Place Based Economic Development with Simon White

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Private Sector Development

Simon White | Specialist in private sector development. Supporting business growth for more and better jobs.

Arguments on Africa de-industrialisation

It’s been interesting to observe the range of arguments surrounding the topic of “Africa’s de-industralisation”. These range from whether or not Africa is indeed de-industralising, to how best to re-industrialise. Within these discussions there are interesting debates on the role of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the importance

Creating public-private partnerships in Agriculture

Today, I met with the senior management team of the African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP) in Johannesburg, South Africa. This non-for-profit organisation facilitates linkages between private and public actors to build markets in the agriculture sector –– specifically in fertilisers. It does this so that African smallholder farmers can grow

Second Global Seminar on Results Measurement

Last month, the Donor Committee for Enterprise Development (DCED) held its second Global Seminar on Results Measurement in Bangkok. The seminar featured the experiences of ten field programmes that have used the DCED Standard for Results Measurement. It also looked at cross-cutting themes, such as what we have learned to

Afrobarometer: After a decade of growth in Africa, poverty continues

Afrobarometer has just released a new policy brief: “After a Decade of Growth in Africa, Little Change in Poverty at the Grassroots”. In it, Boniface Dulani, Robert Mattes and Carolyn Logan present data collected across 34 African countries between October 2011 and June 2013, which demonstrates that “lived poverty” remains

One-stop-shops for business and investment

Simon White | An article on one-stop shops for business and investment promotion in Africa.

Extending social protection to informal workers

Across Africa, and in many other developing economies around the world, informal enterprises represent the majority of the business sector. While definitions vary, informality generally refers to micro and small enterprises that operate without full compliance with the legal and regulatory framework. They are typically unlicensed and unregistered. They also

The perspectives of three youth entrepreneurs

The Centre of International Private Enterprise (CIPE) has just produced a lovely collection of three essays by youth entrepreneurs from its CIPE’s 2012 International Youth Essay Competition. Each essay presents a perspective of a young person on youth entrepreneurship, social enterprises and the society they live in. Writing in