September 4, 2008

Campbell Presents at USAID Breakfast Seminar

Ruth Campbell, managing director of ACDI/VOCA’s enterprise development and competitiveness portfolio, and Rob Henning, manager at OTF Group, presented on September 4, at the USAID Microenterprise Development Office Breakfast Seminar Series. About 40 representatives from USAID and various development NGOs attended the event held at QED Group’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Jeanne Downing, senior enterprise development advisor at USAID's Microenterprise Development Division, introduced Campbell and Henning, who spoke on the topic “Collaborating to Compete: The Value of Trust and Inter-firm Cooperation.”

Campbell explained that inter-firm relationships are important, because they enable firms to respond to market demands and facilitate the transfer of information, skills and services. Henning presented on the OTF Group’s development of “mental models” to map attitudes and inter-firm relationships, and shared an example of it within the coffee sector in Burundi.

Campbell said that keeping the balance between cooperation and competition is necessary for an industry to work efficiently and become increasingly competitive in globalized markets.

“Our aim is to stimulate sufficient cooperation to enable an industry to grow, and small firms to contribute to and benefit from this growth; and sufficient competition so that the industry is responsive to consumer demand and innovates to increase its market share,” Campbell said.

To see the PowerPoint presentation in full, click here and download the presentation from microLINKS website.

ACDI/VOCA is a leader in value chain approaches to development, which increase incomes in poor communities and promote targeted economic growth through enhanced performance, and thereby competitiveness, of micro and small enterprises.

To learn more about the value chain approach, click here.