Blog

The LEO project is speeding towards the finish line! LEO’s broad goals of increasing the capacity of donors and implementers to design, implement and evaluate market systems projects have led to some landmark publications.

When a market system isn’t humming along as it should, something must be missing. Read on for examples from Cambodia and Guinea.

Underdevelopment and missed market opportunities come with real costs, especially for women.

About 63 percent of women in the non-agricultural labor force are self-employed in the informal sector in Africa, more than twice the worldwide rate, according to World Bank data.

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.

New index from the Economist Intelligence Unit, commissioned by the Multilateral Investment Fund, scores 20 countries on their support for female owners of micro, small and medium enterprises.

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.

El Programa Mujeres Empresarias Liderando el Desarrollo (MELD), promovido y financiado por USAID (Agencia de los Estados Unidos para el Desarrollo Internacional), tiene como objetivo fortalecer las capacidades de gestión y liderazgo de mujeres empresarias de la pequeña empresa.

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 International Development division of Land O’Lakes, Inc. – a full-fledged development organization that currently works in 22 countries across Asia and Africa – has observed numerous barriers to women’s cooperative leadership.

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.

Relative to men, women are pursuing lower opportunity activities, with their enterprises more likely to be smaller, informal, and in low value-added lines of business.