Developing Entrepreneurs

Business Plan Competitions
TechnoServe and the Millenium Challenge Corporation are running a regional business plan competition, Emprende Occidente, to help aspiring Nicaraguan entrepreneurs in the Leon and Chinandega departments to turn good ideas into thriving enterprises. TechnoServe has previously run four national business plan competitions (Idea tu Empresa). To date, 86 businesses have been launched or expanded, creating more than 600 jobs. In addition to receiving training and mentoring, participants forge new business relationships.
Key supporters: Millenium Challenge Corporation

Building Businesses and Industries

Agriculture & Agribusiness › Coffee
Coffee is one of Nicaragua's largest industries, with tens of thousands of small producers. TechnoServe is an important supporter of Cup of Excellence, a national competition to identify the best coffee in each country and create awareness of international buyers.
Key supporters: Inter-American Development Bank, U.S. Agency for International Development and Procter & Gamble

Agriculture & Agribusiness › Dairy
TechnoServe is helping dairy producers to gain access to higher-paying but more demanding local and export markets. Business advisors are working with farmers to improve the quality of their milk and icrease the productivity of their livestock. TechnoServe is also working with processing plants and their suppliers to help them increase productivity, modernize plants and establish links with buyers. The program has increased the income of thousands of small-scale milk producers and has enabled six processing plants to export to U.S. and regional markets. (Learn more about our work here.)
Key supporters: FondeAgro (a local agricultural development foundation funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)), Millenium Challenge Corporation through Cuenta Reto del Milenio Nicaragua and U.S. Agency for International Development

Agriculture & Agribusiness › Horticulture
TechnoServe is helping farmer cooperatives in regions producing low-quality coffee to diversify into more profitable crops such as root vegetables (notably quequisque, malanga and potatoes). Business advisors are teaching them better farming methods and value-added processing that have increased yields and product quality. Hundreds of small-scale farmers are earning higher incomes and generating hundreds of new processing and packing jobs. We are also helping individual farmers and farmer cooperatives to produce higher-value produce – such as okra, squash and peppers – for national and export markets. Many farmer groups are selling to the largest national supermarket chain and the Central American supplier to Wal-Mart.
Key supporters: U.S. Agency for International Development (in alliance with Catholic Relief Services) and the Argidius Foundation