Do you want to create a simple business plan? Something comprehensive, flexible, and easy to scribble on a napkin? You can do that with a business model canvas.
Every business has ever-changing, diverse interests. Illustrating all of this on a single sheet of paper may sound challenging — but by using a business model canvas template, your team can focus on the key elements of your business to ensure nothing slips through the cracks.
Learn
To build a business model for your venture.
Understand
The differences between a business plan and business model.
Create
A resilient business model that sustain your operations.
In this course, you learn about two types of BMC, and how to apply them on your business. Whether you want to develop your current business, planning to launch new products, or even a startup; this course is vital for you.
The road to success is not revealed in a crystal ball, but rather via a planning and learning journey. No one is born with a strategic thinking skill; it is a mindset that you develop one step at a time.
In this course, I show you how to establish and articulate your personal vision and goals. Using a set of exercises, I show you how to organize your priorities, evaluate your current situation, define possible progress areas, and set down SMART objectives.
Learn
to build a strategic planning mindset and process.
Understand
a planning and monitoring lifestyle.
Create
a personal strategic plan with clear vision and objectives.
The result will be a one-page document that you could review easily and will set your compass clearly for five years ahead.
If you’re looking to grow your career and take on greater responsibility within your organization, you’ll need to demonstrate a basic understanding of financial management.
Even if you’re not in a financial role, you may be a CEO, entrepreneur, engineer, or a salesperson who deals with numbers every day. Having such knowledge will empower you to thrive and succeed.
Learn
about money, markets, financial statements, and ratios.
Understand
a financial mindset and understand what accountants talk about.
Create
yourself financially to manage risks and grasp opportunities.
In this course, I help you develop the financial acumen necessary to interpret financial reports and make decisions based on available data provided by the financial department, manage inventory and receivables, create an accurate budget, and cost a product or service. Plus, learn how to analyze your financial statements using ratios.
The road to success is not revealed in a crystal ball, but rather via a planning and learning journey. No one is born with a strategic thinking skill; it is a mindset that you develop one step at a time.
In this course, I show you how to establish and articulate your organization’s core competencies, vision, mission, and strategic filters. Using these criteria, I show you how to prioritize competing initiatives, how to allocate resources to best support those initiatives, and how all these factors combine to create a compelling strategic plan.
Learn
to build a strategic planning mindset and process.
Understand
a planning and monitoring culture within your organization.
Create
professional annual strategic plan and comparison reports.
I reveal how to implement a strategic planning process in your organization—a process that can be repeated yearly and ensures you get input from all relevant stakeholders.
“Plans are useless, Planning is useful”, although it is a cliché, it remains valid. With such changing ecosystems all over the globe, financial planning is vital for your business sustainability.
Estimating future financial performance plays a big part in the life of start-ups and corporations large and small. By looking ahead, companies can proactively manage changes. Start-ups can use projections to build business plans and raise capital.
Learn
about money, markets, financial statements, and ratios.
Understand
a financial mindset and understand what accountants talk about.
Create
yourself financially to manage risks and grasp opportunities.
This course is about making those financial projections: not by predicting the future, but by learning from past performance. I share the techniques used by financial planning professionals to build robust financial projections using Microsoft Excel. I show you how to combine two approaches—bottom up and top down—into a well-rounded projection that will help you analyze revenue and expenses, anticipate changes, and incorporate company goals in a realistic picture of your company’s future.
For many of us who are not financial professionals, worrying about money and saving for the future can be a chore. In this course, I show you how opportunities arise when you change your attitude towards money. I walk you through the basics of money, personal finance—earning, spending, saving, and investing—with an eye for finding opportunities to enrich your life.
Learn
about money, markets, financial products, and economics.
Understand
a planning mindset and a personal budget.
Create
yourself financially to manage risks and grasp opportunities.
I address such questions as: How can you earn more? What are the different types of income? How can you use different tools for planning and goal setting? How do you budget? What is the value of money and what are the smartest approaches for savings and investing? All of this and more is covered in this beginner’s course in personal finance.
I'm a top-performing finance and business consultant and trainer with a track record of success, working for several international and local corporations in crucial positions supporting the financial function and the efficient operation of the company. I have extensive achievements in the field of SMEs, entrepreneurial projects, and local ecosystem development.
In addition to providing professional training for dozens of corporates and entrepreneurs on topics related to Strategic, Digitalization, Financial Matters, Entrepreneurship, and Life Skills.
Academic Qualifications:
Master's degree in Entrepreneurship
Advenio e-Academy in Malta
2022
This program provides the theoretical concepts and frameworks that are particularly relevant to an entrepreneur starting up a new venture or managing a Small or Medium Enterprise (SME) where the multiplicity of management skills is an essential pre-requisite for success.
Master's degree in financial management
Heriot-Watt University in Scotland
2014
This master’s equipped me with the ability to make a crucial contribution where it matters most in business, with a wide-ranging understanding of financial techniques and their application in corporate finance, mergers, investments, derivatives, credit risk and risk management.
Bachelor's degree in Science of Finance
American University of Sharjah
2004
Finance is a stimulating field that examines sources of funds and uses of funds, how to invest one's money and how to make more money. I have proudly studied such important major at one of the top universities in the MENA region.
Features
Financial Skills
• Budgeting
100%
• Business Planning
90%
• Business Models
80%
• Financial Analysis
70%
• Quality Assuranc
60%
Features
Digital Skills
• Managing Online teams
100%
• MS Excel
90%
• MS Powerpoint
80%
• Power BI
70%
• Google Apps
60%
2010 - 2022
Job Experience
SME Lead Expert
Stichting SPARK
Nov 2022 - June 2023
Iraq
I am leading a team of experts in building the capacity of 80 SMEs to be ready for accessing finance. I have conducted an Assessment of Iraqi SMEs Access to Financing Capacity and Perceptions. I am also responsible of planning, designing and executing Loan Success Training and Clinic along with other four experts. Based on this, our team will write down an Iraqi SMEs Loan Preparedness Best Practices Handbook.
