“Small Now, Mighty Always”: USAID Connects with U.S. Small Businesses in Bangkok

USAID hosted its third overseas small business conference this past November, in Bangkok, Thailand. The conference was coordinated by USAID’s Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) with support from the Regional Development Mission for Asia (RDMA). More than 250 individuals, representing more than 100 businesses, participated in the event. The Asia Region Small Business Conference was the first in-person U.S. small business conference hosted since before the pandemic in 2020 in Frankfurt, Germany. USAID staff, U.S. small businesses, and representatives from other government agencies attended, ready to network, learn, and discuss topics covering all avenues of U.S. small business partnership.   

At the conference in Bangkok, Kimberly Ball, Director of USAID’s OSDBU, announced that USAID achieved its overall FY 2023 small business goal of 13.25 percent. Not only did the Agency reach this goal, it exceeded it: USAID obligated a total of 14.64 percent of prime awards to small businesses in FY 2023. The Agency exceeded its socioeconomic goal for women-owned small businesses (WOSB) of 5 percent by achieving 5.62 percent. Ball acknowledged, however, that the Agency did not meet its small and disadvantaged business (SDB) goal, although it made strides by obligating more funding than in FY 2022. The Agency is still working toward achieving its service-disabled veteran-owned business (SDVOB) and historically underutilized business (HUBZone) goals as well.

Many of the small businesses attending the conference have been partners with USAID in the past. While USAID wants to continue to work with these organizations, a significant number of conference attendees were new to USAID—meaning they have never worked directly with the Agency before. The conference helped to explain how USAID operates, connect new businesses to USAID staff, and share approaches and best practices for partnering with the Agency. By sharing information with these potential partners, USAID seeks to continue its positive trajectory as new, capable small businesses enter the Agency marketplace. 

Localization and its relationship with USAID’s small business priorities was a recurring topic at the conference. USAID has two localization goals: to provide at least a quarter of the Agency’s program funds directly to local partners by the end of FY 2025, and, by 2030, to ensure that at least 50 percent of USAID programming places local communities in the lead to set priorities, codesign projects, drive implementation, or evaluate the impact of our programs. 

Some representatives of U.S. small businesses expressed interest about how these goals impact funding opportunities for them. Throughout the conversation between small businesses and USAID staff, the question was answered by emphasizing how U.S. small businesses can and do perform a critical role in advancing locally led development.

“Small businesses have unique insights into how to navigate the hurdles of working with USAID as a new or smaller organization—not unlike local partners,” shared Tom Wilson, USAID’s New Partnerships Initiative (NPI) Senior Program Analyst, who spoke on the OSDBU localization panel. “We’ve also seen how small businesses can be innovative champions of more locally led programming. So when NPI designed two new mechanisms to support the Agency in working with local partners on capacity strengthening, compliance, and linguistic services, we intentionally created these as small business set-aside contracts in collaboration with OSDBU.”

John Watson, OSDBU’s Deputy Director of Programs, noted that the conference facilitated incredibly robust discussion around how U.S. small businesses are crucial to advancing localization. Watson explained, “We heard numerous examples of how nimble and responsive U.S. small businesses have already been to the local context and that they are more in tune with the needs of local organizations than big implementing partners because they are structurally more similar. This meeting confirmed that we can and should achieve both our agency's small business goals and localization targets.” 

USAID will continue to endeavor to increase its funding to local partners and U.S. small businesses. Small businesses add value for local partners by increasing local partners’ capacity to work with USAID, tapping into small-business expertise in fiduciary and regulatory compliance. Local partners can also be an added value to small businesses with their deep connections to local and regional contexts. As Wilson noted, USAID believes that its localization and U.S. small business goals can be mutually reinforcing.

USAID’s Contracting Officers (COs) from Missions around the world traveled to Bangkok to be a part of this regional small business conference. Throughout the event, COs answered questions from panels on topics like “Understanding Priorities of the Field” and “The Essentials of Engaging with USAID's Missions.” Not only were small businesses able to have their questions answered from stage, but the conference created an opportunity for USAID’s COs to connect directly with U.S. small businesses through an exhibit hall. During the dialogue, USAID’s COs presented useful advice to the small businesses to help them grow in their partnership with USAID. 

Read the Country’s Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS): A country’s CDCS is a high-level strategic framework with development objectives that each Mission, in collaboration with its development partners, will work to address during a multi-year period. Make sure you understand the strategy for the country and region in which you are trying to do business. Keisha Effiom, Deputy Mission Director of USAID/Rwanda and Burundi, advised small businesses to “know what our strategy is. It's called the CDCS or the RDCS if it's a regional Mission. Knowing what our five-year strategy is is critically important to small businesses not missing opportunities. If you know that we're working across four technical areas: health, education, democracy and governance, and economic growth, and your organization can provide support in those areas based on what you've read or what you know from a cultural or country context, then you need to be at our tables.” 

Establish relationships: Creating relationships and partnerships with USAID staff in Washington and in the Missions, large implementing partners, and other small businesses is a valuable tool to strengthen your organization’s network and help gain visibility for your organization. Ball shared her encouragement to “participate and engage as much as possible” and recommended taking advantage of “any opportunity that you get to engage with us (USAID) so that you can get to know us better and to allow us to know you.” Many COs mentioned contacting the Mission in a country in which you are interested in doing business or reaching out to OSDBU, with its capable staff ready to guide U.S. small businesses in USAID partnership. Also, be sure to register your small business in the Work with USAID Partner Directory to gain visibility on your work as USAID staff use it for market research.

Understand USAID’s mission and how you can add value: Before you come to the Agency as a partner, make sure you understand the mission of the Agency and how your organization’s objectives align with those of USAID. Small businesses have capabilities that set them apart from other firms and partners. Within USAID’s mission, figure out how your firm can be the partner that USAID didn’t know it needed. Do this by presenting your firm’s capabilities like key personnel, country context, innovative solutions, and breadth of experience. As Mohib Ahmed, Supervisory Contracting Officer at USAID/Indonesia, shared from the conference stage, “It’s not a conversation about size, but about the ability to execute.” 

U.S. small businesses and USAID can forge strong partnerships that take on the world’s great challenges. Effiom used the phrase “Small now, mighty always” frequently during the conference, and it rings true to many current and prospective USAID small business partners. Small businesses, large implementing partners, and USAID staff continued to highlight small businesses’ flexibility and agility as distinctive qualities when they have had to pivot during projects. USAID praised the access to direct contact with the Chief Executive Officers of small businesses and how decisions were able to be made efficiently and effectively. And finally, small businesses hold their strength in their passion and unique drive for the mission; they are resilient and can get the job done. USAID values its U.S. small business partners and what they bring to the table to help achieve our shared priorities.

Check out USAID’s Country Development Cooperation Strategies (CDCS) to know where your firm fits. Visit USAID’s OSDBU website and reach out to USAID’s OSDBU colleagues with your questions about small businesses. Stay up to date on events for small businesses and other partners on WorkwithUSAID.gov’s Events page.