In this episode of Borderless, Vale Sloane is joined by Bruce Vaillant of Centre for Development and Enterprises Great Lakes to discuss their 2021 Templeton Freedom Award finalist project to break down the barriers to international trade that were helping keep Burundi in poverty. Now it's cheaper, easier, and safer for entrepreneurs, including women, to take their goods to market.
In order to trade across borders, Burundians had to either pay exorbitant fees and deal with overbearing bureaucracy or try to operate in the informal sector. The former method was expensive and time consuming, and the latter excluded traders from finance systems and risked a run-in with the law. Now that has all changed. Registration documents are far more affordable, the number of regulatory agencies has been slashed, and new entrepreneurs can enter the market much more easily thanks to the work of Atlas Network partner Centre for Development and Enterprises Great Lakes.
You can read more about their project and the prestigious Templeton Freedom Award here.
You also won't want to miss our discussion on Centre for Development and Enterprises Great Lakes' inspiring work to improve the Burundi's response to COVID-19 by reducing patient costs and allowing the involvement of private healthcare providers!