Blog

As COVID-19 circumvented the globe impacting every nation, sector, business, and family, it brought numerous challenges in its wake.  In developing countries – where market systems are often fragmented, connections between market actors weak, and businesses’ reserves limited – perishable products like vegetables were particularly hard hit. Both the supply and demand were affected by the shock. As the crisis deepened, some market actors lost considerable revenue and some went out of business.

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.

The Private Sector Engagement Relationship Qualities in a Market Systems Development Activity learning brief provides evidence and learning from the team of the USAID/Honduras Transforming Market Systems (TMS) Activity on how to most effectively engage the private sector and the relationship qualities that influence the achievement of partnership results.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) vision is of a prosperous and peaceful world in which women, girls, men, and boys enjoy equal economic, social, cultural, civil, and political rights and are equally empowered to secure better lives for themselves, their families, their communities, and their countries. USAID achieves greater and more sustainable development outcomes by integrating gender equality and women’s empowerment throughout their work.

Find the new guide from January 20, 2021 In the midst of a global pandemic - the effects of which are likely to be felt for years to come - many millions are at risk of losing their livelihoods and unable to access opportunities to work themselves and their families out of, or away from, poverty.

This blog was originally posted on BEAM Exchange and was written by Isaac Cowan-Gore.

The recent World Bank “Unmasking the Impact of COVID-19 on Businesses” paper analyzing surveys co-funded by USAID’s Center for Economics and Market Development shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has hurt all firms in developing countries, large and small.

This month, Marketlinks is exploring digital finance. Throughout February, we will take a deep dive into the topic and its relation to other relevant subject areas, Do you have relevant content you'd like to share on Marketlinks? We look forward to hearing from you! Please help us highlight digital finance by sharing your blogs, events, toolkits, announcements, and resources with us. Create an account and log-in to add a post, and reach out to info@marketlinks.org if you have any questions!

Over the last half century, USAID programming has resulted in tremendous gains in global health. Around the world, USAID’s global health activities have saved lives, protected vulnerable populations from disease, decreased infant and maternal mortality rates, and promoted stable communities.

This is one of two posts reflecting on private-sector engagement in a complex, thin market system (read the companion post. It relates to a previous four-part series on Marketlinks.

This is one of two posts reflecting on private-sector engagement in a complex, thin market system (read the companion post). It relates to a previous four-part series you can read on Marketlinks.

This post was originally published on the Center for Financial Inclusion blog and was written by Jonathan Fu and Mrinal Mishra.

This article was written by Lucas Simons, CEO of SCOPEinsight.  Let me ask you a question: Why haven't we solved the access to finance challenge by now?

Many USAID Missions grapple with the question of how to engage the private sector in its work with public service sectors. Working with USAID INVEST, USAID India has been assessing the private-sector landscape to determine which types of engagement can lead to sustainable improvements in the delivery of WASH and education services.

FROM SILICON VALLEY STARTUP TO LANDMARK ACQUISITION Access to technology is an essential component to development, especially in Africa. Africans use cheap mobile phones to pay their bills, conduct small business, and make calls anywhere and everywhere. However, even a small mobile phone is not useful if power is not available to charge it. Eighty percent of African households lack electric power, which limits opportunities to access information and mobile money, as well as business and educational opportunities. 

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?

This post, authored by William M Butterfield, the Entrepreneurial Environment Team Leader in the Center for Economics and Market Development at USAID in Washington, is the third in a series of blogs around the six principles of USAID’s Economic Growth Policy.

By: Nathan Martinez and Ishani Desai from the Economics Team in the Center for Economics and Market Development. This is the fourth in a series of blogs around the six principles of USAID’s Economic Growth Policy.

The Opportunity – Massive Mango Production and Processing Potential Makueni County is Kenya’s top mango-growing region, producing more mangoes (38,000 metric tons per year) than any other county. With a short harvest season from November to March, more than 40% of production goes to waste due to processing and demand constraints. Further, mango farmers struggle with dramatic price fluctuations, including an annual collapse in mango prices during the peak production season in January.

The first 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 Kati Suominen, Erica Vambell, Mariah Furtek, Nextrade Group

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) recently released the Amazon Vision 2020 Report describing its achievements in biodiversity and sustainable landscape initiatives across Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Guyana, and Suriname. As part of this progress update, the report focuses on the Agency’s work to promote a more sustainable and innovative development model that supports Amazonian entrepreneurs with a vision for a sustainable local economy.

With pandemic lockdowns crippling labor demand and supply around the world, government interest in social protection and labor market programs in general, and cash transfers in particular, has increased dramatically.

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.