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
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
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
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
A private developer won a concession to develop the Port of Moín, which is located on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. In particular, the developer wanted to focus on the future growth potential of Costa Rican exports of bananas, … Read More
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
August 15, 2014?Colombia will modernize its customs procedures\r\nwith assistance from Nathan Associates. The assistance, under a two-year, $2.7\r\nmillion contract with the U.S. Agency for International Development, aims to\r\nboost Colombia?s ability to benefit from liberalized trade with the United\r\nStates. \r\n\r\n Colombia?s … Read More
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
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
The purpose of USAID Facilitando Comercio was to assist Colombia in meeting its commitments to trade facilitation under the Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement, which took effect May 15, 2012. The project advanced compliance at an operational level and assisted the … Read More