NIRAS’ work in private sector development & trade

Long-term development cannot be secured without a sound revenue base for emerging economies. In our experience, working with the private sector can deliver sustainable impact: businesses can contribute to poverty reduction by creating jobs and buying from or providing affordable products and services to low-income people.

However, small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) often lack the expertise and resources they need to grow, constraining productivity and economic development. NIRAS deploys a range of approaches to identify suitable SMEs and provide pre- and post-investment support to accelerate their progression.

One such approach is the use of technical assistance facilities (TAFs), which can be used to either find and support a specific cohort of firms (e.g. in a particular sector) or to provide targeted capacity building to investees of a fund, maximising returns and enhancing both social and commercial results. An approach adopted by

the Energy Enterprise Coach (EEC) Programme, for example, is to use NIRAS’ network of country offices, partners and experts in18 countries to support in the identification, shortlisting and selection of suitable SMEs.

NIRAS has developed a business development services toolbox to facilitate efficient firm-level support, from the initial diagnostic process to the identification and deployment of expert service providers. This work often focuses on enabling businesses to access finance, including grants, debt and equity. Our work on the Commercial Agriculture for Smallholders and Agribusiness (CASA) Component A, for example, led to about €14.7M being leveraged in private finance by the SMEs we supported in four countries (Malawi, Ethiopia, Nepal, and Rwanda).

In our journey working with firms, we always consider how they might incorporate and cater for the disadvantaged and marginalised. We are passionate about women’s economic empowerment; closing the gender gap is key to achieving the SDGs. We also aim to minimise environmental impact and promote climate-friendly practices when designing and implementing private sector interventions. For example, sometimes hurdles to growth are not internal to the firm, and so we might look at the value chain or the wider market system to understand where constraints are hampering firm development. These constraints might relate to lack of availability of resources (such as labour, knowledge or infrastructure) or to the ability of firms to procure inputs or to sell / trade their products or services.

Building on our deep understanding of market linkages and export promotion to increase business competitiveness, NIRAS works with trade policy specialists to reduce barriers to trade. This includes strengthening trading standards, better trade infrastructure and helping firms to meet the evolving export compliance requirements such as the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).

Sometimes interventions are also needed in the business enabling environment when policies or regulations inhibit business growth. These can take the form of advice to government, supporting advocacy through industry associations, facilitating public private dialogues (PPDs), etc. We have experience in engaging at regional, national and global policy levels on critical issues that can unlock private sector led transformation.

Our research helps to bridge evidence gaps to ensure that investors and policymakers have access to the right information and people to make inclusive business models succeed.

From firm-level support to facilitating change in the wider ecosystem of business services, markets and trade, and working in the policy environment, NIRAS has private sector development capabilities to drive commercial, inclusive and sustainable business growth.