Advisory Services to Identify and Assess Infrastructure Sector Investment Specialties

The Eastern and Southern African Development Bank (PTA Bank) plans to expand its infrastructure lending facility within the Project Infrastructure Finance (PIF) Unit. PTA Bank contracted Nathan to undertake a market study on the demand for infrastructure investment in the … Read More

Leadership in Public Financial Management (LPFM) II

As a founding member of the Addis Tax Initiative, USAID recognizes that gains in development outcomes will only be maintained if strong public revenue and expenditure systems are in place in partner countries to sustain them. Nathan is helping USAID … Read More

Preliminary Feasibility Study for Generacion Andina Peru

The IIC was considering investment in two run-of-the-river hydropower projects including the “8 de Agosto” (19 MW) and “El Carmen” (8.4 MW) hydroelectric plants as well as a 138 kv, 60-kilometer long transmission line that would interconnect the facilities with … Read More

Haiti Technical Assistance for Port Infrastructure and Operations Planning and Project Design

The United States government’s Haiti assistance strategy established a framework to facilitate Haiti’s recovery from the powerful 2010 earthquake. The strategy addressed reconstruction and the country’s geographic diversification of its economic activity, in order to mitigate the risk of highly … Read More

Monitoring Services of the Operation and Use of Specialized Container and General Cargo Terminal in Puerto Cortes

A private operator was awarded a 30-year concession for container terminal operations at Puerto Cortes, Honduras. Nathan was contracted by the fiduciary to verify compliance with the obligation of the terminal operator to act in accordance to the level of … Read More

Hydrocarbon Port Market Study

The main objective of the study was to determine the liquid cargoes for import and export that could potentially be handled through Sociedad Portuaria Mardique SA (SPMD). Nathan performed the analysis of the current state of oil cargo from various … Read More

Mastercard’s Fund for Rural Prosperity

Facilitating inclusive finance in Africa
The Fund for Rural Prosperity aims to improve agricultural productivity by enabling farmers and others in rural Africa to access and use the banking system: farmers need to be able to open savings accounts in order to create a reserve, buy affordable insurance to protect against unforeseen harm, and borrow at the right time in order to invest in agricultural improvement.
So far financial service providers have largely ignored smallholder farmers and others living in rural Africa, either because of distances involved, low population densities or the perception that poor people have little disposable income. However when smallholder farmers and others living in rural areas are able to access financial products or services specifically designed for their needs, they embrace and use them, giving financial service providers new clients who may remain with them for life, and who ultimately can have a positive impact on the bottom line. Meanwhile obstacles of distance and low population density can be addressed with the smart use of emerging technologies.
To accelerate the process, in 2014 The MasterCard Foundation launched a $50m challenge fund, The MasterCard Foundation Fund for Rural Prosperity, running two competitions per year over three years, in 24 countries. One competition seeks innovative ideas for bringing affordable and appropriate financial products and services to rural Africa. The second supports the scaling up of these ideas once proven.
Nathan is supporting KPMG in the implementation of this programme, which aims to enable approximately one million financially excluded people access to financial services in rural and agricultural areas.… Read More

TMEA Logistics Innovation for Trade Fund (LIFT)

Incentivising innovations in the logistics sector to foster pro-poor trade in the East African Community
Informal business in the retail sector in East Africa is estimated to represent between 70% and 80% of sales in the region. As a result, “small-scale farmers have found themselves marginalised by the distribution sector and its new practices, and very poor households (for example, slum dwellers) are often paying more per unit for basic products than wealthier households” (World Bank). Moreover, supply chain issues remain a massive challenge – transporting products to market can involve road and railway difficulties and governance issues that can prevent goods crossing international boundaries.
Nevertheless, the EAC has huge potential: it has fast-evolving dynamics including rapid population growth, increasing urbanisation, macroeconomic stability and growth potential. It is increasing foreign and regional investment across sectors. Furthermore, the EAC’s regulatory advances and strong trade blocs make importing easier and enhance supply chains.
Supporting TradeMark East Africa (TMEA) in maximising this potential, Nathan is managing the Logistics Innovations for Trade Challenge Fund (LIFT, 2014 – 2016). LIFT is a $12m challenge fund designed to challenge businesses, private sector organisations and civil society organisations from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda to develop ideas aimed at promoting innovation in the transport and logistics sector in order to foster trade across East Africa.
LIFT aims to reduce the risk of investing in disruptive innovative technologies or improved practice; improve the efficiency of transport and logistics by catalysing innovation in the transport and logistics industry, particularly through ICT use, to boost efficiency; empower private sector and civil society organisations to advocate for the removal of regulatory barriers that restrict competition; and increase competition by enabling SMEs to compete against the cartels of large firms that currently dominate the industry.… Read More

West Africa, Impact of Road Transport Industry Liberalization

The movement of goods in West Africa is plagued with difficulty. The most active area for movement comprises the member countries of UEMOA (West Africa Monetary Union) and Ghana, a trade partner and gateway for neighboring francophone countries. At the … Read More

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