Enterprise Development and Market Competitiveness Project Final Report

The project aimed to facilitate the development of competitive enterprises and value chains by stimulating innovation, improving management capacity, enhancing workforce skills in key occupational niches, accelerating new enterprise formation, improving access to finance, and addressing critical shortcomings in the business environment. The overall goal of EDMC was to assist the Armenian private sector in sustainably transforming the competitiveness of high-potential value chains in the Armenian economy, driving major increases in private investment and export growth, and expanding employment. To achieve this, the project identified value chains with strong growth potential and analyzed and prioritized critical growth constraints limiting the capacity of firms in these value chains to improve productivity and fully realize their growth potential. EDMC incorporated an intensive focus on targeted technical/training support to effectively address firm-level constraints to competitiveness enhancement. The project utilized strategic information on growth constraints generated at the firm and value chain level to identify and prioritize major legal/regulatory, training/workforce development, and development finance impediments to sustainable firm growth in high-potential sectors. This provided a unique vantage point for the project to effectively prioritize and target institutional strengthening support efforts, yielding maximum impact in stimulating enhanced competitiveness for firms in key value chains. The EDMC implementation strategy fully supported USAID/Armenia's new Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) for 2013-2017. EDMC supported CDCS Development Objective 1: Inclusive and sustainable growth enhanced by working directly with anchor firms in high-potential value chains, extending the reach of technical assistance into all ten regions of Armenia, advancing regional integration, and increasing outreach to women and youth for workforce development and employment in all four value chains. EDMC also supported CDCS Development Objective 2: More participatory, effective, and accountable governance, focusing on improving the business environment and enhancing the capacity of the private sector to contribute to economic growth and development. The project focused on five key sectors: bio-pharmaceuticals, food processing, tourism, information technology, and workforce and entrepreneurship development. In the bio-pharmaceuticals sector, EDMC supported the development of a pharmaceutical industry cluster in Armenia, providing training and technical assistance to local companies and facilitating access to international markets. In the food processing sector, the project helped to improve the competitiveness of Armenian food products by providing training and technical assistance to local companies and facilitating access to international markets. In the tourism sector, EDMC supported the development of a tourism industry cluster in Armenia, providing training and technical assistance to local companies and facilitating access to international markets. The project also helped to improve the competitiveness of Armenian tourism products by providing training and technical assistance to local companies and facilitating access to international markets. In the information technology sector, EDMC supported the development of a software industry cluster in Armenia, providing training and technical assistance to local companies and facilitating access to international markets. The project also focused on workforce and entrepreneurship development, providing training and technical assistance to local companies and facilitating access to international markets. EDMC supported the development of a Center for Entrepreneurship and Executive Development (CEED) in Armenia, providing training and technical assistance to local entrepreneurs and facilitating access to international markets. The project also helped to improve the competitiveness of Armenian entrepreneurs by providing training and technical assistance and facilitating access to international markets. Overall, the EDMC project made significant contributions to the development of the Armenian private sector, improving the competitiveness of high-potential value chains and driving major increases in private investment and export growth. The project's focus on targeted technical/training support and institutional strengthening support efforts yielded maximum impact in stimulating enhanced competitiveness for firms in key value chains.