Blog

This project conducts critical research and learning activities to disseminate and share with the development community to examine how women leaders of small businesses can better engage in the cashew value chain.

According to an Asia Foundation study of the business environment in Bangladesh, male- operated small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) far outnumber those led by women SME entrepreneurs, and only 69 of the 3,800 firms in the sample have at least one female owner.

On March 5-10, 2014, USAID’s Women’s Leadership in Small and Medium Enterprises (WLSME) program is sponsoring the 8th National Garment Trade Fair “Fashion Industry 2014: Manufactures and Equipment” hosted by the Association of Light Industry Enterprises.

ACDI/VOCA, with its partner organization Bai Tushum Fund (BT Fund), will work to reduce barriers to human capital, social capital and business information that limit the growth of women-owned SMEs in the Kyrgyz Republic.

From June 24 to July 5, 2013, Dr. Alan Osman, an international volunteer from ACDI/VOCA specializing in business development for small and medium enterprises, assisted the Souztextile association in developing and formulating its strategic plan to expand its membership.

Citizen Journalism is changing the world by empowering local communities to tell their stories from their own perspectives. WLSME Kyrgyzstan staff members are keeping up with the latest trends in development by holding a multimedia training on 26-29 June 2013 on state-of-the-art mobile journalism or “MoJo” kits to develop skills that will ultimately contribute to the WLSME program’s success.

This month, the WLSME Kyrgyzstan program released a Rapid Market Assessment report to scan industry competitiveness and opportunities for women-owned small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Kyrgyzstan.

The Rizal Commercial and Banking Co. (RCBC), one of the largest commercial banks in the Philippines, has introduced an SME business loan program which gives women the opportunity to increase their financial capacity and meet the growing demands of their business.