Press Release: ASEAN SME Academy Business Continuity and Resilience (BCR) Tab Aims to Prepare ASEAN Small Businesses for the Future

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BANGKOK, May 23, 2023–– Today, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), in partnership with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Asia Regional Development Mission and the US Business Council. -ASEAN (US-ABC), launched Business Continuity and Resilience (BCR) Tab webpage. The BCR tab is designed to further help small businesses recover from the pandemic through training focused on resilience, inclusion, and prosperity.

As part of the redesign ASEAN SME Academy online platform, the BCR tab is a comprehensive web page of courses for small (including micro) and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to accelerate economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The courses are provided at no cost to small businesses, thanks to contributions from international organizations such as the International Labor Organization and US-ABC. member companies.

BCR Tab users can access e-learning modules, webinars, communities of practice, and curated tools and resources to learn about business growth and expansion, especially relevant to the economic recovery and digital transformation from COVID-19. These new resources will be Available in four languages ​​(English, Thai, Indonesian and Vietnamese).

“With the BCR tab, ASEAN SMEs will have access to tools and resources to help them prepare for this rapidly changing business landscape that demands business resilience through digital transformation, especially after having faced the COVID lockdowns. -19,” said Blesila Lantayona, chairwoman of the ASEAN Coordinating Committee on Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (ACCMSME). “ASEAN SME Academy’s new BCR tab will help accelerate smarter adoption of digital solutions for future-ready SMEs.”

“We believe that the BCR tab will be beneficial to ASEAN SMEs to help them develop and expand their business, and also make them more resilient to future crises that may arise,” said Ms. Margaret Hanson-Muse, Director of operations, US-ABC. “The development of a tool like BCR Tab can significantly enhance the relevance of the ASEAN SME Academy that we have so proudly established,” she emphasized.

“The United States is proud to continue our partnership with ASEAN and US-ABC to help small businesses grow, expand and prosper,” said Dr. Steve G. Olive, director of the USAID Regional Development Mission for Asia. “The USAID-supported Business Continuity and Resiliency tab webpage offers a new set of ASEAN SME Academy online courses that represent a timely response to the challenges small businesses face in an increasingly digital world. And it changes quickly.

Spearheaded by USAID in 2014 and the US-ASEAN Business Council when they first founded the US-ASEAN Business Alliance for Competitive Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and then established the ASEAN SME Academy in 2016, this collaboration strengthens ASEAN SMEs.

youThrough renewed collective support to modernize the ASEAN SME Academy platform, SMEs will be better equipped to manage cash flow, grow revenue, and leverage digital technologies for growth.

For more information contact  jakartausaidasean@usaid.gov.

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