USA donates U$10 million to SMEs
The Ministry of Industrialisation and Trade (MIT) yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the United States African Development Foundation (USADF).The project, called the Market Access Support Program (MASP), is primarily aimed at supporting the development of agricultural enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The USADF is an independent agency of the US government established by congress that invests in African organisations, entrepreneurs and SMEs. These investments promote local economic development by increasing income, revenue and the number of jobs. With a focus on marginalised communities, USADF has already invested more than US$141 million in approximately 1 000 projects in African countries between 2019 and 2023.
A large part of the project is about finding companies that have the potential for social impact, increasing income and increasing job creation. They also want to support local businesses with products that can potentially be exported. The American Ambassador H.E. Randy Berry explains: "This five-year, U$10 million project is funded equally by the US government and the Namibian government through MIT."
Application forms were published in November last year, with 550 completed and returned. "To date, we have visited all 14 regions and 29 projects have already been selected for project development," Berry said. This funding has already started with eight of the selected companies and contracts have already been signed.