TechnoServe

General information

It begins with a smallholder coffee farmer in Kenya. Or an aspiring entrepreneur in Nicaragua. Or a cashew processing plant in Mozambique.

This is where change begins. The farmer improves the quality of her coffee and doubles her income. The entrepreneur launches a business that creates economic opportunities in his community. The factory buys from local farmers and offers hundreds of workers their first formal job.

TechnoServe helps create this type of transformation. Our work is rooted in the idea that given the opportunity, hardworking men and women in even the poorest places can generate income, jobs and wealth for their families and communities.

Our origin traces back to the village of Adidome, Ghana. In 1963, our founder Ed Bullard traveled there with his family for a year of volunteer service.

Ed was captivated by the spirit and character of the Ghanaian people. But he was appalled by the depth of poverty that surrounded him. A businessman, Ed understood that the contrast between this poverty and his own prosperity came not from any innate difference between himself and a poor Ghanaian farmer.

Instead, the people he saw struggled because they lacked the knowledge, skills and tools needed to lift themselves out of poverty. So in 1968, Ed launched TechnoServe — short for “technology in the service of mankind.” He envisioned TechnoServe as a different type of nonprofit, one that would help poor people by connecting them to information and market opportunities.

Today, TechnoServe works with enterprising people in the developing world to build competitive farms, businesses and industries. We have worked in more than 40 countries across Africa, Latin America and Asia, assisting thousands of businesses and improving the incomes of millions of people.

True to Ed’s vision, we provide business solutions to poverty by linking people to information, capital and markets. With more than four decades of proven results, we believe in the power of private enterprise to transform lives.