Committed To Delivering Innovative, Effective Solutions
Weidemann Associates, Inc. is a leading international firm working in microenterprise development, economic development, Information technologies, and agriculture/agribusiness/rural development in the U.S. and developing countries. Our firm has worked on projects worldwide, from Latin America and the Caribbean, Eastern Europe and the New Independent States, to Africa, Asia, and the Near East. Principals of Weidemann Associates are experienced in over 60 countries working with international organizations, as well as private businesses, state and local governments, and non-governmental and community development organizations.
Weidemann Associates and its principal associates and consultants have supported development of the microfinance industry from the early 1990’s. We have started up micro and rural finance institutions, developed new products for banks and non-bank financial institutions, turned around ailing programs, designed new activities and evaluated existing activities, organized seminars and conferences for the sector, and training practitioners.
USAID’s Office of Economic Growth of the Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade (EGAT/EG) has established the Business Growth Initiative (BGI) project to promote best practices in enterprise development as a critical element for Economic Growth. BGI was designed to serve as a key element in building a Community of Practice for Enterprise Development, both within USAID and its development partners and among the broader development community worldwide. This project provides technical leadership in enterprise development through both direct and indirect assistance in the following areas:
- Assistance to missions on project designs,
- Project evaluations and pilot demonstration projects,
- Research on various enterprise development topics, and
- Technical briefs, workshops and seminars on best practices in enterprise development.
Weidemann Associates has also conducted assessments and evaluations for Missions and projects of USAID under the Economic Growth Office. The evaluations have examined past projects and strategies for economic growth, including agricultural development
Weidemann brings more than a decade of hands-on experience in management of training events and workshops. Conferences, seminars and training events play a critical role in communicating and disseminating work to practitioners, policy makers, researchers, and development institutions. Our conference planning work aims to strengthen professional and social results, increase financial returns for clients, and reduce client administrative burdens. We benefit our clients with operational experience in planning trainings and conferences from beginning to end, in countries around the world.
Recognizing the emerging access to the internet around the world, Weidemann developed tools that improve remote project administration, ease the reporting burden, lower project costs and improve data reliability. For example, the MRR system tracks results from more than 600 USAID development partners worldwide. A newly implemented online system will track 80,000 scholarships to primary school girls in 15 African countries. A grant monitoring system automates reporting for grants issued from 1996 to the present for 44 countries valued at more than $118 million.
Financial Services
Weidemann has a practice area relating to financial services for micro/small businesses. This includes best practices associated with licensing requirement to financial regulators, market analysis, and financial product development.