2022
As at 1st June 2022
- 70 SIYB implementing Partner Organizations (which include government, private, and NGO sector business training providers)
- 50 SIYB Master Trainers
- 667 SIYB Trainers
- 173 SIYB KAB Trainers
Generate Your Business (GYB) Idea is a three-day (24-hour) training seminar for those who are interested in starting a business, but who don’t know what business idea will work for them.
Start Your Business (SYB) is a five-day (40-hour) training seminar for those who want to start a business and who have a concrete business idea. The outcome of these five days is the formulation of a bankable business plan for the participants.
Improve Your Business (IYB) is again a five-day (40-hour) training seminar for those who are existing entrepreneurs and who have been running their businesses for at least six months. This IYB training seminar covers five modules namely marketing, costing, record keeping, business planning, and stock controlling & buying.
The SIYB training program that is being designed and implemented in Sri Lanka is generally for those who can read and write (basic literacy) and who can do basic mathematics. However, the SIYB Association advocates the facilitators of the SIYB training seminars to allow the entrepreneurs to accompany their children/siblings, who can read and write and who can do basic mathematics, to the SIYB training seminars (mainly for the SYBs and IYBs) and help their parents/siblings to follow the training programs. This approach has been practiced whenever such entrepreneurs were enrolled in SIYB training seminars in the past.
SIYB training program is a material-based management training program for SMEs in Sri Lanka. Therefore, all SIYB training activities use SIYB’s relevant training manuals. Since they are produced using high-quality materials with long-term reference (durability) by the entrepreneurs in focus, they are reasonably priced. You can visit the page on ORDER and download the “Price Quotation for SIYB Training Manuals” to get the accurate price details.
The SIYB Training of Trainers (ToT) Seminars are 10 days in duration. Generally, they are conducted as a residential program for 10 consecutive days. Alternatively, depending on the request of the donors/funders/partner organizations, ToTs are split into two halves of five days each and are conducted accordingly.
Generally, SIYB ToT Seminars are conducted based on the request of the Partner Organizations or donors sponsoring SME development programs in Sri Lanka. At the same time, from time to time, the SIYB Association organizes ToT Seminars for freelance trainers. Those who wish to get trained in an SIYB ToT Seminar can self-fund and enroll to graduate from an SIYB ToT Seminar. Hence, contact the SIYB Secretariat (
This is one of the common questions that the SIYB Secretariat often gets. Also, this is one of the main questions the SIYB ToT participants often have. You can use the below link to access the guidance in this regard.
“Guidance on Obtaining SIYB Trainer Certificate”
As at 1st June 2022
As at 31st March 2012 there are 25 SIYB implementing (partner) organizations which include government, private and NGO sector business training providers, 19 SIYB Master Trainers and 377 SIYB Trainers.
We are continuing our efforts for new collaborations with new organizations.We have SIYB training materials (books) for entrepreneurs in Sinhala, Tamil and English together with the SIYB Business Game.
The SIYB Association is the custodian of the SIYB training implementation in Sri Lanka and it includes the organizing and conducting of SIYB Trainers training. The SIYB Association always receives the services of SIYB Master Trainers in conducting the SIYB trainers training programs under the direct leadership and supervision of the SIYB Association of Sri Lanka.
SIYB Association of Sri Lanka received the copy right for the SIYB training manuals from the ILO Geneva head office and hence we are the authorized representative of the SIYB global office in Geneva.
We are also continued to add new training manuals into our current training product portfolio. Recently added one such product is developing a training manual for tourism sector targeting tourism entrepreneurs with the assistance of the USAID funded Core project.
The SIYB Association of Sri Lanka took over the project activities from June 2005 and continuing the SIYB program promotion, implementation and monitoring activities in the country.
After the SIYB project, the SIYB Association of Sri Lanka took over the project activities from June 2005 and continuing the SIYB program promotion, implementation and monitoring activities in the country.
The SIYB project activities, the SIYB Association of Sri Lanka was formed in end 2003 with the membership of SIYB partner organizations, Master Trainers and the SIYB Trainers.
The SIYB project of the International Labour Organization (ILO) was ended in May, 2005. In order to continue with the SIYB project activities, the SIYB Association of Sri Lanka was formed in end 2003 with the membership of SIYB partner organizations, Master Trainers and the SIYB Trainers. The Association was registered as a Voluntary Social Services/Non Governmental Organization at the Division for Non Governmental Organizations in the Ministry of Social Welfare. The registration number and date are L80803 and 11th February, 2004 respectively.
The Start Your Business training module was developed in 1993 to impart the knowledge on new business planning for new entrepreneurs.
In 1994 the two names, Improve Your Business and Start Your Business was amalgamated and developed the brand name of “Start and Improve Your Business” (SIYB).In 1998 the Generate Your Business idea manual was developed to assist aspiring entrepreneurs to identify and select a feasible business idea. The SIYB Sri Lanka project started in 2000, first covering the Matara and Hambantota districts in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka; since February 2002, project services have been expanded island wide.The SIYB Sri Lanka project trained local BDS organizations how to use the SIYB training product maintaining highest technical standards. The project, furthermore, provided advisory services to these partner organizations how to set up and manage their own SIYB training programs.
Specific emphasis was laid on the sustainability of SIYB training. The explicit project goal was to enable local BDS organizations over time to recover their training costs while keeping technical standards of training high. To that end, the SIYB project offered advisory services for BDS organizations of how to professionalize their services, fully unlocking the commercial value of the training product through professional product development, competitive pricing, effective training distribution networks and systematic promotion of the training product
The SIYB program has originated in a training package called “Look After Your Firm” that was developed in the 1970s by the Swedish Employers´ Federation.
In 1977, the Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA) funded a project for the ILO to adapt the materials to the needs of small-scale entrepreneurs in developing countries. The adapted training package was called “Improve Your Business” (IYB) program and successively introduced in over 70 countries.
In the early 90`s, an International Labour Organization (ILO) technical cooperation project in Fiji embarked on the development of the “Start Your Business” (SYB) training program. SYB was soon adopted by ILO technical cooperation projects all over the world to complement the IYB training program and to meet the great demand from potential small-scale entrepreneurs who wanted to start their own businesses.
In 1998, a third training program called “Generate Your Business Idea” (GYB) was developed by the ILO-SIYB Southern and Eastern Africa project to further complement the SYB training and to assist potential small-scale entrepreneurs to generate feasible business ideas to pursue their new businesses. The GYB program has since then been disseminated through the global SIYB program. In 2002, a fourth training program called Expand Your Business has been introduced to the market by the SIYB Sri Lanka project, targeting growth-oriented small-scale entrepreneurs eager to break through the glass ceiling of the SME sector.
The GYB, SYB, IYB and EYB training programs have been designed on the same conceptual platform. They are separate but inter-linked. In recognition of that effective inter-linkage, the ILO markets these programs jointly under the label “SIYB program”. Today, the SIYB program is a recognized ILO trademark in more than 90 countries of the world.