On behalf of the UNDP, Nathan Associates London helped Malawis Ministry of Industry and Trade formulate a five-year private sector development program to transform the private sector into the engine of economic growth, consistent with the countrys growth and development strategy. We

  • Prioritized areas of intervention for strengthening the private sector.
  • Identified ways to structure the interventions.
  • Consulted with business organisations, progressive businesses and commercial banks, as well as the Government of Malawi.
  • Designed a unitary governance structure with incentives for program implementation and accountability.
  • Defined a framework for delivering results.
  • Established a monitoring and evaluation framework.

We designed program activities with five results in mind:

  1. Better private sector policies and institutions. Activities included supporting development of a national export strategy; surveying MSMEs; strengthening public institutions that support the private sector; and building MOITs capacity to plan and implement private sector-led economic growth projects.
  2. Greater entrepreneurial capacity. Activities included providing business to business linkage services to SMEs and establishing a mentoring and counselling facility.
  3. More inclusive and competitive value chains (pulses and edible oils).
  4. Better SME access to finance. The main activity is to establish a revolving fund for long-term finance and give commercial banks an incentive to deepen services to SMEs.
  5. Stronger standards, quality assurance, accreditation and metrology (SQAM) infrastructure.
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