23rd September 2009. The 13th Brussels Development Briefing took place in Brussels (European Commission, Centre Borschette) on “Upgrading to compete in a globalised world: What opportunities and challenges for SMEs in agriculture in ACP countries?”.
This Briefing examined the effects of the financial and food crisis on enterprises in developing countries and also the opportunities this can provide to link local SMEs to global economies. Experts also discussed investment programmes needed to support SMEs in order to promote growth and investments, upgrade and upscale SMEs to reach regional and exports markets. Moreover this session shared concrete examples of SMEs being successful by boosting innovation and technology, processing, value-addition, infrastructure upgrading.
- Provide equity capital and matching grants in agricultural investments to support agro-industries: the case of the African Agricultural Fund (AAF), Vincenzo Galastro, IFAD [Executive Summary] [Presentation]
- Private sector investments in Africa’s rural areas: the case of the AECF, André Dellevoet, Executive Manager, Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund, Kenya [Executive Summary] [Presentation]
- Experiences from the private sector: scope and need for upgrading, Hasit Shah (SUNRIPE, Kenya) [Executive Summary] [Presentation] , Juliette M. Newell (Tijule Company Ltd, Jamaica) [Presentation] , Denis Noel (Noelville Ltd, Grenada) [Executive Summary] [Presentation]
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