Zeroing in on Opportunities

Given that, in fiscal 2000 – 2004, the five MDBs committed $185 billion to projects in developing countries in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the Middle East & North Africa, and Latin America & the Caribbean, how do you zero in on specific service and goods opportunities that these project funds represent - and the next $185 billion worth in the future?

This site provides starting data as a framework for your go/no go business decisions, but how do you develop the information into a realistic marketing proposition? The following will give you some steps by which to understand the business aspects of the MDB market more fully, beyond its generalities, and a hint of what needs to be done to establish the next stages of your marketing campaign - or not, as the case may be.

There are some MDB business basics you must know:

The MDBs approve project funds for projects in specific public sectors - agriculture, education, energy & power, environment, financial, health, industry, telecommunications, transportation, urban development, and water supply and sanitation. Hence, if you have services or technology of interest in any of these MDB sectors - or cross-sector applications such as software, which is required on almost every project - then it's worth your digging deeper.
The business financed by the MDBs in these sectors is carried out on projects with specific procurement plans, according to MDB procurement guidelines to ensure a level playing field, and through the ministries implementing the projects - ie not the MDBs directly. Hence, despite all the limelight of the MDBs, your marketing and procurement activities will be carried out with the ministries and their project units - not the MDBs.
The vast majority of these so-called MDB "investment projects" include funds for consulting, goods, and works, so, if you provide any of these in the sectors above, then every MDB-financed project may hold foreign-exchange opportunity for you.
MDB-financed investment projects, which are usually carried out over four to seven years, vary in loan size from $5 million to $300 million, and are often cutting edge of their kind, are all designed with the MDB and developing country working in tandem, with policies and project outcomes agreed and spelled out and a blueprint provided for the requisite assignments on the project to meet those objectives.

The following pages will give you an initial flavor of zeroing in on the opportunities in a particular MDB-financed market place. Click here to continue.

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Last updated February 21, 2006