Nathan London collaborated with the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Sierra Leone on a pilot project applying new approaches to private sector development (PSD) in post-conflict environments.

We conducted a comprehensive and broadly consultative diagnostic of the development environment, facilitated production of a PSD strategy that was then incorporated with full government and private sector support into Sierra Leone’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Programme (2009-2012), and assisted with strategy implementation as follows:

• Supported elaboration of the strategy, including developing regulations for internal and external cocoa trade.
• Produced value chain studies for rice, cocoa, palm oil, fruit and vegetables, and fisheries and an economic impact study of the effect of rising world prices on wheat, rice, and palm oil value chains.
• Built capacity of agribusinesses in the rice, cocoa, palm oil, fruit and vegetable, and poultry value chains to develop innovative business models, and improved interministerial and interdepartmental cooperation.
• Helped the Ministry of Trade and Industry secure the support of donors for the PSD strategy.
• Designed and implemented a business plan competition and a partial guarantee scheme to encourage commercial banks to loan to MSMEs.
• Awarded risk-sharing grants for development of innovative business models that address market failures in the cocoa and poultry value chains.

The project built momentum for further developing Sierra Leone’s private sector by showing the effectiveness of private-public collaboration in achieving systemic reform.