US builds new partnerships with Pakistan

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

By Anwar Iqbal
Tuesday, 27 Apr, 2010
WASHINGTON: Pakistan is among those selected Muslim nations where the United States is building 13 new partnerships to advance entrepreneurship and economic growth, US Agency for International Development said on Monday.

In Pakistan, USAID is working through local organisations to assist 120,000 of the country’s micro and small entrepreneurs, with a focus on rural and female producers, as well as communities affected by conflict.

The new partnerships are in conjunction with the two-day Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship, which began in Washington on Monday. Pakistan is also participating in the summit.

Co-hosted by the Departments of Commerce and State, the summit brings together more than 275 participants from over 50 countries around the world.

“Economic growth based on private sector development has the potential to transform developing societies, enabling them to emerge from dependence on foreign,” said USAID Administrator Dr Rajiv Shah. That’s “why President Barack Obama chose to open our doors to share some American entrepreneurial spirit with people from around the globe.”

On June 4, 2009, President Obama delivered a policy speech in Cairo, promising a new beginning with countries with significant Muslim populations worldwide. One of the seven goals he discussed was advancing economic opportunity.

As a building block, the President announced that the United States would host the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship.

US officials say that the two-day gathering will provide an unprecedented opportunity to highlight the importance of economic and social entrepreneurship within those communities throughout the world.

In 2009, USAID, which has been advised to reach out to Muslim nations, engaged in projects supporting entrepreneurship in more than 80 countries.

“With our assistance, reform-minded governments have reduced red tape, including dramatic drops in the time and cost to register a business in Egypt, streamlined customs procedures for exporters in Jordan, and capital market development in Kazakhstan,” said a USAID statement released on Monday.

Thirteen new partnerships, announced on Monday, include:

Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Investment Fund - USAID is entering into a new partnership with Silatech, a not-for-profit social enterprise based in Qatar, to set up an investment fund to facilitate access to finance for micro, small and medium-size enterprises in the Middle East and North Africa.

USAID intends to issue a credit guarantee to help attract private capital, which will be invested in innovative start-ups, as well as existing businesses to help them scale up and become sustainable.

Silatech’s equity investment, along with the planned USAID guarantee and technical assistance, is expected to leverage $250 million in financing for entrepreneurs in countries with a significant Muslim population.

World Bank Doing Business Report: USAID plans to partner with the World Bank and at least 15 reform-minded governments, including Pakistan, over the next two years to introduce reforms that will provide direct financial benefits to thousands of firms throughout the region. The project will benchmark performance on the quality of business regulation in a country, provide demand based technical assistance to reform business regulations, and hold annual regional conferences to recognise reforming countries. Countries will be selected based on demand and demonstrated commitment to reform.

Cisco Entrepreneur Institute: USAID’s partnership with Cisco will provide entrepreneurship education in up to ten countries, initially. The content will be localised and translated to local languages, as well as delivered over an open source, Web and media enabled platform to allow for in-person and remote learning. The content will range from starting and growing a business to the use of Internet technologies to drive business growth.

The partnership targets women, youth, and other underserved populations.

Global Impact Investing Ratings System: USAID, the Rockefeller Foundation, Prudential, Deloitte and other partners will support the development of a global impact investing ratings system with potential to unlock significant investment capital for social enterprises.

By providing comparable data and judgments about the social and environmental performance of private or mission-driven enterprises, GIIRS will allow companies, entrepreneurs, and fund managers to raise capital based on the social and environmental impact of their underlying businesses or portfolio companies.