St Petersburg Foundation for SME Development has been implementing the GET-IT programme to address two different target groups – unemployed people who could start up their own business, and the owners of mature SMEs.

St Petersburg, a city of 4.5 million people, currently has around 29,000 unemployed.  The Government of St Petersburg Committee for Labour and Employment and the St Petersburg Foundation for SME Development have introduced a programme to address this challenge called Startups in Business. The programme involves the selection and training of unemployed people, as well as consulting and business plan development services after they have completed the training.  The training and consulting services are complemented by the support of the Committee on Economic Development, Industrial Policy and Trade, which organises a business plan contest for participants who have completed the training and provides funding and company registration for the winning business plans. The training is provided in a series of different areas including how to start a business, how to register a company, the economics of a company, taxes, ICT in business, and how to develop a business plan.  The ICT in business component of the training has been applying the GET-IT curriculum, and making the GET-IT online tools available to the participants!

The second target group, owners of established SMEs in St Petersburg, who represent 25% of the city’s working population, has also had the opportunity to attend GET-IT trainings and make use of GET-IT online resources.  Ninety-seven percent of those who attended the training said they would recommend the course to a colleague!  The trainings focused on how a company can become an e-company, as well as consulting, and online tools – including GET-IT online tools.