Project assistance completion report : Swazi business development (SBD)

The project far exceeded most planned outputs. In 1995, when a follow-on project became unlikely due to the planned closure of the Swaziland Mission, USAID provided a $5 million endowment for SBGT. The endowed funds are invested in the U.S.; it is expected that SBGT will receive quarterly endowment income in perpetuity. The PACR highlights the following lessons. (1) It was expected that the Board of Trustees would be responsible for fundraising and endowments to ensure the SBGT's sustainability. This proved difficult for several reasons -- board members are full-time professionals, no board member was a professional fundraiser, and it is in any case difficult to raise funds for a new institution with no track record. Instead, the Board should be used where its specific talents lie (auditing, finance, legal advice, etc.) and contribute to the fundraising efforts initiated by management. (2) Efforts to attract permanent management to replace U.S. contractors were delayed until the SBGT's sustainability, which had been in doubt, was made likely by the USAID endowment. (3) As a result of the endowment, what could have been a "white elephant" became an example of USAID's flexibility and commitment to obtain results through a nontraditional assistance mechanism.