How can SME Resilience and Adaptivity be Strengthened through Business Continuity Management in light of Covid-19?

How can Employer Business Membership Organizations (EBMOs) in ACP countries adjust their service offer in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic? The online live event assesses how Business Continuity Training can help SMEs preparing for and recovering from crisis situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes activities for preserving the business operations but at the time also focusses on activities helping SMEs to adapt their business model and to use the opportunities deriving from the crisis to Build Back Better.

Upcoming events

By supporting business climate and investment environment reforms, the ICR Facility aims to help generate more decent jobs and contribute to improving livelihoods in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.

Webinar: Trends in Care Economy Policies in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries

Women's Economic Empowerment

Summary The Care Economy — including childcare, eldercare and domestic work — is vital to society, yet it remains invisible, undervalued, and unevenly distributed. The disproportionate share of care and domestic work that falls on women and girls, especially when it is unpaid, is a key barrier to their participation in the workforce and negatively […]

Training on Business Environment Reforms to Support Women’s Economic Empowerment

Women's Economic Empowerment

Training on Busines Environment Reforms to Support Women’s Economic Empowerment What? The course develops awareness and provides tools to advance Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) through Business Environment Reform (BER) in African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. Participants learn to apply a gender-sensitive and gender-transformative lens when they work on their own reforms, taking into account […]

How to develop a gender approach in Development Finance Institutions

Access to Finance

What? In these self-paced training modules you will learn how to develop a gender finance approach in the development finance institution. It is an interactive way to learn more about institutional gender mainstreaming, actions and measures to be taken in the organization to ensure gender inclusion. The training contains videos, texts, interactive exercises and quizzes, […]

Training on Business Environment Reforms Tools

Business Regulation and Policy

In these self-paced modules in “Business Environment Reform Tools”, representatives from public and private stakeholders in African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries will learn how to use practical and straight-forward tools to improve the business environment in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. You will earn a PDF certificate once you pass all the tasks of the four modules. […]

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Supporting Diaspora Entrepreneurship To Boost ACP Country Development

This report focuses on how African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries can benefit from the resources of the diaspora to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. It is written as part of the series of reports on “Innovative approaches to support entrepreneurs”. The report finds that, in addition to innovative tools such as crowdfunding […]

Honour Loans: A Comprehensive Mechanism to Foster Development by Supporting MSMEs

The honour loans mechanism is a multidimensional one combining financing free of interest or requirement for securities or guarantees, with support to entrepreneurs. It has several benefits for entrepreneurs: Firstly, it finances their development, serving as seed funds and strengthening their project’s equity. It can therefore create financial leverage with microcredit or banking loans. Secondly, it can help […]

Supporting Investment in Inclusive Business and Social Enterprises

Supporting Investment In Inclusive Business And Social Enterprises: Best Practice For Policymakers And Investors In ACP Countries Executive Summary Mobilising private capital to deliver social and environmental benefits in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries is vital if the Sustainable Development Goals are to be met. ‘Impact investment’, an approach to investing whereby positive social and/or […]

Reforming Business Environments Amid Conflict and Fragility

Often, it is the countries that need private investment and economic growth the most that are also the most difficult to invest and do business in. Not only do businesses in these countries struggle to access markets and obtain the inputs they need to compete, but their governments are also challenged in their efforts to […]

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Building a better business ecosystem for entrepreneurs in Côte d’Ivoire

Côte d’Ivoire has been an African success story for much of the last decade. The World Bank estimates that its GDP growth rate was on average 8.2% in the seven years between 2012 and 2019, one of the most dynamic in the world. Much of its growth comes from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which account for […]

Closing the gender gap in Senegal’s economy

Women make up most of the agricultural workforce in Senegal and many have ambitions to start or grow their own farming businesses. But lack of finance and traditional cultural norms are holding them back. A new initiative between the Union Nationale des Commerçants et Industriels du Sénégal (UNACOIS), finance partners and with the support of the ICR Facility has proved that targeted and timely support can transform their fortunes – and those of their country.

Promoting Innovative SME Finance in Caribbean and Pacific Islands

Many DFIs in the Pacific and the Caribbean strategically support local businesses in their launch, develop and growth phases, both with financial and non-financial means, but maintaining a balance between financial sustainability and achieving goals is not always easy. Empowering people to engage and raise their voice is the first step to change.

Reforming Business Environments amid Fragility and Conflict

Often, the countries that need private investment and economic growth the most are also the most difficult to invest and do business in. Not only do businesses in these countries struggle to access markets and obtain inputs, but their governments are also challenged to manage the business environment and economy. As a result, unemployment and […]

You may also be interested in these event recordings

Business Environment Reform for Supporting Young Entrepreneurs: Opportunities for the ACP Region

Many countries in the ACP (Africa, Caribbean and Pacific) region have made supporting young entrepreneurs a top priority for economic development and youth employment. Despite this, young entrepreneurs face challenging business conditions and complicated policy and regulatory contexts in launching and running their businesses. This webinar hosted by the ICR Facility provided an opportunity for […]

Using Domestic Financial and Fiscal Policy to Mobilise Private Adaptation Finance in ACP Countries

The countries of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) region are some of the most vulnerable to climate change. Scaling up finance for climate adaptation is critical, particularly across the diversity of private actors from households, through micro-small medium enterprises (MSMEs) to corporations, financial institutions and investors; all of which are influenced by public policy […]

Promoting Equal Opportunities for Women in the Labour Market through Business Environment Reforms

Date 30.09.2021 Women are more likely to be unemployed, be economically inactive, work in the informal sector, and to have temporary or more precarious employment than men. A mix of social norms, time scarcity – in particular due to unpaid care activities – or the lack of quality and affordable care, discrimination, lack of mobility, […]

Improving the investment climate through gender sensitive reforms in times of COVID 19

The COVID-19 crisis has taken a greater toll on women in the productive and labour force. Industries with strong women participation have been impacted more than others, creating significant disruptions, and loss of income and jobs. In other cases, when women are able to work remotely, their productivity is negatively affected and domestic violence is […]

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