Blog

Practitioners strive to work with dynamic “lead firms,” but there is little documentation of best practices for collaborating with these firms. Action for Enterprise produced a comprehensive handbook with to fill this knowledge gap.

The USAID-Foras project is helping Iraqi businesses make smarter hiring choices through the Foras Jobs Portal.

Inclusive market development promotes economic growth with poverty reduction by facilitating the integration of large numbers of micro-and small enterprises into competitive value chains.

USAID supported small enterprises and their access to finance since its creation in 1961, but it was in the 1980s that support became more deliberate and focused.

Through PISCES, the Program for Investment in the Small Capital Enterprise Sector, operational from 1979 to 1985, USAID and its partner organizations began to discover the principles of success for lending to the poor, opening the way for the microfinance industry.

Today we may take for granted the economic role of microenterprises and their place in a development program. But at the time these first studies and discussions were underway, development efforts were focused heavily on large firms in an effort to increase GDP through import substitution.

In this miniseries, USAID takes a look over the past 20-plus years at how the microfinance industry has evolved to embrace a broader financial inclusion agenda.

In the 1980s, we were a bunch of economic development players who thought that entrepreneurial initiatives by poor people, if given the opportunity and the means, could radically change their lives...

We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. —T.S. Eliot

In the early 1980s, a few U.S. NGOs were pioneering new initiatives in the fields of enterprise development and microcredit, and many others were becoming interested in this work...

From a field perspective, it is interesting to look back over the past 25 years to see the real global impact that USAID had on the microfinance sector and today’s new focus on financial inclusion and digital financial services...

The Kenya Rural Enterprise Program (K-REP) started in 1984 as a USAID/Kenya project. In an interview, Kimanthi Mutua, the CEO of the K-REP Group and a leading proponent of financial inclusion in Africa, reflected on how K-REP began and transformed into a bank.

On April 30, USAID’s Leveraging Economic Opportunities (LEO) project stopped to take stock of advances made in its first seven months.

Part Two of the interview with Kimanthi Mutua, CEO of the K-REP Group and a leading proponent of financial inclusion in Africa, reflecting on the future of microfinance in Africa.

John Owens reflects on his work as the Chief of Party for Chemonics in the Philippines for most of the four phases of the Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (MABS) project.

The story of how the agency, together with its partners, transformed development assistance is remarkable; one that can teach about an agency operating at its finest and about the kinds of investments needed.

Jacqueline told me her story about the 15 remarkable years of USAID’s microfinance achievements in Uganda.

This leap into the digital future has been made possible through a progressive alignment between the Kenyan government, the mobile industry, banks, and microfinance institutions.

With the support of WE-ACT, Rwandan women learned about establishing, managing and running a formal business cooperative, which they named Ineza.

Designed as a structured, iterative coaching program, the Mentoring for Value Chain Impact initiative pairs up seasoned international experts with emerging leaders in field implementation.

This post provides an overview of the current issues and challenges that providers of cash transfers around the world are trying to address.

Visiting an Ugandan village with Ronald Mutebi, a dynamic entrepreneur and co-founder of Sun Tek Consults, one of 14 winners of the USAID- and Western Union-funded African Diaspora Marketplace.

A variety of emerging technologies connects the digital fieldworker to the value chain, according to Shaun Ferris of Catholic Relief Services in his presentation, “CRS ICT4D Strategy,” at the ICT4D August Meetup.

On August 22, the ICT for Development (ICT4D) Learning Network hosted an expert panel on how ICTs, or information and communication technologies, are enabling agriculture and improving livelihoods worldwide.

Earthwise Ferries, one of 14 winners of the USAID- and Western Union-funded African Diaspora Marketplace business plan competition, is launching a fleet of "green" ferries on Lake Victoria to facilitate trade and travel.