Impact Expo Highlights CATALYZE Market Systems for Growth (MS4G) Impact, Lessons Learned
On July 2nd, USAID CATALYZE Market Systems for Growth (MS4G) held its first Impact Expo in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The interactive event — which convened 70 participants from USAID, MS4G partner financial institutions, incubators, consultancy companies, Oxfam, and UNDP — provided an opportunity for stakeholders to delve into MS4G’s accomplishments and directly engage with the experts behind its innovative approaches.
Using market systems approaches, MS4G connects MSMEs with the finance, expertise, and market linkages required to grow their businesses and contribute to improved food security and WASH outcomes.
Throughout the event, expert panels — comprised of MS4G staff and partners — discussed debt restructuring, micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSME) challenges, co-creation and partnerships. These conversations focused on lessons learned, and the tangible impact that MS4G has had on communities across Ethiopia.
Debt Restructuring Plenary
MS4G Capital Mobilization Manager, Dagim Mulatu, explained MS4G’s debt restructuring approach, which allows financial institutions to restructure the debt of farmers and other agricultural value chain actors whose ability to service their loans was impacted by fertilizer supply and price shocks related to Russia’s war in Ukraine. As of June 2024, MS4G has partnered with three Ethiopian banks to restructure more than $11.5 million in past due loans for over 350 agriculture sector borrowers.
“Without [MS4G debt restructuring assistance], I would have lost my family home,” said Rahel Shemolo, who joined the plenary. Shemolo is the owner of Alight Agro-Business, which cultivates and sells vegetables and herbs to high-end clientele. In 2023, she took out a $74,488 loan from the Cooperative Bank of Oromia. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and fertilizer shortage, Alight was forced to sell most of its assets and lay off 95 percent of its staff, 80 percent of which were women — and still faced an outstanding balance of $55,447. MS4G was able to restructure $42,127 of the debt, saving Rahel’s home from foreclosure.
Key MSME Challenges Plenary
MS4G Enterprise Growth Manager, Kidane Seyoum, highlighted MS4G’s partnerships with 36 business advisory service providers (BASPs), which has allowed 365 MSMEs across Ethiopia to improve their business performance and skills, achieving an average sales increase of more than 18 percent. Accessing adequate finance remains a critical challenge for Ethiopian MSMEs, and ongoing conflict further impacts business performance. Recognizing this, MS4G’s BASP clients support increased MSME revenue by facilitating market linkages, improving MSMEs business and financial management skills, and operational efficiency, as well as facilitating MSMEs’ access to finance by connecting them with financial institutions. MS4G’s pay-for-results approach was noted as an effective tool for achieving results and building MSMEs’ confidence in BASPs.
Co-creation and Partnership Plenary
MS4G Country Director, Lauren Rawlings, elaborated on the advantages of co-creation as an award process — including identifying innovative products and approaches, setting clear objectives, and engaging with partners without international grant application experience. Using co-creation, MS4G has partnered with seven fertilizer and three WASH businesses. The plenary underscored that although the co-creation process is rigorous, it is instrumental in aligning all stakeholders on objectives and design. By jointly developing concepts, partners establish a strong sense of ownership, leading to improved activity design and solid implementation.
Exhibitions
Visitors embarked on self-guided tours through exhibition halls featuring booths that showcased MS4G’s approaches and results in blended finance, debt restructuring, fertilizer, gender, and MSME growth.
Blended Finance and Debt Restructuring
MS4G Capital Mobilization Specialist Sinkensh Jiru showcased MS4G’s significant capital mobilization achievements — more than $100 million mobilized through the blended finance mechanism for more than 6,700 MSMEs. Agricultural Finance Advisor Yohannes Tessema highlighted the impact of the debt restructuring initiatives, allowing participants to dig deeper into results and challenges discussed during the plenary session.
Fertilizer
MS4G Fertilizer Program Team, Lead Habtamu Tsegaye, demonstrated MS4G’s effort to scale up the production and distribution of sustainable, non-chemical fertilizers. Visitors learned about the different types of nonchemical fertilizers in the market, and how MS4G addresses critical agricultural challenges while promoting environmentally friendly practices. MS4G has 17 fertilizer partners supporting 38 fertilizer small-and medium- enterprises (SMEs), which will enable the production of 37,000 tons of organic fertilizers for more than 800,000 farmers.
Increasing Access to Advisory Services
MS4G’s Enterprise Growth team featured MS4G’s comprehensive business advisory support, including strategic advisory services, market expansion assistance, access to new technologies, and resources to help companies expand their operations. Visitors learned how MS4G increased its network of advisory service providers from eight to 75, providing a wider range of services for MSMEs across four regions of Ethiopia.
Supporting Innovative Enterprises
MS4G partner, IceAddis, showcased two of its projects — the WASH Accelerator, which focused on accelerating high growth potential startups with innovative solutions, and the Fertilizer Open Innovation Challenge, which engages and equips entrepreneurs with advisory, networking, operations, and brand strategy skills that address challenges to the availability, accessibility, affordability, and use of fertilizer for food production.
Gender
MS4G Gender Advisor, Metasebia Feleke, discussed how MS4G empowers women entrepreneurs to play prominent roles in local economies and how to address gender inequality in MSME development programming.
Read more about MS4G’s innovative strategies, remarkable results, and inspiring stories of the businesses and individuals it has supported.
