17. Comparison of TWBI Using ICTs Ability after implement infoDev Project • Infrastructures condition of TWBI

18. 2. Abilities using ICT of TWBI

19. 3. Condition and ability of TWBI’s Tenants

20. Case introduce Case 1. Yansheng trade Co Ltd.was sponsored by ZhangXueping ,a laid-off woman worker , the factory manufacturewet tissues and paper products, enter in TWBI in 2003 with 100,000 registeredcapital. this company set up website anddevelop e-commerce in Alibaba and Huicong website after participating ICT awareness and skills training. To date their products were exportedto America ,Europe, East &north Asia. and the company has graduated in Sept. 2004.

21. Case introduce Case 2. Tang Huiping,With the start up business training ,laid-off women worker Tang Huiping own her housekeeping small company just several months ago in Baodi district, suburb of Tianjin. At first, she can’t access to TWBI service directly because of long distance, but now she can resolve question of management by on-line consult in www.tjwbi.com after accepting ICT skills training.

22. Opportunities and Challenges • Building portal website need more resource and technology support from Government ,society and consultants of international & local • Incubatee lack of ICT awareness • Enterprise need long-term reward and more investment of facilitating ICT

23. Opportunities and Challenges • Losing information and generating digital scarp because of tenants operating obstacle • Website credit also is key role of tenants ignoring the ICT • Expensive costs counteract tenants access to internet

24. Opportunities and Challenges • At an early stage, the support from the government authority of information and communication is indispensable. • ICT produces positive effect to quantity and structured employment, subject to that laborers be trained continuously in skill upgrading and structure adjustment • Focusing training on practical, effective and operational courses.

25. Conclusion World Bank infoDev incubator initiative ICT Project play a important role in promote TWBI ICTs process. Through business incubated, enterprises training, accelerate business development, created employment post, promoting local economic development. As a non-profile organization, our target group, most of them are low educational level, old age, weakness women community, despite the work is hard, but we also glad to notice: through implement infoDev ICT project TWBI and its incubatee’s abilities using ICT has increate observably. As we service for such field, so we have a large development space, TWBI need study and hold new technical and knowledge, act a role as bridge. We have confidence and also willing to face the challenge.