The Online Management Training program (OMT), implemented by OCD (www.ocd.vn) with the support of GCF, is bringing contemporary management training to Vietnamese SME exporters, especially those located beyond urban centers like Hanoi, Hochiminh City and Danang, leveraging on the powers of the Internet.

This year, faced with increased difficulties in export markets, Vietnamese SME exporters are having to tighten their already limited budget for staff training and development, which leads to a vicious circle of poorly-trained, unqualified human resources threatening to undermine their competitiveness and increasing their fragility in the competitive global markets. Responding to these pressing needs, the OMT program provides Vietnamese SME exporters customized e-learning solutions that are relevant, cost-effective and flexible. E-learning saves training costs by as much as 60% for companies, thus enabling more pervasive training in companies at reduced cost and helping them to make better use of their existing IT investments. The OMT program has special focus on the SME exporters in the four GCF-supported provinces: Ha Tay (now merged with Hanoi), Nghe An, Lam Dong and Khanh Hoa.
The project was launched in December 2008 and put into action right away with a  training needs assessment of SME exporters in the four provinces. OCD has approached and engaged like-minded partners in Ha Noi, Dak Lak and Khanh Hoa and a network of Vietnamese trainers, who enthusiastically join forces in the innovative OMT program. The first two groups of trainers are now attending the University of Illinois’ Master Online Teacher Certificate program and OCD has become a global partner in the Illinois Online Network (http://www.ion.uillinois.edu/).

 Role play by TOT’s participants

OCD’s presentation at E-Learning Conference 2008