Christian Planchette is a Senior Training Officer in the Enterprise Competitiveness section at the International Trade Centre (ITC), a United Nations organisation. He holds an M.S. degree in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering from the Ecole Nationale d’Arts et Métiers (ENSAM), a prestigious French engineering school, as well as an M.S. degree in Industrial Administration (now an MBA) from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA. Prior to joining ITC in 2002, Mr. Planchette worked in different technical and managerial capacities in enterprises ranging from a global multinational (Texas Instruments) to a micro-enterprise offering consulting and training services. He is in charge of designing, developing and delivering capacity building and technical assistance programmes for small and medium-sized enterprises, trade support institutions, as well as consultants and trainers in developing countries. These programmes focus on enterprise management and export development, and particularly address the difficulties faced by women and youth in entrepreneurship.