Private Sector Development and Trade

Our commitment to promote inclusive, sustainable economic growth and increased, more productive employment is expressed through the projects that we deliver. We work to create a positive enabling environment for doing business, trade and investment, and operational support to drive increased productivity, technological upgrading, innovation and economic diversification.

A vibrant private sector is the engine of economic growth, with growth comes more jobs and improved livelihoods. NIRAS works directly with firms, as well as across value chains, with investors and governments to stimulate economic development and facilitate inclusive and innovative business growth.

Long-term development cannot be secured without a sound revenue base in 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, micro, small and medium-sized businesses (MSMEs) 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. Our tailored approaches include:

Provision of business development services (BDS) to MSMEs and entrepreneurs to build their capacity and expertise and prepare them for investment.
Designing and managing technical assistance facilities (TAFs), which can be used to support cohorts of firms or financial institutions both pre- and post- investment, maximising returns and enhancing both social and commercial results.
Value chain development and strengthening of market linkages.
Championing women’s economic empowerment and building environmentally sustainable business models.
Facilitating access to finance via a range of funding sources and new mechanisms with scaling potential such as blended finance, impact investments and loan development. We do this by bolstering financial intermediaries and engaging with new and traditional finance providers. See our Fund Management, Finance and Investment pages for more information.

We also recognise the importance of engaging with the public sector to provide a conducive

Working in the business enabling environment by supporting government to improve the design and implementation of policies that support inclusive, green and equitable private sector growth and job creation, facilitating public-private dialogue and strengthening industry organisations to be able to advocate for their members.
Stimulating trade by helping government ministries enter into trade agreements, conduct effective trade promotion and reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade. This goes hand in hand with direct support to firms that is needed to meet increasingly stringent export standards.

We use a wide range of tools to support our work, such as market systems development, politicial economy analysis, business diagnostics, digitalisation, and a breadth of monitoring and evaluation approaches to enable us to track and respond to the outcomes of our interventions.

Your Partner for Inclusive Private Sector Development and Trade

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