USAID Zambia Enterprise Development and Growth Enhanced (EDGE) Activity

The USAID Zambia Enterprise Development and Growth Enhanced (EDGE) Activity is a five-year $14.5 million activity that aims to create jobs and increase the profitability of small-and-medium sized agricultural enterprises (SMEs) in Zambia. To achieve this aim, the Activity will improve the SMEs’ competitiveness and access to finance. Many of these SMEs currently struggle to access financing, often lack business management skills and technology or have limited access to markets.

Over the next five years, ACDI/VOCA will boost their competitiveness by addressing these constraints. The Activity will use a facilitative approach and work closely with and through local partners to drive lasting systemic changes that create sustainable impact at scale. ACDI/VOCA will also apply its inclusive market systems approach, which addresses the root causes, rather than the symptoms, of a poorly performing market.

Request for Proposal

1) Increase access to finance for agricultural SMEs
2) Increase the competitiveness for agricultural SMEs

  • Strengthen the ability of financial service providers to serve SMEs
  • Catalyze growth of non-bank financial institutions
  • Strengthen SMEs’ management and marketing capacity
  • Improve network input/output relationships
  • Achieve a 2,500 net increase in full-time equivalent jobs across targeted SMEs (with 30% women and 40% youth)
  • Achieve a 20 percent increase in SME revenue at midline and endline
  • Achieve a 15 percent increase in SME profits at midline and endline
  • Facilitate 80 percent of targeted SMEs accessing finance after USG assistance
  • 20 percent of targeted SMEs are female-owned

Funder: USAID

Project Director: Nadia Namken, nnamken@acdivoca.org

Contact: Luisa Beltran Rey, lbeltranrey@acdivoca.org

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