By John Lee. Many Iraqi widows face incredible hardships, lacking the education and job skills needed to make a new life. To provide new skills and sustainable incomes to the widowed members of Zanapiq Al-Hakal Association in Ninawa, the USAID-Inma Agribusiness Program provided breeding sheep along with training in how to breed and raise them. […]
By John Lee. After years of decline, the Euphrates and Middle East Fish Farms, Iraq's largest and best designed hatcheries, were operating at less than 40% capacity due to conflict, sanctions, and production problems. In 2008, USAID's Inma Agribusiness Program began a partnership with Euphrates Fish Farm to help improve the carp fingerling production in […]
By John Lee. A new video produced by USAID showcases the Al-Zatoon Olive Association's new processing plant in Ninawa province, home of the first mechanized olive oil presser in Iraq and a model for similar demonstration projects in Kurdistan, Salah al Din and the Tallafar district of Ninawa province. A new olive oil industry in […]
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 […]
This week the United States Government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), will reach a significant milestone in its efforts to support Iraqi businesses. Loans extended by Iraqi Company for Financing Small and Medium Enterprises (ICF-SME) to develop or expand small businesses will reach a total of $26 million or ID 30.18 billion. […]
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 […]
The Iraqi Company for Bank Guarantees (ICBG) is a privately-owned non-banking financial institution that guarantees repayment of up to 75% of loans, ranging from $5,000 up to $250,000, that private commercial banks extend to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Iraq. Early this year, the company reached a significant milestone when it surpassed $50 million […]
