Job creation is one of the greatest drivers of poverty reduction and stability in crisis-affected countries. The key to those jobs are local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which account for 90 percent of companies in any market and generate half of employment worldwide. However, in countries affected by conflict, natural disaster, or forced migration, SMEs are often bypassed by procurement officers, investors, and banks due to a lack of infrastructure and information. As a result, poverty and instability persist, markets are left dependent on aid, and the opportunity to generate self-sustaining growth is lost. These findings have been supported by empirical research undertaken by Building Markets, which has demonstrated that only a small portion (five to -30%) of the operating budgets of international agencies and companies enter the local economies they are meant to help. Building Markets was founded to solve this problem.
Building Markets’ approach is simple. Its teams find and verify competitive local SMEs through in-person surveys. The organization then uses that unique data in two ways. First, it assesses SME growth constraints in order to provide them with access to training needed to bid on, win, and execute contracts. Second, Building Markets then leverages that data to connect SMEs to supply chains and investment through tailored matchmaking, its online business directories, tender distribution, events, and market research. Building Markets measures impact, and advocates for aid reform that supports a local approach.
When relief teams source goods from global suppliers (in examples such as the rebuilding of post-war Afghanistan), local entrepreneurs in the crisis area often lose a chance to engage in that business.
Building Markets connects qualified local businesses with large international buyers.
Local businesses learn how to bid on, win, and execute contracts.
More than 16,000 businesses with 65,000 employees have brought both services and jobs to crisis regions.
Building Markets' goal is to drive job creation and inclusive economic growth in crisis-affected countries by connecting local SMEs to supply chains and investment.
While returns in emerging and developed markets are diminishing, frontier markets are attracting a new class of investors. Building Markets will leverage its trusted network of SMEs and extensive local knowledge to identify investment opportunities that create sustainable economic growth and generate value for investors.
Founder of Building Markets, President of Anchor Chain, Building Markets
In 2001, Scott Gilmore was working for the UN peacekeeping mission in Timor-Leste, on leave from the Canadian diplomatic service. He grew frustrated at how management and operational problems hampered the peacekeepers’ ability to achieve the strategic goals of the mission. Staffing practices, for example, prevented the UN mission from hiring local staff, despite high unemployment. Scott started an informal group of development and peacekeeping professionals to share lessons learned in the hope of improving operational efficiency. Their ideas inspired Scott to launch Peace Dividend Trust (PDT) in 2004, now called Building Markets, to connect local entrepreneurs to supply chains and investment. Jennifer Holt, who joined the team as one of its earliest staff members in 2005, worked with Scott to scale the organization, including opening and leading its US office. She left Building Markets in 2012, but returned in 2015 to succeed Scott as CEO. Scott Gilmore remains involved as a board member.
Building Markets (2010 Awardee) started in 2004 with a deceptively simple mission: to reduce poverty in crisis-impacted countries by championing local entrepreneurs. Building markets connects small and medium sized enterprises…
