While volunteering at a hospital in Ghana, Connecticut businessman Ed Bullard was struck by how difficult it was for hardworking people to lift themselves out of poverty, so he created TechnoServe (Technology in the Service of Mankind) in 1968. TechnoServe helps people identify and capitalize on good sustainable business opportunities so the rural poor can lift themselves out of poverty.

TechnoServe, with a staff of over 400 people, helped 215 businesses to achieve total sales of $97-million in 2006 by working in more than 30 countries and transforming the lives of millions of people.

An example of one project is a a crafts business by Ana Rosa Graf in El Salvador. She won a TechnoServe business plan competition in 2005 for her idea to form a handicraft business employing local women. With training received from TechnoServe and $6000 in seed capital, she was able to develop a domestic market and an international market in Europe and the USA. The business is now paying more than minimum wage in El Salvador and hopes to hire management staff as the business grows.

Some other specific projects include:

• Uganda- helping matooke (green banana) farmers with organization and business planning consulting, helped about 2,500 farmers earn 70% more than they earned previously.
• Nicaragua - Aided coffee farmers to diversify to more lucrative crops.
• Honduras - helps farmers improve their product lines and sell to higher-value markets.
• Kenya - helping rural farmers find markets in the booming domestic urban markets.
• Nicaragua - helping farmers boost incomes by catering to the specialty coffee market.
• Tanzania - helps farmers boost production of an anti-malarial ingredient used for fighting malaria.
• Peru - helping build a range of small business around a mining community.
• El Salvador - helping coffee groups tap into premium coffee markets.
• Mozambique - helps historic island develop a tourism plan to create jobs and business opportunities.

Donation opportunities are availabable on their website, including TechnoTours combining travel, education and history lessons while seeing firsthand the work of TechnoServe.

Select business professionals can volunteer for 3 to 12 month projects. Projects vary, but often involve working with entrepreneurs, government officials and others to create business plans, develop policy recommendations, craft industry strategies or implement business plan competitions.

Countries in which projects are located include:

South America - Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru
Central America - El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua
West Africa - Ghana
East Africa - Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda
Southern Africa - Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland
Asia - India
Europe - Poland