Business Development Services
We help small businesses to realise their potential by diagnosing and addressing their constraints.
NIRAS provides support throughout a business’s growth journey, undertaking market assessments and feasibility studies for entrepreneurship programming; implementing innovation hubs at pre- and post-incubation stages; deploying, and building the capacity of local business development services (BDS) providers; improving access to finance using grants, debt and equity; and facilitating B2B linkages up the supply chain. Increasingly, we see the value of technical assistance facilities (TAFs), which sit alongside a fund and provide pre- and post-investment support to its portfolio of firms, strengthening their commercial performance as well as enhancing their social and environmental results.
Commercial Agriculture for Smallholders & Agribusinesses (CASA)
FUNDER
FCDO
DURATION
03/2019 - 03/2026
NIRAS and partner Swisscontact implement the Component A of CASA in Malawi, Nepal, Rwanda and Ethiopia (previously Uganda). Adopting a market systems development (MSD) approach, CASA addresses constraints across production, sale, service provision, and investment functions to foster sustainable and inclusive growth.
Using technical assistance and catalytic grants, CASA has supported 96 agribusiness partners to pilot innovative inclusive business models that address key barriers to scale, including accessing new markets (including export), securing inputs, product diversification, and access to finance. In doing so, CASA has strengthened the integration of smallholder farmers in the supply chain, creating benefits for income, climate resilience, food security, and women’s economic empowerment.
A key component of support has been to facilitate investment in agribusinesses through pre- and post- investment technical assistance.
In total, CASA has leveraged £10.7 million in private capital, with £4.63m from third parties which has included foundational support to the emerging private equity space for agribusiness investments in Nepal.
Commercial Agriculture for Smallholders and Agribusinesses (CASA) has supported:
96
agribusiness partners
to pilot innovative inclusive business models and has leveraged a total of
£10.7
million in private capital
Mobilising Finance for Forests (MFF) TA Facility – Component 1: Advisory services for the replication and scaling of MFF investments
FUNDER
FMO
DURATION
05/2022 - 12/2026
MFF invests in private companies whose activities have a high degree of impact on at-risk tropical forests. The MFF investment helps these companies reorient their activities or grow their business away from deforestation and towards deforestation-free practices while producing a financial return for the companies. The MFF TAF is a means to “derisk” investments by making them more likely to succeed. For the investees, it is a way to gain access to world-class expertise, specifically tailored to their needs. NIRAS, in consortium with the Stichting IDH and Form International, are responsible for managing and delivering the Advisory Services portion of the TAF for MFF. Operating as a demand-driven facility, the NIRAS-led team respond flexibly to the needs of the client companies by developing and delivering high-quality TA through a network of in-house and associated consultants and experts. NIRAS set up the operational procedures and principles which enable rapid deployment of resources, as well as managing the overall implementation of the TA assignments, ensuring quality, and monitoring the facility activities.
NIRAS is managing the Mobilising Finance for Forests technical assistance facility to help agro and forestry companies grow and expand, while reducing deforestation in vulnerable tropical forests around the world.
Kenya Industry and Entrepreneurship Project: KIEP250+
FUNDER
World Bank
DURATION
07/2020 - 03/2025
KIEP strengthened the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Kenya, enhanced innovation and productivity in select SMEs and facilitated grant assistance, productive linkages and technical assistance for mature SMEs. NIRAS partnered with Intellecap to deliver KIEP 250+ to support business improvement initiatives for 142 eligible SMEs through performance-based grant funding. An extensive outreach campaign attracted SMEs to apply to the project and a comprehensive diagnostic tool was developed to identify areas requiring support. From this an improvement plan was developed for the selected SMEs and pre-qualified BDS providers were deployed to deliver training and coaching, resulting in increased productivity, job creation, and revenue for the 142 SMEs, of which 48% are women-led. In total, 139 new products, services and processes were developed, consolidating innovations an integral part of the SMEs’ activities and securing their sustainability and potential for future growth.
142
SMEs
increased productivity, job creation and revenue
48%
of which are women-led
