Competiveness and Trade Expansion (COMPETE) Project in Kenya
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Crimson Capital is part of a Chemonics-led consortium recently awarded the Competiveness and Trade Expansion (COMPETE) project. COMPETE is issued under the GBTI II IQC.
The goal of the COMPETE project is to enhance economic growth and food security in East and Central Africa (ECA) by stimulating increased trade and competitiveness. This will be achieved through increased integration and reduced barriers to regional and international trade; increased competiveness and trade on select regional value chains; and increased trade between the US and ECA; and increased capacity of ECA countries to engage in multi-lateral trade negotiations.
Crimson supports the efforts of the COMPETE project by providing expertise to promote policies and regulations that enable private sector investment and trade and by building local capital market capacity to finance infrastructure projects and trade.
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Africa Infrastructure Program (AIP)
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Crimson has teamed with Nexant to work on this three-year, USAID-funded program, which has the initial goal to leverage $2-5 billion in new, private sector investments in the electricity and energy sector in the sub-Saharan African (SSA). The team will work to implement this goal by providing legal, fiscal, contracts negotiations, evaluations, policy and regulatory support to close late-stage energy infrastructure transactions.
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Southern Africa Financial Sector Program
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The Southern Africa Financial Sector Program (FSP) promotes access to financial services for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by working with financial institutions and regulatory agencies to improve and expand financial products available to SMEs and to reduce transaction costs and risks associatied with lending to SMEs. FSP will also work improve business services avilable to SMEs and to improve the legal/regulatory environment.
Crimson Capital (under a subcontract to Chemonics) is working to expand access to financial services and to lower financing cost for SMEs. The team will also work to reform the legal and regulatory framework affecting the financial sector and business environment and to improve the commercial viability of SMEs in South Africa, thereby expanding disadvantaged entrepreneur’s access to a range of high quality and affordable financial services.
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Madagascar Technical Assistance for the Implementation of the ABCs Services and Strategies in Rural Agribusiness Development Program (ABIP)
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| Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) Madagascar |
2007
- 2009
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This activity was designed to build the capacity of a network of newly developed agribusiness service centers across the country. The main objective was to create a rural agricultural business promotion system that is market-driven, demand-based and customized to the end-user in the delivery of services to improve production, marketing and business practices. Under the project, Crimson Capital developed a business plan for the main service center, focused on long-term sustainability beyond donor funding.
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Doing Business Case Studies in Central and East Africa
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| International Finance Corporation (IFC) / USAID |
2007
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Crimson Capital developed case studies for the IFC and USAID on licensing reform, trade across borders and contract enforcement in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. The case studies focused on reforms in areas of relevance to the World Bank Doing Business rankings. The analysis looked at the history and development of reforms, implementation to date and the challenges and benefits of new approaches to improve the ease of doing business in each of the four countries.
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Madagascar Business and Market Expansion (BAMEX)
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BAMEX was designed to foster economic growth in Madagascar by promoting domestic and export trade and by increasing revenues generated from agricultural, gemstone and ecotourism products in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner. Activities focused on enhancing the competitiveness of targeted sectors, improving the financial services market and developing an improved business regulatory environment. Crimson worked on BAMEX under a subcontract to Chemonics International.
Under BAMEX, Crimson’s primary role was to develop markets and build trade linkages for key industry sectors. Crimson professionals facilitated new export opportunities for Malagasy exporters, now able to reach major European buyers for products such as litchis and vanilla. Crimson’s experts coordinated visits of large-scale European importers to Madagascar, resulting in significant sales orders for two Malagasy exporters.
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Strengthening the Competitiveness of Private Enterprise in Uganda (SCOPE)
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The SCOPE project was designed to increase the competitiveness of targeted sub-sectors of Uganda’s economy and to improve Uganda’s position in local, regional, and international markets. The project facilitated the development of private sector-driven business strategies and worked to increase the capacity of private sector institutions to support competitiveness, structure a results-oriented, private-public competitive dialogue, and support the development of an enabling environment for broad-based economic growth. Crimson contributed to the project under a subcontract to Chemonics International.
Through SCOPE, Crimson advisors assisted four key agriculture sub-sectors – coffee, cotton, fish and floriculture – organize into clusters and develop industry-wide strategies to increase production, create jobs and boost export earnings. For example, Crimson’s advisers helped develop investments and sales the floriculture sector, with over 500,000 stems delivered to the US (see www.USAID.gov/press/releases/2006/pr060222.html). Crimson advisors brought together major players in the tourism industry to develop a comprehensive geotourism strategy designed to make Uganda the first African signatory to National Geographic’s Sustainable Destination Charter and double tourism revenue in 10 years and facilitated the development of a national brand – Uganda: Gifted by Nature – as well as Gifted by Nature Inc., a not-for-profit company formed to oversee the brand and promote Uganda in regional and international markets.
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Uganda Support for Private Enterprise Expansion and Development (SPEED)
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SPEED provided technical assistance and training to increase the access of MSMEs to financing. Crimson took an active role in the assessment, design, and implementation of the program, and managed the Business Environment Component (legal, policy, and regulatory).
Crimson helped achieve significant improvements in the Land and Companies Registries (file archiving and establishing policies, procedures, and laws relating to company and land registries, including the complete rehabilitation of over 36,000 files). Crimson professionals upgraded the Center for Arbitration and Dispute Resolution (CADER), which has developed into a sustainable and profitable institution with a key role in reducing backlogs of court cases. Crimson also developed and completed extensive training of judges, lawyers and business people, and assisted successful efforts to amend the Leasing Law to allow for improved tax treatment permitting much more extensive use of leasing by MSMEs.
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