The 13th Brussels Development Briefing took place in Brussels (European Commission, Centre Borschette) on 23rd September 2009 on “Upgrading to compete in a globalised world: What opportunities and challenges for SMEs in agriculture in ACP countries?”.

This Briefing examined the effects of the financial and food crisis on enterprises in developing countries and also the opportunities this can provide to link local SMEs to global economies. Experts also discussed investment programmes needed to support SMEs in order to promote growth and investments, upgrade and upscale SMEs to reach regional and exports markets. Moreover this session shared concrete examples of SMEs being successful by boosting innovation and technology, processing, value-addition, infrastructure upgrading.

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New! on the subject of ‘Opportunities and Challenges for SMEs in agriculture in ACP countries’

Programme

Concept Note

Biodata of speakers and discussants

List of participants

Reader

Highlights

Video material

Interviews of participants

Evaluation Form

Pictures

 

Introductory remarks
 H.E. Ms Brave Ndisale, Chair of the ACP Committee of Ambassadors; Mr Luca Marangoni, Head of Sector, Economic Development Unit, DG Development (European Commission), Dr Hansjörg Neun, Director of CTA

Panel 1Challenges for SMEs in agriculture
Due to demographic growth, urbanisation, expected economic growth and non-food use of agricultural products, there will be increased demand for agricultural products. While enterprises in developing countries have been affected by the financial and food crisis, would the crisis offer also opportunities to link local SMEs to global economies? Do SMEs receive the attention they deserve?

ChairPaul Engel, Director of ECDPM
Panelists
:

– The impact of the financial crisis on trade and foreign investment in ACP countries: A focus on SMEs
Alberto Portugal Pérez, Development Economics Research Group, The World Bank [Executive Summary|Presentation]

– SMEs competitiveness and upgrading: current issues and challenges
Rafik Feki, Trade Capacity Building, UNIDO [Executive Summary|Presentation]

– Clusters, Value Chains and Technological Capabilities Building
Professor Carlo Pietrobelli, Professor of Economics, University of Roma Tre, Italy [Executive Summary|Presentation]

Panel 2: New opportunities for the ACP private sector in times of crisis
This session discussed investment programmes needed to support SMEs in order to promote growth and investments, upgrade and upscale SMEs to reach regional and exports markets. It also shared concrete examples of SMEs being successful by boosting innovation and technology, processing, value-addition, infrastructure upgrading.

Chair:  Maboussou Thiam, Director of CDE
Panelists:

– Provide equity capital and matching grants in agricultural investments to support agro-industries: the case of the African Agricultural Fund (AAF)
Vincenzo Galastro, IFAD [Executive Summary|Presentation]

– Private sector investments in Africa’s rural areas: the case of the AECF
André Dellevoet, Executive Manager, Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund, Kenya [Executive Summary|Presentation]

– Experiences from the private sector: scope and need for upgrading
Hasit Shah (SUNRIPE,Kenya) [Executive Summary|Presentation]
Juliette M. Newell (Tijule Company Ltd,Jamaica) [Presentation] and
Denis Noel (Noelville Ltd, Grenada) [Executive Summary|Presentation]

Conclusions
 H.E. Ambassador Patrick Gomes, Ambassador of Guyana

For further information: boto@cta.int

2 thoughts on “13. SMEs

  1. I have nether found such an instructive and comprehensive website discussing developing countries current development issues such as : the SME as the drivers of growth in DC, the cluster and value chain development, the impact of the current financial crisis on trade in ACP countries. Any issues that are of policy implications for the ACP countries. As a devlopment agent working in UNIDO I found all topics of great interest for my daily future work.

    Cheer up !

  2. Thank you very much for the online presentation.Indeed i have found the materials on SMEs relevant to my organization and the project we expect to launch.
    Please keep it up as they are helpful to readers in third world countries.

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