Providing better opportunities for people with disabilities to start their own businesses

CIBINONG (Joint Press Release): The Ministry of Social Affairs, in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO) concluded a two-week Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) Training of Trainers (ToT) programmes designed for people with disabilities from 17 to 28 October 2011, at National Vocational Rehabilitation Center, in Cibinong, West Java.

The purpose of this training was to prevent discrimination against people with disabilities by improving their employability and self-employment through education and vocational trainings, as well as microfinance and marketing supports. It was also to improve the entrepreneurship and business management capabilities of people with disabilities so that they can identify business opportunities and start a business of their own. This purpose is in line with the commitment of the Government of Indonesia to revitalize the entrepreneurship as a strategy in employment creation.

“In developing countries, many people with disabilities experience discrimination resulting in unemployment and high levels of poverty. The SIYB training aims at developing and strengthening the entrepreneurial skills of those who are already in business or intend to become entrepreneurs. Thus, it will help people with disabilities to develop necessary skills to start and manage a small business. It also helps them to create employment opportunities and income generations,” said Peter van Rooij, Country Director of the ILO in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, Mr. Tunggul Sianipar, the Head of the Vocational Rehabilitation Center, said that the Ministry of Social Affairs through its (National Vocational Training) Center in Cibinong has conducted advanced vocational rehabilitation services, staff training, research and development. However, the Centre has not yet focused on providing a quality entrepreneurship education and training. ”We greatly appreciate the assistance given by the ILO in providing training of trainers for our trainers as part of the effort to support the start-up of enterprises by people with disabilities, particularly youth and women with disabilities, that, in turn, will contribute to sustaining their livelihoods and enabling them to have improved income opportunities.”

The first of its kind, the training was attended by 20 trainers of the National Vocational Rehabilitation Center. After accomplishing the 10-day training, the participants are expected to conduct Training of Entrepreneur (ToE) sessions targeted to youth and women with disabilities in vocational training and rehabilitation centres. In addition, as a result of the training, each trainer would be expected to widely promote SIYB programme, organize training events, develop training sessions, conduct ToE training sessions and carry out after-training support.

SIYB is an ILO’s interrelated training packages aimed at increasing the viability of small and medium enterprises through sound management principles suitable for the environment of developing countries. In Indonesia, the SIYB program was introduced in 2002 and currently there are 400 SIYB trainers throughout the country. With an estimated outreach of 1.5 millions trainees, SIYB is one of the biggest global management training programmes currently on the market. It has been translated into more than 30 languages and adapted to local conditions in more than 50 countries.

The training was conducted by Rini Wahyu Hariyani, certified Master Trainer of SIYB ILO who is also the first elected President of the Indonesian SIYB Association (ISA).

For further information please contact:

Balai Besar Rehabilitasi Vokasional Bina Daksa Cibinong Kemsos RI, Tel.: +62 251 8654702-05

Sara Park, ILO’s Programme Officer for Child labour, Disability and Gender, Tel.: +62 21 3913112 ext. 159, Email

Gita Lingga, Media Relations Officer, Tel.: +62 21 3913112 ext. 115, Email