TechnoServe

When the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the livelihoods of millions of entrepreneurs last year, digitalization offered small businesses around the world a promising solution. In this Q&A, TechnoServe’s Global Entrepreneurship Director, Juan Carlos Thomas, speaks with the Executive Director of the Argidius Foundation, Nicholas Colloff, and Dalberg Advisors’ Global Knowledge Lead, Kusi Hornberger, about the future of digital technology for supporting entrepreneurs.

In this series, we check back with TechnoServe program participants who were previously featured on our blog, documenting how their lives have changed and progressed.

In East Africa, formal employment opportunities are often scarce, and entrepreneurship presents a path toward economic independence for many young women and men. TechnoServe is helping small shop owners in Kenya, Nigeria, and Côte d’Ivoire become more profitable by connecting them with the knowledge, training, and tools they need to become successful retailers.

Smallholder mango farmers in India rely on income from their fruit trees to support their families. But low productivity, limited access to markets, and water scarcity create obstacles to growth. A TechnoServe program is now helping these farmers access the knowledge and connections they need to sustainably increase their incomes.

In March 2021, Imoni Akpofure joined TechnoServe’s Board of Directors. In this Q&A, she talks about her background, her career focused on business and development in Africa, and what she sees as the most promising opportunities to reduce poverty at scale.

In northern Mozambique, climate change, regional insecurity, and COVID-19 have combined to create immense challenges for farmers like Jacinta Fernando. A TechnoServe program is teaching these farmers how to grow soybean for the first time — a profitable cash crop that can help them improve their financial security and food security during times of crisis.

Ariana Day Yuen is a former TechnoServe Fellow who served in Ethiopia in 2015. After her time as a Fellow, she stayed on with the TechnoServe Ethiopia team for nearly three years. Today, she is the founder of an agroforestry enterprise that partners with smallholder farmers – starting in Ethiopia – to sustainably grow, process, and market premium forest-based products.

TechnoServe’s COVID-19 Impact Report examines how the pandemic disrupted key sectors of emerging economies and the livelihoods of those who work in them. Our third feature in our blog series on the report highlights the challenges small businesses faced last year and the opportunities to move toward business survival and recovery in 2021 and beyond.

TechnoServe’s COVID-19 Impact Report examines how the pandemic disrupted key sectors of emerging economies and the livelihoods of those who work in them. Our second feature in our blog series on the report highlights the challenges food processors faced last year and the promising solutions that could help them maintain their key role in the value chain.

Being a mother is hard work no matter where you live. From raising a family to running a business or managing a farm, mothers around the world juggle many responsibilities. This Mother’s Day, TechnoServe celebrates the hardworking women who overcome a range of challenges as they try to provide a better future for themselves, their families, and their communities.