COVID-19

When Endurance Boms first opened her small beauty shop in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, she struggled to keep track of her sales and inventory. Then, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, her sales slowed to a crawl. A TechnoServe program gave Endurance the business training and support she needs to achieve success as a Nigerian entrepreneur. Now, she can confidently maintain a reliable income source – even during a global crisis.

When the COVID-19 crisis hit Mozambique, many women entrepreneurs like Catarina Bié struggled to keep their businesses afloat. Recognizing the importance of continuing to support entrepreneurs during this difficult time, but wanting to do so safely, TechnoServe adapted its usual in-person training program to a digital format using WhatsApp.

This World Food Day, we spoke with Dr. Andreas Bluethner, Director of Nutrition at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to discuss how COVID-19 is threatening nutrition in the developing world – and how interventions such as improved food fortification can help tackle this critical challenge.

Young people in Brazil often struggle to find employment opportunities, particularly in rural areas. TechnoServe, Anglo American, and the Inter-American Development Bank are helping people like Mariana dos Santos Pinho gain the skills, knowledge, and confidence they need to find meaningful employment and take charge of their lives.

With the number of people facing life-threatening hunger in the world expected to double this year to 265 million, solutions addressing each link in the food system are essential. Drawing from TechnoServe's work across value chains with a range of public and private partners, we are highlighting the latest challenges, insights, and promising approaches in the current effort to prevent widespread food insecurity and build greater long-term resilience.

For people around the developing world, small shops are an important source of food and other essential goods. However, since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, these shops have been under threat, leaving many people without a place to purchase affordable food. With the right support, these micro-retailers can stay in business and continue serving their communities.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created new challenges for fruit farmers in Mexico as they try to find markets for their produce amidst shutdowns and shifts in consumer behavior. TechnoServe is helping farmers like Eloy Castañón connect to formal buyers and earn better prices for their produce, ensuring resilience during an uncertain time.

For women and girls in the developing world, COVID-19 is exacerbating existing inequities and creating new challenges. In Benin, women cashew farmers like Elisabeth Atchade must juggle many responsibilities, including earning money for the household while also taking on the majority of child care responsibilities. Learn how a TechnoServe program is helping women address these challenges and emerge from the crisis even stronger.

TechnoServe is helping farming families in Africa, Latin America, and South Asia restore their income, boost food security, and build resilience to future threats. Learn a few of the ways smallholder farmers have been impacted by COVID-19 and what they are doing to adapt.

TechnoServe and the Mastercard Foundation are partnering on a new program to support entrepreneurs in Kenya as they navigate the COVID-19 crisis and ultimately move toward economic recovery.