Quality Assurance Manager
Strata-CT
2010 - Present
Syria
Overseeing the creation of the Quality Management System, obtain the ISO 9001:2015 certification, conduct internal training and a recurring Internal Quality Audit, followed up on the inspection visits with the external auditors.
SME Strategy and Financial Management Head Expert
Stichting SPARK
Aug 2020 - May 2022
Iraq
Since 2020, SPARK has repeatedly assigned me the role of Head of Experts to develop and manage projects that evolve the Iraqi entrepreneurship ecosystem. I led a group of mentors during SME's COVID19 response program, to support 36 SME’s with improving their digitalization, marketing, risk, H&S, and financial management. I am also the author of SPARK's toolkit about financial management.
Business Development Manager
Strata-CT
Nov 2017 – Oct 2020
Syria
My primary responsibility was to assist the CEO in kicking off the operations and strategic planning. I created a three-year business plan, enhanced the team's soft skills through internal training sessions, and oversaw the organization of Strata's booth at the HVAC Syria Exhibition. I also managed the tender submission process, which included filing of more than 120 offers and tenders successfully.
Production Manager for Mentorship program
Stichting SPARK
Jan 2017 - Nov 2017
Yemen
My primary responsibility was to assist the CEO in kicking off the operations and strategic planning. I created a three-year business plan, enhanced the team's soft skills through internal training sessions, and oversaw the organization of Strata's booth at the HVAC Syria Exhibition. I also managed the tender submission process, which included filing of more than 120 offers and tenders successfully.
2001 - 2020
Trainer & Mentor Experience
SMEs COVID19 response program
SPARK Iraq
2020–2021
Mentoring 36 SMEs in setting up their financial policies and procedures and improving their financial management skills.
Startups on the move competition
Startups without Boarders
2022
Mentoring two Tech startups to develop their business model and prepare their pitch.
Entrepreneurial skills for single mothers
Hayat Association
2022
Training 25 single mothers on how to turn their ideas into projects, study the local market and develop a simple business plan.
Personal financial management
Agha Khan Development Network
2019
Training 100 employees on understanding basic economics, developing a personal budget, and evaluating saving and investment options.
Volunteering
JCI Syria
I am a community leader and social entrepreneur through my volunteering in JCI Damascus - Syria for 15 years, where I contributed to the launch of several projects and events
BBPC Director
In 2007 and 2010, I was the project manager for the Best Business Plan competition, as a pioneering initiative to promote entrepreneurship and business planning.
PIP Director
In 2016, I was appointed as the National Director of the Possible Peace Campaign, where I empowered more than 100 members in launching 16 peace initiatives across Syria. The most important of them was the Possible is Peace March in Old Damascus on the International Day of Peace September 21, 2016. This March won the best local project for peace award in Africa and Middle East.
Local President
In 2020, I was the local president of JCI Damascus, where, despite the difficult economic conditions in Syria and the COVID19 pandemic and quarantine, I was able as a leader to empower 250 members and provide them with development opportunities to organize 16 projects and dozens of events and trainings, by accelerating the digital transformation in our chapter.
This toolkit was prepared by Alaa Alazem for SPARK as a part of the Iraqi SMEs COVID-19 Response under Jobs & Perspectives Programme in Iraq.
Good financial management is critical to the success of any business. Without it, a business can be set for failure from the start. It’s not a lack of customers or products that will destroy a business – it’s a lack of cash. Therefore, financial decisions made at an early stage can be the most important, as well as the most difficult ones.
The ability to have the right finances in place and plan financial matters effectively can help a business grow and adapt to a changing economic environment.
To dowload this toolkit, press the following link.
This toolkit was prepared by Zaid Sami for SPARK as a part of the Iraqi SMEs COVID-19 Response under Jobs & Perspectives Programme in Iraq.
Without proper marketing, your business cannot have a lasting impact. Marketing gets the word out about your business. It allows you to connect with potential customers and inform them of all the services you offer. It builds brand recognition and fosters healthy competition between businesses. It boosts sales, helps you construct a consistent client-base, and helps you make your mark on the world.
Without strong marketing, it is easy to fade into the background and your business can easily disappear. With it, though, you can engage with clients and make your name known. Marketing increases your business’s overall potential, builds your reputation, and increases your reach, and is a tool that must be used in order to ensure your business is the best and most successful it can be.
To dowload this toolkit, press the following link.
This toolkit was prepared by Ranim Badenjki for SPARK as a part of the Iraqi SMEs COVID-19 Response under Jobs & Perspectives Programme in Iraq.
Uncertainties and crises in the past have had a major impact on how organizations and businesses operate nowadays. It’s because when we face a threat, we learn to adapt in order to survive, and then we set up strategies and plans to avoid or minimize our losses in case a similar threat comes back.
In Iraq, there’s a growing need for risk mitigation because SMEs operate under an unstable environment and work conditions, having to face variable threats to their businesses from political unrest, collapse in international oil prices to the most recent threat of COVID-19, all of which have created more and more challenges for SMEs to thrive.
When put into action, a risk mitigation strategy can protect your SME by minimizing the impact of such threats, allowing you to grow your business and getting you ready to face any potential challenges in the future.
To dowload this toolkit, press the following link.
Contact
Contact With Me
KRISTINA SMOLYER
Chief Operating Officer
I am available for freelance work. Connect with me via and call in to my account.