How SEPT has been teaching business skills for 30 years

Utz Dornberger, CEO from SEPT since 2004. Foto: Swen Reichhold - News from The SEPT Competence Center at Leipzig University recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. In this interview, Professor Utz Dornberger, who has headed SEPT since 2004, outlines how the Center supports small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) not only in Germany but also in the Global South. The Small Enterprise Promotion and Training (SEPT) programme was established at the University of Bremen in 1992 but then moved to the Institute of African Studies at Leipzig University in 1996. What was the idea behind the establishment of the SEPT programme? Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of the economy in Germany, and in the Global South 99 per cent of all companies are SMEs. At that time, German universities didn-t have the knowledge and expertise to promote SMEs in Africa, Latin America and Asia. For this reason, universities wanted to work together with the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) to establish a degree programme that would train experts in the field.