|
McColm & Company delivers tailored solutions that ensure frontier markets, fragile states, and vulnerable communities achieve economic stability, sustainable growth, and resiliency that increases quality of life and drives self reliance.
Entrepreneurs and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are often the largest, and sometimes only, source of employment in vulnerable and rural communities. Supporting their growth comes with built in sustainability since these companies tend to reinvest profits locally, creating new jobs. McCO works at the firm level to help clients understand, strengthen, and deliver specialized services to these businesses, leading to more jobs and broader economic and political stability. We help our clients understand the diversity of the private sector and how macro and micro economic drivers affect growth, then design and implement tailored programs that identify opportunities for innovative solutions. Our integrated teams are intentionally comprised of experts with public, private, niche technical experience, and local cultural expertise who work together to design and implement transformational solutions to address workforce gaps, build value chains, incubate promising ideas, enable access to new markets, and accelerate enabling environments to create jobs, grow economies, and achieve stability. By relying on a combination of broad country-specific and regional experience, technical expertise, and unparalleled management skills, we are able to build market linkages for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and the broader private sector, increase technical capacity, and foster growth. |
Applications
Technical Consulting
|
Capacity Building
Research and Analysis
|
Select Projects and Results
- Designed and managed a business matchmaking program for Afghan businesses attending USAID-funded trade shows in India, Kazakhstan, and Turkey to support the creation of new market linkages that would increase exports of Afghan-made products. Supported overall trade show delivery through communications and matchmaking technical support to the USAID Afghanistan Trade Show Support (TSS) project, implemented by Davis Management Group (DMG)
- Conducted mapping of Jordan's craft sector to identify the types of hand crafts indigenous to Jordan as well as more contemporary craft production throughout the country. The Turquoise Mountain/McCO team conducted producer and artisan interviews, quality reviews to assess the potential for export and large scale production to ascertain the viability of the craft sector to lead job growth in rural communities for the USAID Jordan LENS project, implemented by FHI360.
- Conducted local market assessment in Northern Iraq to support livelihoods creation at three camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) to provide data and analysis for a jobs creation activity aimed at creating incomes for vulnerable women displaced by ISIS for U.S. Department of State, Democracy, Labor and Human Rights grantee, Prosperity Catalyst. Led the design and development of a collection of artisanal craft products for production at three IDP camps in Northern Iraq, including design and delivery of skills training programs in quilt and jewelry making for IDP women, production plans, specifications sheets, quality control procedures, and management procedures.
- Provided production oversight and quality control for a U.S.-based, not-for-profit social enterprise sourcing jewelry from Afghanistan that resulted in the first large quantity cast jewelry order to ship from Afghanistan at international quality standards.
- Conducted cost/benefit and market analysis for an NGO seeking to launch a for-profit social enterprise as a strategy for eliminating donor reliance in funding organizational overhead costs.
- Assessed the organizational capacity of a Karachi-based NGO, including field work in rural areas of Sindh province. Conducted market assessment and demand analysis for craft products produced by the NGO.
- Executed business analysis for social enterprise and provided technical expertise to a project designed to accelerate quality jewelry production by artisans in Kabul. Oversaw product iterations and scaling workshop capacity to produce the first export-quality large batch hand made jewelry order from Kabul to the United States.
- Facilitated and supported a local membership organization formed to support female entrepreneurs to develop and execute a long term strategic advocacy plan.