The Enhanced Integrated Framework provided a €30,000 security to MECK-Moroni to shoulder the risk of the investment. This sort of blended finance is catalytic for aspiring business owners like Bihaicha. Blended finance is a way to use public funds to increase private investment in sustainable development.

Aware of the premium on value-added exports, the government of Burkina Faso between 2014 and 2018 partnered with the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) to improve the drying and certification process of dried mangos for export. The project has been key to slowly but firmly pushing the country towards modernizing its agro-processing businesses – and juicing up its exports.

However, investment in tourism industry requires software to run, including high-end chefs to work hotel and restaurant kitchens. But top chefs able to serve world-class cuisine to discerning tourists have always been hard to come by, says Pierre Tami, who arrived in Cambodia as a diplomat in 1990.

In 2015, Togo produced less than 25,000 tons of soybeans. Since then, production increased five-fold to more than 200,000 tons in 2021. How did this happen?

Public-private dialogues are reducing trade barriers – and saving poultry traders costly journeys to renew import permits.

There is strong evidence that cross-border markets have positively impacted livelihoods through enhanced incomes, including among youth and women. This has positively impacted Karongi District, including the economic welfare of the residents.

Isolated, Tuvalu turned to improving its internal trade. In October 2020 the Department of Business, with support from the Enhanced Integrated Framework, (EIF) launched the Tau Maketi (your market) initiative to help vulnerable small businesses play a more active role in Tuvalu’s domestic market and make up for diminished foreign demand.

Supporting farmers and agricultural cooperatives in a post-conflict context is not what funders of international aid often consider a safe bet. But turning swords into ploughs can pave a sustainable path out of conflict for communities, as results from a project supported by the Enhanced Integrated Framework in four districts of the country show.

LDCs have traditionally relied on high-cost, low-impact means of showing off their goods by, for example, hiring booths at trade shows and expos. Ecommerce platforms allow them to exponentially grow the number of products they can show off to potential customers, simplify the selling process, reduce transactional costs, increase trade revenues, and boost economic growth.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, a strong digital presence has, more than ever, become a key element for small businesses in the coffee sector to access new buyers and benefit from international markets.

The saying one man's trash is another man's treasure has never been more apt for Tuvalu's first export. In June 2021, two shipping containers of crushed aluminium cans from Tuvalu headed towards South Korea. This marked a first in the country's commitment to the circular economy.

Small businesses are receiving support to access much-needed finance

New project focusing on selected value chains from seaweed to honey in Tanzania.

Support efforts include new tools, from the tangible to the abstract

Resilience is necessary in the rice trade, developing it requires many About 80% of Cambodians are rural farmers, and rice is the country’s main crop. But, until the last decade or so, the sector had not been living up to its potential.

More training, more links to buyers of rural arts means more income for women

Originally published by International Trade Centre on 3rd February 2021

The quiet outside the nondescript warehouse belies what is happening inside. Machines whir, and halls and walls are piled high with filled sacks of sesame, of chickpeas, of mung beans.

A fresh style of training for agriculturalists addresses topics from creativity to financial literacy

Trainings in beekeeping and the provision of hives aims to create additional income sources for agriculturalists Beekeeping doesn’t come naturally, really. 

Reflections from Geneva Trade Week

Breaking ground with new ideas and new partnerships in two African countries

Artisan handbag maker taking her enterprise forward, and receiving new financing

Geneva Trade Week garnering inputs from far and wide

In honor of former Enhanced Integrated Framework National Coordinator in Mali

For a new business owner, one international trade fair got things rolling

Partnerships with development agencies and government efforts to boost the digital economy are helping soften the economic blow of the pandemic.

In 2017, Bangladesh’s Ministry of Commerce secured US$50 million from the World Bank to address trade facilitation and export diversification issues.

As LDCs grapple with ongoing economic fallout from COVID-19, EIF activities have yielded valuable insights for recovery.

Recently launched ecommerce training program and portal will help hundreds of women entrepreneurs in South Asian LDCs become part of regional and global supply chains.

Country’s online trading system off to a timely start, as COVID’s physical distancing requirements disrupt manual systems

Increasing efficiency leading to big gains

Government and private sector worked together to create jobs in new ‘industry’

Finding new buyers and tapping new markets, harnessing agriculture’s potential

Taking traditional African prints and making them modern, a female entrepreneur is aiming to go global – armed with the right business tools

What are some of the keys to success in getting businesses on board?

To get international buyers, Malawi businesses tackling marketing and certifications

Education key for an informed trade and policy future

Carefully calibrating its trade support and compliance to international standards, country is targeting more exports

Opportunities and challenges abound for Zambia entrepreneurs eyeing new markets

In Zambia, a sweet idea spurs entrepreneurship

From research to action, Uganda focusing on facilitation to spur economy and create jobs

The tiny West African country The Gambia is striving to export its crops globally.

Cooperative endeavor to enhance exports yields solid solutions

Government plus grassroots combo laying foundations for MSME success

Making more and better ginger crops means more income

In Masaka, mobilizing and educating the small enterprises that need it most

New buyers means employment opportunities and much much more

Skills strategies can provide a bridging mechanism to enable disadvantaged groups such as youth and women to gain from international trade.

Conquering a nut pollutant means lives and livelihoods saved in the process

Bhutan’s potato ‘stock market’ goes online

Businesswomen creating a united front in Rwanda and the DRC

Country is diversifying into soy, and farmers are seeing profits

Facilitating trade across borders means transparency, assistance and knowing what countries need

Solomon Islands putting itself on the tourism map

Implementation is everything in aligning trade and agriculture in LDCs in Africa

Funding for traders, for government trade support and for infrastructure means resources at work in critical spaces in Rwanda

In Rwanda, new market centres mean improved trade at the border

After help finding new markets, one man’s chili sauce empire is taking off

For an arid swath of Africa, a sap-like substance offers income possibilities for the poorest of the poor, along with environmental benefits

In The Gambia, family-owned cashew processors are primed for expansion

Island nation focusing on its unique, specialty plant life to kick start economic growth

Malawians are forging new markets for their agricultural exports, within and without Africa

When agriculture and trade align, change happens for incomes and economies

With cashew prices surging and armed with solid trade policy, the country is looking to boost its farmers and processors

In Comoros, an essential oils doyenne has plans for her country’s unique yields

Flock maintaining, brand strengthening, and market expanding: Nepal's pashmina producers are aiming high

Additional land to sow, targeted trainings, and market security mean higher incomes for smallholders

Women entrepreneurs are helping to restore island nation’s economy after the ravages of Cyclone Pam

Recognising that traditional honey harvesting damages the forest, Zambia’s rural communities are using modern beekeeping practices that value trees and produce better quality honey. 

You may not expect a graduate of an arts degree to say that a trade policy course was their favourite subject, but if you ask Zondwayo Duma from Zambia, that’s exactly what he’ll tell you

The year is 2017 and Cambodia has stepped into a role that has been out of its reach for years — the voice of the 47 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) at the Word Trade Organization.

Aminata Dominique Diouf was seven years old when her father bought a small farm 15 minutes from the Senegal-Gambia border.

A partnership in support of the harmonization of standards key to export competitiveness