Since its launch in April 2008, the USAID-Tijara Provincial Economic Growth Program has used an integrated approach to economic development that combines financial incentives with educational opportunities to spur private sector development in Iraq. Tijara, which means trade in Arabic, is a multi-faceted USAID program that works in the areas of sustainable microfinance, bank lending […]
More than $224 million has been injected into Iraq’s private sector economy in the form of Small & Medium Enterprise bank loans thanks to a cooperative effort between the USAID-Tijara Provincial Economic Growth Program and 12 private commercial banks. Of this amount, around $113 million presently is in circulation helping business owners expand their companies […]
A new report jointly compiled by the Iraq Prime Minister’s Advisory Commission and the U.S. Agency for International Development warns that over dependence on oil revenues has the potential of creating significant economic and market distortions. According to the report, released at an October 4 conference in Baghdad’s Al-Rashid Hotel, rapid expansion of oil wealth, […]
The USAID-Tijara Provincial Economic Growth Program in cooperation with Iraq’s 12 microfinance institutions and Iraqi Microfinance Network will hold an Inclusive Financial Services Stakeholders Conference at Hotel Rotana, Erbil, on October 23 and 24, 2012. The theme of this year’s conference will be “Iraqi Microfinance - The Path to Economic and Social Advancement”. The conference […]
By John Lee. The large format banner printer was the last piece of equipment to arrive, completing the first round of printer purchases for the Karbala Printing and Marketing Service Center, culminating many months of planning and hard work by the staff of the Karbala Business Development Center (KBDC). Thanks to funding from the KBDC […]
By John Lee. The Samawa Business Development Center (SBDC) continues to expand the range of services it provides in Muthanna Province to meet the needs of government and businesses alike. Initially benefitting from grants and support provided by the Dhi Qar and Muthana Provincial Reconstruction Team and the USAID-Tijara program, the SBDC has grown from […]
USAID-supported job training, apprenticeships and microfinance loans help unemployed Iraqi youth secure meaningful work. CHALLENGE. At the start of 2010 Iraq had the highest rates of unemployment in the Middle East. Thirty percent of its adults lacked jobs. More than half of the country's young urban males were unemployed. At 19 percent, female participation in […]
The Karbala Printing and Marketing Service Center has gone from a dream, to a concept, to a proposal and will soon be a reality for the Karbala Business Development Center (KBDC). The KBDC recently signed a Performance Grant Agreement with the USAID-Tijara program for funding to establish the Marketing Service Center in Karbala. The KBDC […]
The Government of Iraq in cooperation with UNDP Iraq, USAID-Tijara and the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor organised the Iraq Micro-Finance Forum in Erbil. The Forum’s key objectives were promoting synergy between the Government’s poverty alleviation and job creation efforts and the existing microfinance industry, enhancing service delivery by microfinance institutions to micro-small and […]
The first round of loans, funded by the U.S. Embassy and disbursed through USAID-Tijara Provincial Economic Growth Program, was awarded this week in Erbil, marking the formal launch of the Iraqi Vulnerable Groups Support Initiative (IVGS). IVGS Initiative will extend small and medium enterprise loans to qualified Iraqi entrepreneurs who have been displaced by civil […]
The U.S. Embassy’s Iraqi Youth Initiative, which forms part of the Tijara Provincial Economic Growth Program run by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), will mark its two-year anniversary in April 2012. Since the start of the program, loans valued at $3,625,100 have enabled 1,045 young entrepreneurs to build businesses that today employ […]
Iraq’s Ministry of Youth Monitoring and Coordination Director General Adnan Al-Sarraj recently praised USAID-Tijara’s network of eight Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) for helping Iraqis find employment and start new businesses. The compliment came in a SBDC strategy workshop last week in Erbil at which government officials, NGOs and UN agencies joined USAID-Tijara to discuss […]
