1968: TechnoServe founded

While volunteering at a hospital in rural Ghana, Ed Bullard is inspired to start an organization to help hardworking rural people in developing countries harness the power of private enterprise to lift themselves out of poverty.

1972: Focus shifts from individuals to agricultural cooperatives

Working in five countries in Africa and Latin America, TechnoServe expands its focus from individual farmers to small-business development for agricultural cooperatives.

1989: TechnoServe begins working in its 10th country

TechnoServe launches an agricultural export project in Guatemala, its 10th country.

1998: Bold new mission targets economic growth for entire nations

Our new mission aims to create economic growth for entire industries and nations by focusing on competitiveness. Expanding beyond cooperatives, we begin working with individual entrepreneurs to build growth-oriented, sustainable businesses that benefit the rural poor. We also begin working with diverse industry stakeholders, to improve the business environment.

2002: National business plan competition program debuts

TechnoServe and its partners launch a national business plan competition in El Salvador, to help nascent entrepreneurs turn good ideas into viable business plans. The program is then refined and replicated in many other countries.

2007: TechnoServe's leadership position drives broad expansion

TechnoServe is an internationally recognized leader in the field of economic development, employing more than 400 people. Our work has transformed the lives of millions of people in more than 30 countries; the support of numerous partners is enabling us to replicate our success, with four new country programs launched this year in Brazil, Chile, India and Rwanda.

TechnoServe was founded in 1968 by Connecticut businessman Ed Bullard. While volunteering at a hospital in rural Ghana, he was struck by how difficult it was for hardworking people in the area to lift themselves out of poverty. So he created an organization to transform lives by providing poor people access to productivity-enhancing tools— hence the name TechnoServe: Technology in the Service of Mankind.

Bullard's work was guided by two core principles, revolutionary at the time: the power of private enterprise to transform people's lives, and the lasting value of providing a hand up rather than a handout. These principles have remained at the heart of TechnoServe's efforts, even as our work has evolved to focus on improving living standards on a larger scale, to transform entire communities and countries.

Today, TechnoServe focuses on developing entrepreneurs, building businesses and industries, and improving the business environment. All our work revolves around helping people identify and capitalize on good business opportunities that help to transform the lives of the rural poor, by generating jobs and markets for their products and services.

We work with a range of public- and private-sector partners, such as the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Rockefeller and W.K. Kellogg Foundations, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Google.org, Lenovo, Cargill and numerous individuals.

In keeping with our private-enterprise approach, we track and evaluate our impact using business metrics, including wages paid and supplies bought from the rural poor. We also track and evaluate the social impact of our work.

The results are evident in villages and towns throughout Africa and Latin America, where thanks to TechnoServe, businesses are thriving, economic activity is robust, and hardworking families have jobs and steady incomes. These changes have sustained improvements in infrastructure, health, education and other vital community social services.

These achievements have been widely praised. A 2007 Financial Times survey rated TechnoServe as one of the world's top five non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for corporate partnerships. TechnoServe has also been recognized as one of the world's "Outstanding Social Entrepreneurs" by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, and as one of "America's 100 Best Charities" by Worth magazine. The organization has also received the Presidential End Hunger Award from the U.S. Agency for International Development.