Haiti INVEST Value Chain Assessment

Project Overview:

USAID/Haiti INVEST contracted World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) to complete a rapid value chain finance assessment on the commercial agricultural sector in selected regions of the country as part of its Haiti INVEST Platform Buy-in Activity.

Launched in Fiscal Year 2018, the Haiti INVEST Platform promotes and facilitates private investment into Haitian small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Haiti INVEST endeavors to identify top transaction targets in the selected value chains and seeks to match investment opportunities with transaction advisors capable of helping these businesses obtain financing from the available and relevant investors operating in the Haitian context, including banks, investment funds, family funds, or private individuals.

Haiti INVEST’s approach to financial markets rests on three pillars: a) Investors; b) Intermediaries; and c) Target Companies. Investors include actors such as private equity funds, financial institutions, private companies, pooled assets, diaspora funds, and credit unions, among others. Intermediaries are made up of business advisory service providers, transaction advisors, financial institution advisory services, insurance companies, and notaries, etc. Target Companies include growth-oriented SMEs that have a successful track record operating in Haiti.

WOCCU’s role was to complete a rapid value chain finance assessment on the commercial agriculture sector in selected regions, to promote investment and facilitate entry for investors and intermediaries into selected value chains outside the capital of Port-au-Prince. Haitian businesses and investments are heavily concentrated in Port-au-Prince and many actors active in the finance and investment space in Haiti are unfamiliar with the realities of the commercial and agriculture sectors outside of the capital. Targeted value chains include legumes in the Kenscoff area of Port-au-Prince, eggs and milk in the North, and rice in the Maribahoux plain in the Northeast.

Consistent with Haiti INVEST’s objective of identifying investment opportunities, WOCCU implemented a the following three-pronged approach to conduct the value chain investment assessment:

• A theoretical model was adopted, based on best practices, to implement a qualitative value chain assessment and draw ecosystem maps of each targeted value chain;
• Quantitative data was collected in the process of interviewing value chain actors, and by consulting external administrative data sources;
• Quantitative and qualitative information was obtained through a literature review. The set of quantitative and qualitative data was triangulated to produce evidence that supports the assessment’s findings, conclusions, and recommendations.

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