How to do Private Sector Engagement in Economic Development

Key Components of Private Sector Engagement in Economic Development.
In this episode we continue our discussion on how to do private sector engagement in economic development. Our focus today will be on key components of private sector engagement in economic development. These are elements that should be front of mind as we engage with private sector partner – these are changes in business model of the private sector partner, the implication of those changes and a well-defined performance matrix. These are elements are;

1. Changes in business model: We would have determined that the root cause of the constraints we are attempting to resolve with our private sector partner is one of, or combination of, accessibility, affordability, availability, or awareness issue. This implies our partner’s business model needs to change to incorporate the innovative solution co-designed with our partner.
2. Implication of business model changes: we must be clear what the implications of these changes in the business models are – the business model may require changes in techniques and technology which may require a different skill set, requiring additional training or recruitment. organisation structure change, cost implication but most important of all, timeline. Comparing this to the project life and budget will guide decisions of the appropriate level of engagement and impact expectation.
3. Performance matrix; It is very likely that the private sector partner will have a proprietary method of measuring performance of its internal projects, it is therefore incumbent on us as development professional to ensure that we are clear on the developmental outcome and the appropriate indicators are included in the matrix or we create a separate performance matrix to monitor the performance of the innovation.

With an understanding that private sector engagement is a hypothesis being tested in the market, we should be clear what the business model changes are, the implication for those changes and how to measure the performance of the changes.

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