USAID held a closing ceremony for the end of the FIRM project to aid small and medium size businesses. The five year project was a complete success meeting nearly all goals and surpassing many. As a result industries throughout Pakistan have greatly increased their access to capitol, foreign markets and increased their productivity and sales. The USAID Firms Project aimed to develop dynamic, internationally competitive private sector small and medium enterprises (SME) by working directly with firms and improving the overall policy and regulatory environment to accelerate sales, investment, and job growth. The project began in May 2009 and will conclude on December 31, 2014. The project has successfully collaborated with all relevant levels of the Pakistani government and private sector to improve institutional capacity and implement targeted interventions in a manner consistent with international best practices. In addition to working on the key policy reform areas, the project assisted SMEs from a variety of sectors, including mangoes, peaches, dates, and other agricultural commodities; garments and weaving; marble; fisheries; and tourism. The project successfully introduced information and financial mobile solutions in the Swat region. In collaboration with Telenor (the country’s second largest telecom company) and the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the project tested the commercial viability of launching such services on a large scale to enhance productivity and profitability. The achievements of the project have been unprecedented. USAID’s assistance to 4,444 SMEs have resulted in an increase of $54 million in sales revenue (an increase of 142% since May 2009), $27 million in exports (an increase of 1,523%) and created more than 5,600 new direct full time equivalent jobs (an increase of 241%). The private sector has contributed over $7.9 million in this development process. As part of the business enabling environment component of the project, the Pakistani government accepted 70 of 82 policy recommendations. The project also provided institutional capacity building support to the country’s premier federal and provincial business support institutions, including the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority, the Security Exchange Commission of Pakistan, Federal Board of Investment, Sindh Fisheries Department, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Board of Trade and Investment.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 08:00:57 +0000
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