Haiti: Funds to help small business development in Haiti

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, CMC – The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund is providing two million US dollars to help regenerate the small business sector in this French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.



The funds will be used by the non-profit organization TechnoServe to implement a Haitian Business Accelerator project that aims to transform small and growing businesses into investment-ready, bankable companies that can be positioned to develop Haiti's formal economy and promote jobs.



The project is expected to last three years, a period that TechnoServe and HBA will use to work with businesses they see as worthy of investment and hope to transform them into businesses that are ready for investment.



TechnoServe has more than 1,000 Haitian businesses within its sights and plans to work with a selection of 750 entrepreneurs most suited for success. It plans to "train this elite group with global best practices in business development," the fund said.



"Haiti's formal business sector is very small and businesses of all sizes have suffered significantly since last year's earthquake," fund Vice President for Programs and Investments Paul Altidor said.



"Small and growing enterprises hold the potential for transforming Haiti's economy but these enterprises need business acumen and access to financial services in order to attract the private investment they need to develop. The Business Accelerator will help them do just that," Altidor said.



The fund says it is also working with TechnoServe's Haiti Hope Project, which aims to increase the income of 25,000 small farming families in the mango sector.



The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund was founded after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti that killed an estimated 300,000 people and left more than a million others homeless.



Haiti has called on the international community to honour the pledges it made towards the billions of dollars needed in the reconstruction of the country.