In cooperation with USAID, CHF International’s GER Initiative began serving the people of Bayan-Ulgii in June and officially opened a new branch office on September 28, 2006. The goal is to help business owners to improve and to expand their businesses through financial, informational, training and consultancy services. GER – Growing Entrepreneurship Rapidly – Initiative is a USAID and USDA funded project that supports private sector development in the ger areas of Mongolia. GER has branches in Darkhan, Erdenet, Choibalsan, Bayan Ulgii, Tov, Bulgan and Selenge Aimag, as well as Ulaanbaatar. The GER Initiative is cooperating with 13,000 ger area business owners around the country. As of today, it has helped expand 1,578 businesses and start up 302 new businesses.
The new Ulgii Office, together with its government and bank partners, will offer business and limited employment assistance for citizens’ businesses to help them grow and prosper. GER Initiative offices facilitate loans from commercial banks, and any person can seek assistance. The offices help unemployed people to find jobs or to start new businesses. The GER Initiative is helping Ulgii small business owners by giving advice and training.
The GER – Growing Entrepreneurship Rapidly - Initiative is implemented by CHF International and has operated in Mongolia since 2002. CHF International is a nonprofit organization headquartered near Washington, DC that works in 35 countries worldwide. See http://www.chfinternational.org for more information about CHF International or http://www.chfmongolia.org
USAID is an agency of the U.S. government that funds development assistance and humanitarian response in over 100 countries. For information about USAID’s work in Mongolia, go to http://www.usaid.gov/mn/. USDA is an agency of the U.S. government that provides food commodities in surplus of domestic program requirements to carry out programs of assistance in developing and friendly countries. In Mongolia, USDA’s donation of wheat commodities has provided development assistance in the agricultural and business sectors.
