Netherlands Trust Fund – Phase V – Agribusiness and Digital Technology
ITC partners with the Netherlands to support African business
ITC’s NTF V programme is designed to contribute to decent jobs and improved livelihoods in the agribusiness, agritech and digital technology sectors. To that end, we aim to:
- Increase the competitiveness of thousands of MSMEs
- Increase sales of supported companies to hit $90 million
- Support thousands of jobs and positively impact more than 200,000 people as a result
- Bring in-kind contributions to create an additional 50% of project value
Our programme includes both sectors in Ethiopia, Ghana, Senegal, and the digital technologies sector in a multi-country project in Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali and Uganda. In Ethiopia, Ghana and Senegal. ITC is working with smallholder agribusiness farmers focused on cocoa and coffee, associated crops, and horticulture.
See below for more project details.
In the digital technology sector, we are focusing on business-friendly tech ecosystems and tech hubs, offering tech start-ups and MSMEs resilient business models, linking them to national and international business and investment opportunities, and digitalizing traditional MSMEs.
We support IT and business process outsourcing (BPO) companies with export strategies, B2B matchmaking events and regional and international IT event exposure. We also help tech hubs to become more sustainable and aim to contribute to ICT and entrepreneurship-related policies to improve the tech ecosystem.
We are helping farmers and MSMEs become better able to withstand economic shocks and grow through responsible trade. Our approach is based on ITC’s Alliances for Action, which promotes responsible partnerships for development, and leverages investments and technical support all along the farm-to-fork value chain.
We are also strengthening public-private alliances and support ecosystems, building capacity in areas such as market development, climate smart operations, value addition, quality, access to finance, digitalization and developing investment strategies.
Finally, we are supporting agritech start-ups with training and coaching so they can grow their businesses, and bringing them to international tech events to connect with potential partners, customers and investors.
We are helping farmers and small and medium enterprises become better able to withstand economic shocks and grow through responsible trade. Our approach is based on ITC’s Alliances for Action programme, which promotes partnerships for sustainable food systems, and leverages investments and technical support all along the farm-to-fork value chain.
We also are strengthening public-private alliances and support ecosystems, building capacity in areas such as market development, climate smart operations, value addition, quality, access to finance, digitalization and developing investment strategies.
In the specific framework of this project, Alliances for Action is focusing on digitalization as a way of increasing resilience and growth of the coffee, cocoa and cashew nut value chains in selected countries.
NTF IV which ended in June 2021, was based on a partnership agreement between the Dutch Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries (CBI).
It aimed to enhance export competitiveness of selected sectors in selected countries through an integrated approach to sector competitiveness built around one outcome: generation of export revenues. The NTF IV county/sector combinations consisted of:
- Myanmar: Consolidation of Kayah state tourism and extension to a new state
- Uganda: Export development of IT and IT-enabled services
- Mano River Union/Sierra Leone: Value chain development of cocoa and associated crops
- Senegal: Export development of IT and IT-enabled Services.
This Programme, which ended in June 2017, was funded by CBI and focussed on building export sector competitiveness in key growth sectors in the four beneficiary countries of Bangladesh, Kenya, Myanmar and Uganda.
It focused on the exports of services, such as the IT and IT-enabled Services sectors in Bangladesh, Kenya and Uganda as well as tourism in Myanmar, while addressing needs in traditional agricultural sectors in Kenya (avocado sector) and Uganda (coffee). Export bottlenecks across the entire value chain were addressed to enable companies, and with them the entire sector, to internationalise.
Sustainable Development Goals
The International Trade Centre’s Netherlands Trust Fund V (NTF V) is a four-year partnership (July 2021- June 2025) signed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Netherlands and the International Trade Centre to support micro, small and medium-sized eEnterprises (MSMEs) in the digital technologies and agribusiness sectors.
The programme includes both sectors in Ethiopia, Ghana, Senegal, and the digital technologies sector in a multi-country project in Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali and Uganda. It also supports the tourism industry in Myanmar. As with previous NTF programmes, NTF V will be jointly implemented with the Dutch Centre for the promotion of exports from developing countries (CBI). NTF V follows on the successful NTF IV and NTF III programmes, and will track its results through real-time customer relationship management and active risk management data systems.
Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Uganda: Building Resilient Trade Competitiveness by Fast Tracking the Digital Technology Sector (NTF V)
Ethiopia: Building Resilient Trade Competitiveness by Fast Tracking the Digital Technology Sector (NTF V)
Ghana: Building Resilient Trade Competitiveness by Fast Tracking the Digital Technology Sector (NTF V)
