Local Economic Development

The major new project will spark economic growth through investment, job creation, and business support in West Africa's cashew industry

Ruth Nabatanzi couldn’t afford to stay in school, and struggled to make ends meet. After a TechnoServe training, she launched a career as a welder, an unusual occupation for women in her country. Now she is earning significantly more income – and breaking gender stereotypes.

After separating from her husband, Albertina Chirindza turned to an innovative digital savings product to help her children get ahead. It’s helped her to diversify her business, buy land, and send her daughter to college.

A business skills training program helped Gilda Lourenço find a way to care for her family while helping her small business survive the pandemic. And now she’s ready for more.

A farmer’s tough journey to a sustainable income through coffee highlights the resilience of smallholder farmers. Hear about how Sinderi turned a challenge into an opportunity – and brought her community along for the ride.

"Ask a TechnoServe Expert" is a series where our staff members, who work on a range of important global development issues, answer your questions. In this edition, Evelin Rincan, Entrepreneurship Practice Manager, and Andrea Bettosini, Global Entrepreneurship Manager, answered your questions.

Even though she would rather be cooking delicious meals, a chef in Mozambique works to revamp the business side of things to keep the food flowing out of her kitchen.

Rob Johnson is a former TechnoServe Fellow who worked in Haiti in 2011 performing a poultry value chain assessment. After his time as a Fellow, Rob returned to serve as a program manager in the TechnoServe Haiti Office. He then launched a social enterprise in Haiti called Acceso, which works to improve smallholder farmer income through inclusive value chains. In this Q&A, Rob shares how TechnoServe played a foundational role in his life and social enterprise career.

Ermelinda Vargas Paye, owner of Hostel Mary in the city of Moquegua, Peru, won’t let COVID-19 steal her spirit – or her livelihood. A lifelong attitude of determination, and business training from TechnoServe, prepared her to lead her enterprise through the pandemic.

In Tanzania, shopkeepers like Emanuel Barosha Ndiwene often lack the business and financial management skills they need to run profitable businesses. A TechnoServe program connects young entrepreneurs with the knowledge, training, and tools they need to become successful retailers.