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US Foundation to participate in AGOA
Forum
Accra, July 11, GNA - The US African Development Foundation
(USADF) is participating in the AGOA Forum in Accra next
week as part of a concerted effort to increase its
visibility and promote its development model focuses on
investing in African small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
USADF is an independent public corporation founded in 1980
by the US Congress with a mandate to reduce poverty in
Africa. USADF fills a unique niche in the spectrum of
federally funded development agencies.
A statement issued in Accra on Wednesday said instead of top
down, state-driven policy initiatives, USADF pursued a
comprehensive, bottom-up, capacity- building strategy
centered upon African entrepreneurs.
It said in its 27 years USADF had invested in more than
1,700 businesses and community-based organizations.
“Currently, USADF manages a portfolio of 240 investments
that have helped establish thousands of new enterprises and
created more than 110,000 jobs - more than 45% of which
employ women.”
The statement said USADF recognised that only Africans could
sustainably develop Africa.
Rod MacAlister, President of USADF said: “We invest in
African’s own ideas. USADF helps Africans beat their own
poverty. We don’t just teach Africans ‘how to fish,’ we help
African entrepreneurs own a fleet of boats and market their
production.”
It said through investments in SMEs, USADF encouraged
individual risk, ownership and profit incentives that were
the primary drivers of private sector growth.
“USADF is highlighted in the original African Growth and
Opportunity Act of 2000 (AGOA) because its authors
recognized that market access, in and of itself, would not
reduce poverty in Africa without a simultaneous investment
in African SMEs.
“USADF complements the primary market access goals of AGOA
by making targeted investments in the dreams of individual
African entrepreneurs, thereby building capacity for trade
in local and regional markets and in export businesses.”
GNA
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