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• The Agribusiness Innovation Center of Senegal : Scaling a Competitive Horticulture Sector through Value Adding Post-Harvest Processing
  (World Bank, Washington, DC
  ,
  2011
  )
  Brethenoux, Julia; Dioh, Simon; Drago, Nicola; Giddings, Steven; Olafsen, Ellen; Thaller, Jim
  Senegal has tremendous potential to raise incomes and create jobs in agriculture. This potential is particularly strong in the horticulture sector where Senegal enjoys a comparative advantage because of the following factors: favorable climatic and water conditions; capacity to supply European markets at a time when others cannot; proximity to European markets with availability of competitive air and sea transport; access to quality inputs; and few policy distortions. The fact that exports have increased from 2,700 tons in 1991 to 51,270 tons in 2011 indicates the quality and demand for Senegalese horticulture products. However, only about 5 percent of the fruits and vegetables grown in Senegal are processed. The country imports many processed products that could be produced competitively domestically, and exports raw materials that, if processed, could be sold at much higher margins. Processing could also help reduce post-harvest losses, which dramatically affect farmers' incomes. The country is, therefore, not realizing the income and job generating potential offered by its comparative advantage. This document proposes a new model for promoting the growth of a competitive value adding horticulture sector in Senegal. The Agribusiness Innovation Center (AIC) will provide a set of financial and nonfinancial services to high-growth potential entrepreneurs, aiming to accelerate the growth of their enterprises and demonstrating product, process, and business model innovation across the horticulture sector. AIC complements existing efforts focused on farm-level improvements and foreign investment facilitation.
• The Agribusiness Innovation Initiative in Ethiopia : Enabling a Climate Smart, Competitive, and Sustainable Agribusiness Sector
  (World Bank, Washington, DC
  ,
  2012
  )
  Brethenoux, Julia; Aleme, Teklu Kidane; Olafsen, Ellen; Thaller, Jim; Webb, Julian
  The Agribusiness Innovation Initiative (AII) seeks to contribute to advancing a climate-smart competitive agribusiness sector which will create more jobs and raise incomes for Ethiopians. The AII will contribute toward this objective by identifying innovative growth-oriented entrepreneurs who are pursuing business opportunities based on value addition of agricultural commodities and providing them with a holistic service offering that accelerates their growth and increases their sustainability. In the process of doing so, the AII will engage all stakeholders along the value chain, thus strengthening the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem affecting the start-up and growth of innovative agribusiness enterprises. Relatedly, the AII will strive to have a demonstration, or catalytic, effect, encouraging a new generation of entrepreneurs to enter, grow, and advance the industry. The AII will have two groups of beneficiaries. The direct beneficiaries include high growth potential agribusiness entrepreneurs and small businesses. This group includes a high percentage of women. The indirect beneficiaries are the small-holder farmers that supply the raw materials to the enterprises, and the tangential service providers, such as truckers, packaging providers, and others that will benefit from the increased demand generated.
• The Agribusiness Innovation Center of Mozambique : Developing Value Adding Market-led Post-harvest Processing Enterprises in Mozambique
  (World Bank, Washington, DC
  ,
  2013
  )
  Brethenoux, Julia; Costa, Carlos; Giddings, Steven; Olafsen, Ellen; Rebello, Mulweli; Thaller, Jim
  Agriculture and fisheries are the main pillars of Mozambique's economy, having contributed in the last few years to more than 25 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and around 7 to 11 percentage points of the rate of economic growth. Agricultural development in Mozambique has been part of the government agenda because it is crucial to reducing poverty within rural zones. The long-term strategy for the agricultural sector in Mozambique focuses on improving food security and reducing poverty by supporting efforts of the smallholders, as well as the private sector, governmental agencies, and nongovernmental (NGO) agencies to improve agricultural productivity, agro-processing activities, and marketing, while sustainably exploiting natural resources. The agro-industrial sector is an important part of the agricultural sector as a whole; the food industries, beverages, and tobacco are estimated to account for about 70 percent of the overall structure of the manufacturing sector in Mozambique. Yet in Mozambique, processing activities are far behind opportunities offered by the potential diversified production. Instead of a vibrant private sector, which is considered a prerequisite for fostering economic growth and social development for poverty reduction, Mozambique has a poor agribusiness environment where most of the enterprises are micro and informal. As a result, it is still very difficult to invest in agriculture and agribusiness, to develop small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), and consequently, to create new jobs. However, there is potential for many value chains to support increased post-harvest processing in Mozambique, such as horticulture, animal feed, oilseeds, and nuts.
• Firms Far Up! Productivity, Agglomeration and High-Growth Firms in Ethiopia
  (World Bank, Washington, DC
  ,
  2019-12
  )
  Grover, Arti
  High-growth firms have been widely studied in advanced countries, but little is known about such stellar performers in Africa. Using establishment-level data from Ethiopia, this paper finds that the incidence of high-growth firms stands at an average of 7 percent, a figure comparable to that of advanced countries. High-growth episodes are short-lived, and the likelihood of survival or a subsequent episode is not any higher for high-growth firms. It is difficult for firms to sustain high growth, and the likelihood of a repeated episode is low. There is only a 6.5 percent chance that a manufacturing plant in Ethiopia will repeat a high-growth event in the subsequent three-year period. This likelihood is not greater than that of plants that did not experience high growth in the previous period. The paper explores the drivers of high growth and finds a tight link between exemplary performance and initial plant productivity, which is robust to many controls, including plant location. Plants located in Ethiopia's capital city or agglomerations have a higher probability of high growth. And high growth in plant employment is found to be self-reinforcing, that is, past high-growth experience is positively and significantly associated with subsequent growth in firm productivity.
• The Agribusiness Innovation Center of Tanzania : Scaling Value-Adding, Post-Harvest Processing Agribusinesses
  (World Bank, Washington, DC
  ,
  2011
  )
  Brethenoux, Julia; Charles, Kathleen; Giddings, Steven; Okello, Julius; Olafsen, Ellen; Temu, Andrew
  Tanzania has tremendous potential to support a thriving agribusiness sector. Agriculture is diverse and extensive, employing more than 80 percent of the population, and contributing about 28 percent of Gross Domestic Product, or GDP and 30 percent of export earnings. A wide range of agricultural commodities are produced in Tanzania, including fiber (sisal, cotton), beverages (coffee, tea), sugar, grains (a diverse range of cereals and legumes), horticulture (temperate and tropical fruits, vegetables and flowers) and edible oils. This document proposes a new model for promoting the growth of competitive value-added sunflower oil processing in Tanzania, and also seeks to identify potential growth enterprises in other value chains. The Agribusiness Innovation Center (AIC) will provide a set of financial and non-financial services to high-growth potential entrepreneurs, aiming to accelerate the growth of their enterprises and demonstrating product, process, and business model innovation across focal sectors. The AIC will complement existing efforts focused on farm-level improvements and foreign investment facilitation.