Small and Growing Businesses

“I Couldn’t Reconcile Working and Looking After My Children”: How a Small Business Owner in Mozambique Defied COVID-19 to Turn Her Salon Around

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.

Entrepreneurship, Small and Growing Businesses, Women's Economic Empowerment
Local Economic Development, Small and Growing Businesses, Women entrepreneurs, Women in business

Making a Lasting Impact: Q&A with Rob Johnson, Former TechnoServe Fellow and Social Enterprise Entrepreneur

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.

Small and Growing Businesses
Fellows Program, Local Economic Development, Social Enterprise, Sustainable Impact

A Hostel Owner From Peru Leads Her Small Business With Determination: How Ermelinda Vargas Paye is Overcoming COVID-19 Challenges

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.

Economic Development, Small and Growing Businesses, Women's Economic Empowerment
COVID-19, Local Economic Development, Small and Growing Businesses
Catarina Bié stands outside her takeaway shop in Maputo, Mozambique

Making This Year Better Than the Last: A Recent Survey Assesses the Pandemic’s Impacts on Micro and Small Businesses

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in NextBillion as a part of the series “Recovery 2021,” which explores how businesses, development initiatives and the communities they serve in low- and middle-income countries are building greater resilience for a post-pandemic future.  At the worst…

Entrepreneurship, Micro-Retail, Small and Growing Businesses, Women's Economic Empowerment