Areas of Expertise

The objective of CBEE-R is to enhance the business enabling environment (BEE) in the Caribbean region, which will lead to more robust and resilient businesses and unlock investment opportunities to stimulate economic growth. The program will accomplish this goal by improving BEE in various ways, including facilitating better access to electricity for businesses, providing more dependable and affordable internet connectivity to promote an inclusive, secure digital economy, establishing a more favorable business environment for accessing digital financial services, and streamlining regulatory compliance to facilitate easier access to finance. Furthermore, CBEE-R will encourage meaningful and effective public-private dialogue.

We improve business enabling environments of the Indo-Pacific economies to bolster sustainable economic growth by establishing better procurement processes and promote public private partnerships that minimize reliance on infrastructure projects that would yield excessive debt. To create a better enabling environment, we also maximize fiscal resources, implement DRM activities, and establish protocol that keeps the environment safe in infrastructure development.

The Feed the Future Bangladesh Trade Activity is working to improve the Business Enabling Environment (BEE) through streamlining and simplifying processes related to the World Bank Doing Business Indicators and digitizing government services to ease business operations and make services more transparent and accessible both to men and women. The Feed the Future Bangladesh Trade Activity completed the baseline assessment for starting a business and protecting minority investors and has developed reform simulators for these two indicators.

The Armenia Business Enabling Environment (ABEE) Activity improved the trade and investment business environment in Armenia by deepening competition.

• Helped Armenia diversify its export markets by conducting a study on “Alternative Export Markets for Armenian Key Impacted Product Groups.” This identified vulnerable products affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and suggested alternative export markets. IDG presented the results to public and private stakeholders and during the event the Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan noted that the study would lay the foundation for Armenia’s Export Strategy.
• Prepared a “Food Security Landscape Assessment” to support the Government of Armenia (GOAM) to improve the national food system, making it more sustainable, market-oriented, nutrition-sensitive, and resilient. Due to economic sanctions and Russia’s war in Ukraine, food insecurity in Armenia has risen. The assessment results guided the development of a new food security strategy and action plan for 2023-2026, which were approved by the GOAM.
• Aided in establishing the Regulatory Impact Assessment Department at the Prime Minister’s Office. It provided capacity building and training to promote evidence-based, transparent, and cost-effective policymaking.

The Investment Transparency Activity (ITA) focuses on collaborating with governments to enhance their capacity in establishing and regulating ultimate beneficial ownership registries. IDG supports progress in adopting and implementing public procurement laws, public-private partnership laws, and concession laws aligned with the EU Acquis requirements across the region. The initiative involves providing training to government officials on cost-benefit analysis for public procurements and enhancing functionality and efficiency of ePublic Procurement Portals.  We also organize study tours to Poland for investment promotion agencies to glean insights from best practices in attracting investment.

The Tunisia Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Competitiveness Project developed ICT policy and regulatory reform through:

• Assess major ICT-relevant laws and regulations.
• Identify the legal and regulatory constraints impeding ICT and ICT-enabled growth.
• Support the development of ICT policy and regulatory reform strategy

The project worked in the following areas: business registration and investment, telecommunications, fiscal reform, and labor.

IDG applied international franchising and licensing methodologies that enabled pilot firms to rapidly expand distribution networks and restructure their financial control, operations, management training, and marketing systems.

The Supporting Accelerated Investment in Sri Lanka project aims to improve performance on World Bank Doing Business indicators and strengthen investment policies and promotion activities. An improved investment enabling environment leads to greater domestic and foreign investment in Sri Lanka that creates jobs, increases economic growth, promotes stability, levels the playing field for all foreign investors, builds the tax base, and reduces Sri Lanka’s dependence on USAID and other donors. A significant hurdle the business community in Sri Lanka faces is the excruciatingly long time it takes for commercial courts to hear and adjudicate commercial disputes. IDG conducted an analysis of the commercial dispute processes in commercial courts to identify the most significant factors in this problem and is working with an inter-agency working committee to agree and then implement an action plan of procedural changes to address the problems.

USAID/Sierra Leone and USAID/Guinea commissioned Agribusiness Commercial Legal and Institutional Reform (AgCLIR) diagnostics to inform and assist in prioritizing the constraints and recommending reform activities for the AgBEE in each country. IDG conducted analyses and made recommendations to improve the business-enabling environments for agriculture in Sierra Leone and Guinea.