Zahida Imran came back to Pakistan after spending five years in Germany. She wanted to set up an online clothing store, but was unsure how to go about it. She had no experience in running a business. The Pakistani-German Facilitation and Reintegration Centre (PGFRC) invited her to take part in a business development and employability skills training course.

“When I received the call, I asked the advisor what exactly the training involves”, Zahida says. “He told me that it dealt with basic business concepts. The aim is to give participants guidance on how to successfully start and run a business. I was elated and said yes to it straight away.”

Zahida and nine other women and men took part in the training course. The PGFRC organised this training to help returning migrants and local population to find sustainable self employment. It’s part of the “Returning to New Opportunities” programme run by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). This programme is currently running in 13 partner countries. It aims to create socio-economic opportunities for returning migrants and for locals. It is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in Pakistan, together with the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development as political partner and the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) as implementation partner.

Interactive training with case studies
 
The latest business training course was conducted by two PGRFC advisors. It was designed to be interactive, which included participants working in groups and dealing with case studies. Zahida Imran was very satisfied at the end of the course: “I used to be insecure about starting my own business, but this training course has given me self-confidence. It has helped me to understand basic business processes and – more importantly – taught me how to build customer relationships. Now I’m optimistic about my future!”

Another participant, Muhammad Raheem, worked as a marketing manager in a factory in Pakistan before he went to Germany. He came back because he didn’t see a future for himself there. Once back in Pakistan he was a bit uncertain about how he should start over. Now he’s planning to enter the marble trade, and feels better prepared after taking part in the training course. “I really made the most of the training – it gave me the courage to be optimistic.”