Collaborating with the private sector to jump-start trade

In order to enhance and increase sustainable exports of Egyptian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), USAID Trade Reform and Development in Egypt (TRADE) project employs internal and external collaboration with multiple stakeholders and market players to achieve the project's intended objectives.
 
To achieve its objectives the project adopts key elements of the CLA approach such as Theories of Change, Pause and Reflect, and internal and external collaboration capitalizing on relationships and networks through engaging the private sector. The project targets Multinational Corporations (MNCs) to collaborate on leveraging USAID mandates, including localization, and achieving project targets. This CLA case report further elaborates on the private sector engagement (PSE) approach and how it helped, and continues to help, Egyptian SMEs expand their exports. The case report illustrates the project's collaboration with one of these MNCs that culminated in a success story for one of the project's supported SMEs.

Using the CLA approach has helped the project achieve its export revenue and policy reform targets through successful collaboration with Hero Middle East and Africa (Hero MEA), the Egyptian subsidiary of a Swiss multinational, as an anchor firm helping build the capacity of SMEs to enter and compete in international markets through increasing their awareness of product specifications and providing technical assistance (TA) to comply with them. This collaboration was based on analysis and discussion, within and across the project teams and, subsequently, with the COR, pointing to the potential benefits of engaging the private sector in supporting both SMEs and Government of Egypt (GoE).

The project also worked closely with the MNC towards the project's development outcomes on implementing changes to Egyptian standards to facilitate lifting import bans on certain Egyptian products in target export markets, particularly European ones. In this initiative, Hero MEA is providing TA to suppliers and strengthening the efforts of regulatory bodies to embed needed control measures.