Publications

The SME Competitiveness Outlook 2021 analyses how small businesses can rebuild from the COVID-19 pandemic so they are prepared to face the looming climate crisis. It provides a 20-point Green Recovery Plan to foster competitive, resilient and environmentally sustainable small and medium-sized...

African tech hubs play an important role in building fledgling entrepreneurial ecosystems and helping start-ups, but they struggle to earn revenue and become financially sustainable. This second edition has expanded its coverage, adding insights from East African hubs. The report, based on...

The question of how standards impact trade is more relevant than ever. Against the background of a world economy that is global in scope and organization with economic activities being spread across national boundaries, the liberalization of trade has been one factor contributing to a policy shift...

African tech hubs play an important role in building fledgling entrepreneurial ecosystems and helping start-ups, but they struggle to earn revenue and become financially sustainable. This report, based on interviews with dozens of hubs across Africa, examines what hubs do, how they make an impact...

Small and medium-sized enterprises in Kenya are an underexploited resource with significant potential to boost inclusive growth.

The demand for organic wild collected products is significant. Products for direct food consumption, such as berries, nuts, mushrooms and a large number of herbs are the main items. This publication discusses terminology used in wild collection, gives an overview of organic and other standards that...

Good Practices in the Global Apparel Industry provides valuable insight on ways for small and medium-sized enterprises to move up the value chain and away from low-value contract manufacturing.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Zambia play a key role in boosting growth and job creation.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Botswana are engines of job creation with significant potential to foster economic diversification.

This summary provides highlights of how small businesses can rebuild from the pandemic in a way that helps them face climate change – and how governments, business support organizations and lead firms in international value chains can support them through the Green Recovery Plan.

While standards play an increasingly important role in international trade and global value chains, little is known about their actual impacts in these chains. By applying a systematic literature approach, The Impacts of Private Standards on Global Value Chains aims to apply the key research...

The coffee sector has a huge potential to contribute to poverty alleviation in East Africa, but the sector’s development is hampered by a lack of savings and credit facilities. Moreover, women’s access to financial services is even more restricted than that of men, and most women in rural areas...