A local Sheik poses a question to one of the instructors of the five day class held on Forward Operation Base Kalsu. The students learned tools, tips and success strategies from fellow Iraqi instructors. Photo by Sgt. Marcus Butler.

A five-day class of “Business 101” was implemented by 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division’s Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team to show local sheiks and business leaders the fundamentals of starting a business and making profits to add longevity to the company.

The EPRT contracted instructors Dr. Asmaa Al-Hashimi, director of the Babylon Center for Economy Development and Kaiser Abdul Abbas, an information technology expert, to teach a curriculum that would give the sheiks and business leaders a foundation on which to build.

“This training’s main purpose is to increase the ability of agri-business and introduce modern agricultural techniques to the people of the local community,” said Capt. Chris Willis, EPRT deputy team leader for operations.

The curriculum includes:

•Day one: How to prepare a bankable agri-business plan, including starting a new business, business planning, long-term and short-term goals.

•Day two: How to market business, including sales, customer care, promotion and advertising.

•Day three: How to manage cash flow, including finance, accounting and budgetary issues.

•Day four: How to operate as an agricultural non-government organization under the legal operational requirements outlined by the Iraqi Department of NGOs.

•Day five: How to use a business plan in loan application packages, how to approach a bank, and how to complete a loan application.

“I think this training is very important because agri-businesses are the cornerstones of their communities,” al-Hashimi said. “If we can give them the information they need to succeed, then they can teach their communities and everyone wins.”

The sheiks attending this training have put aside religious differences to learn together how to help their people.

“This is a very unique situation since the sheiks in attendance are both Sunni and Shiite,” Willis said. “Their religion aside, these leaders all came here to sit, talk and share information across sectarian boundaries.”

Having instructors with expertise in the fields of information technology and economics, as well as the cooperation of the local leaders, the future of the agri-business and the people involved in them are in good hands.

“With this foundation, the leaders can go out and execute on the basic business principles that they have learned while others in their community complete the training that they have already gone through,” Willis said. “This program will be an on going system that in time will strengthen the infrastructure of the agri-businesses and help the people of Iraq.”