The Forest and Landscape Restoration Mechanism (FLRM) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is pleased to share the recent launch of the e-learning course “Developing bankable business plans for sustainable forest-based enterprises”. Currently available in English, the course will soon be released in French as well. Those who have business ideas with the potential for scaling up are especially encouraged to follow the course, as the target audience includes small and medium-sized business advisors, forest producers and the staff of producer organizations.

Serving as the basis for this course, the publication entitled Developing bankable business plans: A learning guide for forest producers and their organizations was published in 2021 by the FLRM in partnership with FAO’s Sustainable Forestry, Value Chain Innovation and Investments team. This publication offers a framework for developing convincing investment proposals with the key elements of a successful bankable business plan, along with valuable tips and templates.

With the inspiration of the aforementioned publication, the e-learning course aims to improve understanding of investments and financing to facilitate socioeconomic benefits for stakeholders in forest value chains. Participants of the course can expect to learn about the concept of bankability, creating a bankable business plan, investor criteria according to investor types and tailoring financial needs to enterprise life stages. Split into four lessons, the course is structured as follows:

1. “Introduction to bankable business planning”;
2. “Develop your bankable business plan” (steps 1 to 5);
3. “Develop your bankable business plan” (steps 6 to 10); and
4. “Using your bankable business plan to access funding”.

This FLRM e-learning course is self-paced and accessible to all interested parties through the FAO elearning Academy, free of charge. Closely aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals and FAO strategic programmes, the course was peer reviewed by a wide range of experts to ensure content accuracy, quality and coherence. Participants who pass the final exam upon completion of the course will receive a digital badge certifying their newfound skill. To earn a badge today in bankable business planning, readers are invited to click here.

Giorgio Millesimi (FAO) and Madison Ziegler (FAO)