TechnoServe is part of a consortium working to implement a multi-year U.S. Agency for International Development-funded... project to improve access to finance for local small and medium businesses. The project, called Haiti Integrated Financing for Value Chain & Entrepreneurship (HIFIVE), is meant to complement other USAID-funded programs in Haiti, with a focus on rural areas and high-potential value chains (such as coffee, cocoa, mango, tourism and handicrafts). TechnoServe will identify local businesses, analyze their financial or business needs, facilitate negotiations with financial institutions and business service providers and monitor the results.

TechnoServe partnered with the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund to implement the Haitian Business Accelerator (HBA). The HBA... builds on TechnoServe’s experience in entrepreneurship development in Haiti to promote the creation and growth of small- and medium-sized enterprises. The program aims to offer managerial training and support, to facilitate access to finance and to foster an environment conducive to doing business. Over a three-year period the program’s objective is to train 750 existing businesses and to “accelerate” the growth of 150 of the most prominent and potentially successful projects. Sixty finalists will also benefit from tailored consultancy, receiving needed support during the early days of their ventures.

Beyond being rich in protein and a key part of Haitian diets, peanuts are a vital cash crop for farmers throughout the... country. Despite an ideal growing climate and soils rich in many of the nutrients needed for peanut cultivation, farmers are making less money each year because of low yields, high production costs and inefficient marketing. Meanwhile, peanut prices for consumers continue to rise while Aflatoxin contamination levels are typically much higher than international standards allow. TechnoServe will help farmers increase their productivity and incomes via trainings, targeted inputs and financing, as well as support the development of key services to improve value-chain efficiency and competitiveness. Such efforts, paired with improved marketing opportunities through program created collection centers, will provide a stable supply of high quality peanuts for key domestic buyers, including a new ready-to-use therapeutic food processing facility operated by Partners In Health and Abbott.