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Regulators in both developed and developing markets are responsible for protecting the public from certain risks to human health, safety, environment, and consumer fraud.

This July, Marketlinks explores current trends and key issues in international trade and offers examples of how to harness USAID’s tools and resources towards achieving economic development goals. Each week will feature a different case study within the international trade context, giving the Marketlinks community an in-depth look at the solutions used to solve current issues.

USAID is launching a new, self-paced version of its Mobilizing Finance for Development (MF4D) course on Marketlinks.

(Second in a series of five blogs about the drivers of sustainability in USAID partnerships with the private sector based on the Enduring Results Study 3.0)

By Carolanne Chanik, INVEST Communications Coordinator About an hour drive outside of the port city of Mombasa lies the coastal town of Ukunda, a modest road stop on the way to Kenya’s Diani Beach. On the outskirts of Ukunda are a smattering of general stores and auto repair shops to serve motorists and day travelers, and a coconut processing plant owned by Kentaste Products Limited.

Whether you are a business looking to expand or an investor sourcing new ventures, emerging markets provide unique opportunities for growth and diversification. However, hidden players, rules & regulations, and the general lack of data in these ecosystems can make the foray into these markets time-consuming and risky. In addition, investors & corporations oftentimes lean on anecdotal evidence and personal experience to make haphazard decisions on which frontier market to enter.

While the gender gap represents $28 trillion that could be added to global GDP by 2025, the pipeline of potential investments remains elusive for many funds. This is due to a range of factors including unconscious bias, a rigged system, lack of access to female networks, and lack of women in decision-making roles. These existing systemic issues are further exacerbated by COVID-19 and the uneven burden placed on women during the pandemic.

This June, Marketlinks explores data-driven partnerships to Maximize Market Impact. Increasingly, the development community is emphasizing partnerships between public and private sector actors in order to advance our goals in a sustainable manner. But how do we know that we are on the right track? What metrics should we use to help us gauge the progress we’ve made?

By Kati Suominen, Erica Vambell, Mariah Furtek, Nextrade Group

The Covid-19 crisis has accelerated the growth of online shopping worldwide and made it a priority for small businesses in developing countries to set up ecommerce capabilities.

The United States has entered into bilateral and regional free trade agreements (FTAs) with just 20 of the other 163 members (or 12 percent) of the World Trade Organization. Most U.S. FTA partners represent either developed markets, such as Canada and Australia, or emerging markets, such as Chile and Colombia. However, in the case of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), our missions partner mostly with “frontier markets,” like Ghana and Paraguay.

Worldwide, the private sector is playing an unprecedented role in shaping opportunities that improve the lives in the countries and communities that USAID supports. For six decades, USAID has partnered with the private sector to solve the world’s most complex development challenges and to help countries accelerate development progress. 

Engagement in international trade provides many benefits for MSMEs including diversifying and expanding their market base, driving revenue growth and job creation, and increasing competitiveness. For these reasons intentional trade has been recognized as a powerful tool for creating economic opportunity and reducing poverty in developing economies.

Like many women, Wamahoro, a native of Rwanda, once worked two jobs, one of which was in the informal sector. “I used to sell my baskets at the local market to supplement my farming income,” she says. At the local market, however, Wamahoro’s handmade baskets sold for only 82 cents a basket — not much in the way of supplemental income.

Kati Suominen, Founder and CEO of Nextrade Group; Technical Director of the Alliance for eTrade Development

By Emily Langhorne, INVEST Communications Specialist  

Market systems are inherently social networks, and thus there is an understandable tendency for market actors to do business with those that they know and trust. But neither businesses, nor broader market systems, can perform to their potential by relying only on personal exchange.

This month, our theme is Marketlinks 2021! Throughout January, we will be highlighting relevant policies, projects, initiatives, tools, and other innovations in the sector that have either recently launched or will be launching in 2021. 

Banks in Bangladesh are exploring agent banking and digital services as ways of coping with COVID-19 restrictions, expanding financial inclusion to those in need, and preventing the gap in microfinancing from widening further.

As investors search out bankable opportunities within green growth sectors, they would do well to look to Sub-Saharan Africa, where renewable natural capital assets account for a higher share of total wealth than in any other region.

The term “enabling environment” often conjures a singular focus on policies, laws, and regulations. These formal rules are important and necessary, but they alone are an incomplete picture of the market system. The Feed the Future Enabling Environment for Food Security (EEFS) project recognizes this, and takes a broader view of the enabling environment which holistically considers the incentives and barriers for market actors operating in complex systems.

Experts from USAID and RTI discuss how agricultural market systems – both domestically and globally – can be a driver of resilience, buffering us from the ripple effects of shocks and stresses such as the ongoing pandemic.

Youth — who make up a large portion of the potential workforce in developing countries — are often left out of markets systems, representing a significant lost opportunity to deliver social and economic benefits. 

Examining gender-specific COVID-19 impacts and integrating women’s empowerment interventions in agriculture remains essential to COVID-19 survival and recovery.

EEFS has developed an analytical guidance document that identifies factors in the enabling environment that support animal source food (ASF) market system success and informs the design of customized field-based enabling environment analysis for ASF systems.