Fostering Collaboration: Creating a Path for Emerging Local Private Sector Partners to Engage with USAID

USAID CATALYZE, a Private Sector Engagement (PSE) Hub project, is innovating new ways to engage with the private sector by speeding up the grant procurement process to mobilize capital towards underserved sectors, geographies, and populations globally.

On January 30, 2024, MarketLinks and USAID CATALYZE discussed CATALYZE’s work in blended finance. Using the CATALYZE Market Systems for Growth (MS4G) Activity in Ethiopia as a foundation for discussion, in this fireside chat, speakers discussed how project implementers successfully partnered with local private sector firms to co-design concepts and activities that generated development impact, specifically those in the food security, fertilizer, and WASH sectors. 

Speakers delved deeper into the challenges and successes that the project experienced during the co-creation process, from solicitation to award process of USAID grants, and in ensuring that risks, resources, rewards, and responsibilities were shared by both USAID and the private sector. This approach has been a part of CATALYZE’s vision to spur the sustainability of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in serving their markets and becoming profitable beyond the life of the project.