Toespraak Koenders opening Business in Development Marketplace
Gelegenheid: opening Business in Development MarketplaceLadies and gentlemen,
I am delighted to be here this afternoon. It is an honour to meet so many entrepreneurs, private investors, and representatives of funds, multinationals, non-governmental organisations and other business and development groups. I am especially honoured to meet the finalists of the various business plan competitions. This is a very special day for you. Today you will hear whether you have won one of the BiD Network Prizes, the PUM Prize or the BiD Nature Prize. I'm afraid I cannot tell you who has won. The organisers were very firm: not even the Minister was allowed to know whom the jury has chosen as this year’s winners.
What I do know is that the organiser of this event, the Business in Development Network, is unique. The Network helps smooth the path for promising entrepreneurs looking for finance and start-up assistance by offering tools, contacts and coaching. Since it was launched four years ago, the Network has helped generate over 2,500 direct jobs. It has done so at an operational cost of less than 1,500 €s per job created. That is truly a remarkable achievement and I congratulate them.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am a great proponent of the creation of jobs and productive employment in developing countries. Here lies the engine for sustainable development, and it is here development cooperation can be a true catalyst for change. But this is not an easy time. As the media remind us daily, we are in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. What started as a housing crisis in the United States has quickly spread, undermining economic security globally. Affecting countries that were just on the path to recovery and bare no responsibility at all. Governments all over the world are considering stimulus packages worth billions of euros. If, that is, they have any money to spend at all.
In an article in the International Herald Tribune last Saturday, World Bank president Robert Zoellick called on President Obama to ask every developed country to pledge 0.7 per cent of its stimulus package to a so-called “Vulnerability Fund”. This Fund should be aimed at assisting developing countries that can’t afford bailouts and deficits. It should concentrate on three main priorities. First, it should help developing countries set up safety-net programmes to enable the poor to cope with soaring food and fuel prices. It should do so by investing in health, education and nutrition. Second, it should invest in wisely chosen infrastructure projects that create jobs and build a foundation for productivity and growth. Third, the fund should help support small and medium-sized enterprises and micro-finance institutions. By recapitalising small banks in developing countries, and providing credit lines for microfinance institutions that serve the poorest people, the vulnerability fund would ensure that small businesses and their lenders are not squeezed out by the credit crunch, while state-owned enterprises and large companies get bailed out.
I think Mr Zoellick’s proposal is worth studying in more detail. The developed world clearly has a responsibility to help developing nations cope with the effects of the current crisis. A crisis that has already pushed an estimated 100 million people back into absolute poverty.
Importance of SMEs in developing countries
You, more than anybody else, know that the private sector is the engine of economic growth, and that growth drives development. This is certainly true for the Netherlands. Our six thousand commercial giants might be at the helm of our economy. But it is the six hundred thousand small and medium-sized businesses that keep it afloat. As I indicated before: jobs are the best way out of poverty. And in the developing world nine out of ten jobs are in the private sector. Most are generated by small and medium-sized enterprises. Just think of all those market traders, entrepreneurs and farmers who sell their goods and services in the market economy. Working with business is a fundamental part of the first Millennium Development Goal: halving income poverty by 2015. You can play a major role in this.
But the impact of private sector development is not limited to MDG 1. The private sector is a crucial source of the tax revenues that enable governments to provide the health, education and other services needed to achieve all the MDGs. And it is through the market that technology is shared and growth is sustained. So when businesses suffer, as we are seeing at the moment, we all suffer. This painful truth is now being brought home to all of us.
Private sector & development cooperation: MDG business club
I think the importance of business to development is now well understood by most people in the development community. As Minister for Development Cooperation I work with businesses in many different ways, both here in the Netherlands and in many developing and emerging countries. In fact, tonight I will attend the first formal meeting of the MDG business club. The club gathers people together from multinationals and SMEs, working in a whole range of sectors: from agriculture and finance to the Dutch export industry. From CEOs to those who do the real hands-on work! People who have proven that investing in developing countries makes sense and that companies and governments can work together productively to bring the MDGs closer. And matching is one of the biggest challenges here. The goal of the MDG business club is to brainstorm, share ideas and identify new forms of cooperation that make investing in developing countries even more attractive.
Other forms of cooperation to add to those that currently exist between my ministry and the private sector: b2b support, for example. Partnerships, Schokland agreements and the Business in Development Network, of course. In fact, this year I have set aside 485 million euros – ten per cent of my total ODA budget – in order to improve the investment climate. Add to that my spending on multilateral institutions like the World Bank and various non-governmental organisations working in private-sector development and we get to a total of some 750 million euros a year. It is our responsibility – as businesses, governments, NGOs and the wider development community – to work together to find the right path out of the economic crisis. My strategy is simple: we will work with the business community to strengthen its positive impact on development and help the poorest and most vulnerable people lift themselves out of poverty – for good.
Ladies and gentlemen,
In a moment you will see some video clips of each of this year’s finalists in the business plan competitions. Extraordinary entrepreneurs offering solid investment opportunities that have been selected for their positive development sustainability impact. After the clips the BiD Network Marketplace will be opened. Unfortunately my schedule does not allow me to stay and enjoy the rest of today’s proceedings. This afternoon I have a debate in parliament on the upcoming Development Council of EU ministers in Prague. Much of the issues on the agenda there have a direct link with what you are here for today: looking for opportunities, investing wisely, and creating jobs.
So it only remains for me to wish you an interesting and fruitful Marketplace!
Thank you.