Third National Conference of the BDS Donor Coordination Group, Kenya 2007

Description
The Third National Conference of the BDS Donor Coordination Group was held in Mombasa over 14 -16 November 2007. The meeting drew the largest participation to date with over 100 participants and 21 presenters. The opening address from the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Mr. David Nalo was read out by Mr. Seth Otieno, the Director of Internal Trade. The Ministry's message underlined the importance of trade and industry and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the Private Sector Development Strategy (PSDS) for Kenya 2006 - 2010, recently launched. The PSDS addresses the enabling environment for private sector development in Kenya and the growth and competitiveness of private players especially the MSMEs.

The 18 breakout session presentations addressed emerging experiences and insights into key aspects of making value chains and markets work for the poor. Several presentations looked at East African examples of MSME development under approaches such as development of markets at the 'Bottom of the Pyramid', corporate social responsibility and private sector led development.

Horizontal and vertical linkages in three sub-sectors of crop agriculture were explored while the session on value addition discussed innovations in leather processing, services for the coffee sub-sector and floriculture. In the breakout session on value chain financing, presentations outlined current experiences of different types of financial services delivery to MSEs, that is, through a formal bank, a microfinance wholesaler, a warehouse receipting project, and money transfer through mobile phones. New forms of collateral are being used and new loan products developed but the challenge to scale up good practice in a cost effective manner remains.

Private sector-led development is a concept gaining increasing importance in the work of development agencies. As sustainability of intervention impact becomes a priority, the role of a robust and broad based private sector in incorporating poverty reduction strategies is also underlined. The entrepreneurial spirit of billions of informal MSEs and barriers to their growth also point to the importance of poverty responsive private sector development, and of making value chains and markets work for the poor. A presentation by Marshall Bear, a BDS trainer, traced key processes in a value chain development project in Zambia while Aly Miehlbradt highlighted the complexity of monitoring and evaluating such projects.

Kenya's ambitious Vision 2030 was presented in the enabling environment and competitiveness breakout session and examples from the manufacturing and fresh produce sub sectors brought out the importance of, among other things, research and development and policy advocacy.

The scope of discussions and presentations at the Third National Conference stretched beyond Business Development Services to encompass the market systems within which these services are facilitated and delivered. This movement in BDS discussion over recent years corresponds to the dynamism and innovation in this region in projects on pro-poor private sector development. The array of topics also demonstrated the understanding among key stakeholders of synergies and challenges in a systems approach to making markets, including the BDS markets, work for the poor.

Please click on the link below, to download the full report.



Associated Activities and Documents
Synthesis Documents
»	Second National Conference of the BDS Donor Coordination Group, Kenya 2006